Colour advice

[Penners]

White for ceilings, shades of magnolia for walls, black for beams where they were already black, brown for doors (so they look like wood)

Hmmm... Keith, are you married?

Certainly am. Very much so. Been so for 44 years. Almost got the hang of it.

Well, I'm in awe! I could almost believe that you're actually allowed to make decorating decisions in your house. Speaking as a fellow 44-year-termer, I find that utterly staggering.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:
7 years today, and I've almost got Control of Decorating. What's very sweet is an idea I might have thrown at him a year ago, that got a frosty reception, will be announced over the breakfast table as his own invention - bless!

Chris is an artist though, and what's more a neat and meticulous one who always finishes projects before starting the new one and always tidies up, which is great as I'm messy and prone to doing 10 things at once. Rather than having messy bits of paper cluttering up the place, he photographs them, and stores them neatly on the computer!! But very creative too, I can't wait for him to paint the stone blocks and trompe l'oeil niches in the passageway - my idea, (or maybe Nigel's) but now his.

I'd tend to agree with the ideas in this thread that if you have a beamed cottage with smallish windows and woodburning stoves plain and simple colour schemes are best. You have enough focal points with the beams and the fire not to need wallpaper, which could just feel anachronistic anyhow and darker colours might make low ceilinged rooms a bit oppressive.

It's very different in a Regency or Victorian house though, where to paint it all white is the worst thing you could do in my view.

It was very interesting to see the historic houses in Wales, I think it was Plas Mawr and Nantclwyd, hung with Kidderminster stuff - interesting but not pretty really.

 

[Penners]

hung with Kidderminster stuff - interesting but not pretty really.

Well I've learned something today. I wasn't sure whether you were using the word "stuff" in a vague way, to mean... well... stuff. So I googled Kidderminster Stuff. Lo and behold! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuff_%28cloth%29

The trouble is I now have another piece of information to forget. :roll:

 

[LadyArowana]

:lol:
7 years today, and I've almost got Control of Decorating. What's very sweet is an idea I might have thrown at him a year ago, that got a frosty reception, will be announced over the breakfast table as his own invention - bless!

Chris is an artist though, and what's more a neat and meticulous one who always finishes projects before starting the new one and always tidies up, which is great as I'm messy and prone to doing 10 things at once. Rather than having messy bits of paper cluttering up the place, he photographs them, and stores them neatly on the computer!! But very creative too, I can't wait for him to paint the stone blocks and trompe l'oeil niches in the passageway - my idea, (or maybe Nigel's) but now his.

Congratulations on your anniversary, I'm glad Chris is progressing so well with his training! Mine really doesn't like to be bothered with issues arising from decorating. He takes the attitude that he is a "big picture person" and so my mission gets outlined as "making things nice". All he asked for out of the London renovation was a place for a chair, a bath that didn't move and squeak when he sat in it and a picture of what was above the revolting false ceiling in the living room. Builders thought it was v.funny that I had to take an actual photo of the minute the ripping at the plasterboard ceiling started. The bath passed his test but sadly he is still waiting for a new chair, the old ones are as comfy as they are ugly, so we are not rushing that LOL.

 

[Feltwell]

hung with Kidderminster stuff - interesting but not pretty really.

Well I've learned something today. I wasn't sure whether you were using the word "stuff" in a vague way, to mean... well... stuff. So I googled Kidderminster Stuff. Lo and behold! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuff_%28cloth%29

The trouble is I now have another piece of information to forget. :roll:

I didn't know that either, and I've got less of an excuse as Kidderminster is just down t'road from here. I knew it was renowned for carpets, but not "stuff".

If you go to Kidderminster today and ask for some "stuff" you're more likely to be given something categorised as Class A and highly illegal I fear.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

Just dug out my copy of " Living Rooms", which is really excellent, and it was Plas Mawr where I saw the Kidderminster stuff - a merchant's house. It's on the inventory for the mid 17th C, and they've recreated it rather wonderfully. It goes up to dado height as well as the bed hangings:

I think it's something of a myth to imagine that only the wealthiest had complex decorative schemes long ago and everyone else whitewashed and had exposed beams, however I do appreciate that Gareth and Nigel and I are the only people on here interested in recreating past interior designs so I should shut up!!! And I'm not sure that even I could live with a full on mediaeval scheme.

But before I do, just to share something that the fine people at Cadw feel passionately about:

" this book strives to dispel the misconception that the people of pre-industrial Wales lived either in stark fortresses or filthy hovels, both alike devoid of colour, comfort and decoration. This notion, still assiduously promoted by films, television and novels, is inadvertently reinforced by the presentation of many older houses in Wales with bare stone walls, exposed timber framing - and where, it exists at all, battered and time-blackened furniture. At Plas Mawr, Cadw has pioneered the historically accurate and less misleading recreation of rooms with their original vibrant colours."

That paragraph can readily be applied to much of what happens in period properties in England too.

 

[Feltwell]

dispel the misconception that the people of pre-industrial Wales lived either in stark fortresses or filthy hovels

Pre-industrial? I thought they still did !

(Where's Wiggs gone these days? I need a willing Welsh resident to wind up! :wink: )

 

[lou]

Thanks everyone. That was an interesting read and just what I needed after the last few days...

Joce - thanks for very helpful references, pics etc. And, I think you are right to suggest trying out some more daring colours in the smaller rooms and passages. But I'm still not convinced that neutrals are definitely the way forward for the larger room so I am taking up the offer of free lime samples from Matthew of The House in the Enchanted Forest to try some things out and will post results, though any posts are likely to be a little while in the future as the floor is still dug out to accommodate the underfloor heating.

I have been seduced by the notion (read it somewhere) that limewash contains particles that reflect light and imagine a room glowing with glistening pinks or moody greens but perhaps my imagination exceeds the bounds of possibility where colour is concerned.

For further info, the room is relatively large for a house of the period at about 5m x 6m with three large and two small windows around three sides of the room. The floor will be dark flags and there are many oak beams and cross beams so it's pretty heavily laden with dark wood currently. Our CO suggest that the beams should be limewashed though there is absolutely no trace of limewash or anything else on on them currently. I'm not averse to this idea however and can wash off if it doesn't look good. A lighter ceiling in a similar colour may be one way to tackle this.

Off to Verona shortly so am likely to return with a new set of ideas. Fickle, me?

Feltwell: I am duly wound up!

 

[Penners]

" this book strives to dispel the misconception that the people of pre-industrial Wales lived either in stark fortresses or filthy hovels

Well I don't know whose misconception this refers to, but it's not mine.

I've never thought of the Welsh as living in stark fortresses.



Oh, come on Wiggs! That's two of us lobbing them at you. Where's that incisive Welsh wit, these days?

 

[Feltwell]

It would seem that the Welsh wit of Wiggs has wandered away......

 

[JoceAndChris]

I have been seduced by the notion (read it somewhere) that limewash contains particles that reflect light and imagine a room glowing with glistening pinks or moody greens but perhaps my imagination exceeds the bounds of possibility where colour is concerned.

For further info, the room is relatively large for a house of the period at about 5m x 6m with three large and two small windows around three sides of the room. The floor will be dark flags and there are many oak beams and cross beams so it's pretty heavily laden with dark wood currently. Our CO suggest that the beams should be limewashed though there is absolutely no trace of limewash or anything else on on them currently. I'm not averse to this idea however and can wash off if it doesn't look good. A lighter ceiling in a similar colour may be one way to tackle this.

Off to Verona shortly so am likely to return with a new set of ideas. Fickle, me?

Feltwell: I am duly wound up!

Are you sure your beams were visible when the house was first built? You wouldn't limewash something that was covered up. I may be wrong, but I thought it was pretty standard that they would be covered up by something - plaster - cloth - hence the CO's suggestion of softening them with limewash.

I may be entirely wrong though.

It sounds like your room is totally different to how I'd imagined it; can we have some pics? Have you got the Rose of Jericho charts? There are lots of pinks and greens on there that could look lovely - Pozzuoli Red looks promising, and Sung Green - and I'm sure limewashes and distempers do shift colour and reflect light differently so you might get away with stronger colours.

Good luck with all the difficult decisions, I look forward to hearing about it all and hopefully some pics!

 

[Penners]

Wouldn't it be easier just to paint it all white and buy yourself some coloured glasses?

 

[LadyArowana]

Wouldn't it be easier just to paint it all white and buy yourself some coloured glasses?

Splendid idea, perfect gift for your local CO, sent to his place of work right before a site vist.

 

[lou]

Genius! Rose-tinted for the CO and the full spectrum for me.

 

[Penners]

Don't forget the colour-coded bandana.