Top Tips on How to Decorate Your Home with Farrow and Ball
A few weeks ago I was visiting my local Farrow & Ball showroom to pick up a couple of sample pots to test out on our kitchen walls, to help choose the right paint colour for our new project. I was in awe of the vast array of paint colour choices on offer.I had scuttled along with a vision of ideas as well as my kitchen makeover mood board and so I had a rough idea of the paint colour that I was after. But with such a beautiful array of paint choices to choose from, I was intrigued to find out more about how Farrow & Ball could help in the process of advising and choosing paint colours for your own home.
I'd heard about the Farrow & Ball In-House Colour Consultancy and I wanted to find out more! And so I got chatting to Helen, one of Farrow & Ball's wonderful Colour Consultants. She was able to share with me the ins and outs of the Colour Consultancy Service as well as provide some hints and tips on choosing paint colours for your home along the way.
And this is what I found out!
What are the most important things to consider when choosing a paint colour for your room? 3 things in particular stand out:
Light
Architecture and style of the property, for example traditional vs modern
Your own personal style
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball. Wallpaper: Enigma BP 5507
Choosing colours for your home can be overwhelming. What do you recommend when somebody is struggling to know where to start?Often I will start by asking what inspires you and what colours are you drawn towards. Having a look around your home at your finishes and furnishings can be a very big clue as to what type of interior style you like and are after. Clients are welcome to provide pinterest boards or images. Alongside this our Farrow & Ball website and Facebook page can provide a brilliant source of inspiration and resources. Books and magazines are also a great ‘go-to’ for ideas. One book we recommend is our ‘How to Decorate’ book written by Joa Studholme and Charlotte Cosby which is full of inspirational ideas on decorating your home.
What paint advice and colour choices do you advise when painting small interiors?It really depends on the use of the space and purpose of the room.Using rich, dark paint colours can really help to create a cosy snug room and give it identity. For example, Mahogany, Railings, Downpipe, Salon Drab or Brinjal.
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball. Paint Colour: Farrow & Ball 'Railings'
Alternatively, if you were using the room for a study for example, you may wish to choose light, fresh tones. Our extensive range of neutrals are always popular whether they be red based such as Joas White or Archive or our traditional green based shades such as Old White and Slipper Satin. Greys such as Cornforth White, Pavillion Gray and Purbeck Stone are always popular, acting as a good base colour from which you can add colourful accessories.
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball: Paint Colour: 'Dimity'. Fresh, uncomplicated interiors helping to create a soft contemplative room.Choosing a sympathetic colour to work with can be really effective, by allowing you to be bold and daring with the features and furnishings you decorate around it. On the opposite scale, is there a particular paint colour you can advise for complementing large, airy sunlit rooms?There is a trend for painting in dark rich colours to provide a striking atmosphere in a large space. For example, Stiffkey Blue, Black Blue or Inchyra Blue can really help to provide a wow factor and are great background choices for setting items of furniture against.
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball: Paint Colour: 'Black Blue' creating a striking backdrop from which to set off colour popping accessories and soft furnishings.
**DID YOU KNOW**
Inchrya Blue was inspired by the moody skies and colours of the Scottish landscapes! It's A Perfect COLOUR CHOICE for both the contemporary and traditional home, with its uncertain colour which can be perceived as either blue or grey.
What are your top painting tips for decorating a stylish interior? Have you any tips on trends?Looking at Winter 16/17, soft pastels and earth tones are making their mark. For example Pink Ground, which helps to create a soft, relaxing, easy to live interior.
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball: Paint Colour: 'Pink Ground'
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball: Paint Colour: 'Blazer' and combine with 'Dimity' on woodwork and ceilings for a totally timeless feel’Another paint effect which is growing popularity is the way in which we approach our ceilings. Rather than painting white, there’s a move to paint in a tonal colour which complements the wall colour, helping to layer the colour and add depth.
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball. Paint Colour: Farrow & Ball 'Dove Tale' on doors, 'Arsenic' on the walls and 'Churlish Green' on the ceilingAlso there is a greater trend for painting wood work dark and keeping the walls lighter and brighter. I find this can also be really effective in helping to enhance and draw attention to period features in the home.
Photo Courtesy of Farrow and Ball: Painted woodwork in Mahogany: ‘a warmer alternative to the ubiquitous leaden greys’There’s also a growing trend to paint the walls all in one colour, including the skirting boards and cornices. For example, in Georgian properties, this can help to create a very contemporary and elegant look.
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball: Paint Colour: 'Black Blue'
In your opinion, what's the most popular FARROW & BALL paint choice for the living room?Greys are always a favourite. For example Elephants Breath and Cornforth White. They act as a very good base colour from which you can add colourful accessories. There is also becoming also a greater confidence with using dark, rich colours to help set off a room.
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball: Paint Colour: 'Calke Green' What is your own personal favourite FARROW & BALL paint choice for the bedroom?I really like Setting Plaster which is a warm, relaxed, earthy pink which has a very cosy feel. It sits well against Dimity as well as strong colours such as Down Pipe and Railings.
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball: Paint Colour: 'Setting Plaster' Have you launched any new colours and products for the year?It’s Farrow & Ball's 70th birthday year and so to celebrate the anniversary, we have introduced three new wallpaper designs, Enigma, Gable and Arcade, which are 1940’s inspired and available in a variety of colour ways.ENIGMA
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball. Wallpaper: Enigma BP 5505
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball. Wallpaper: Enigma BP 5506
GABLE
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball. Wallpaper: Gable BP 5403
Wallpaper: Gable BP 5405
ARCADE
Photo Courtesy of Farrow & Ball. Wallpaper: Arcade BP 5303
Wallpaper: Arcade BP 5306
**DID YOU KNOW**
FARROW & BALL wallpaper is made using their own traditionally created paint as opposed to ink, giving them a sumptuous and tactile texture unique to FARROW & BALL.
In addition to three new wallpapers, there are also nine new paint colours launched earlier this year in February which are:
**DID YOU KNOW**
There are 132 different colours on the F&B colour chart!
Old colours are archived and never discontinued
What does the FARROW & BALL in home colour consultancy service involve, can you talk me through the process?The Farrow & Ball colour consultancy is a perfect opportunity to discuss plans for your colours, ideas and inspiration for your rooms from the comforts of your own home. Lasting a minimum of an hour, it’s a very personalized service which looks specifically at the needs for your own living space when choosing colours, wallpapers and finishes for your home. It takes into account the style of your property, the light in your interiors and very importantly your own taste. It’s an opportunity to gain the expertise and advice of a Farrow & Ball colour consultant, whether that’s to help focus your own ideas for a project in mind or providing a starting point of colour.The consultancy service covers approximately 4 rooms in an hour, and so is very good value for money!At the end of the consultancy, the home owner will be left with a comprehensive colour scheme to consider. The colour scheme details are emailed usually the following day. A hard copy along with colour swatches is then posted to the client. An extra bonus includes a £50 money off voucher to spend on Farrow & Ball paint and wallpaper following the in-home consultancy!
How do you find out more about booking an in home colour consultancy with FARROW & BALL?You can either call in and go through a Farrow & Ball showroom in person. Or alternatively you can email or call your local showroom or visit the website at www.farrow-ball.com/colour-consultancy.From this, we schedule a pre-appointment phone call to find out more about your project. This is so that we can ensure we make the most of our time when in your home chatting about colour and wallpapers.
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It's been wonderful finding out more about the Farrow and Ball Colour Consultancy and I'm feeling fully inspired and raring to go with our painting of our kitchen walls.....and what colour have we chosen I hear you cry?!Well I may just have to keep you on tenterhooks until next week when all may be revealed!In the meantime, I'm off to drop not so subtle hints to my better half of a certain book that I may just want for Christmas...Richard - if you're reading...some Farrow & Ball gift vouchers would go down a treat!
Farrow & Ball's 'How to Decorate' by Joa Studholme and Charlotte Cosby
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