4th time around

For the last seven weeks I have been working on a house for some old clients. This is the fourth property I have done for them, and one which I have really enjoyed. Basically, they had a house re-modelled and extended and painted top to bottom in white - already for me! It's a dream job because I know what they like and they completely trust me and really let me do what I want !
When I first arrived there were about 10 tradesmen there so I 'just painted some furniture white'!  While doing this the client showed me the colours she wanted and we discussed ideas. Basically the whole colour palette comes from the carpet which is on the stairs and landing.

 The colours range from ecru, through beige and greys to charcoal with a grey blue stripe. It's not very easy to see but they are really all neutrals apart from the blue and charcoal.
The main objective was to keep the house feeling like their property in Spain - quite fresh and light !
We decided early on that the hall should be the grey blue colour, right from the front door up to the son's attic room. The client mentioned baby blue for the daughter's room but I felt this was wrong so came up with the following solution.

I painted blue around the windows and door frame and ran a border connecting them. Around the blue I left about an inch of white then the rest of the walls are colour washed in a shade from the stripy carpet. The carpet in all the bedrooms tones with the hall carpet perfectly so it also connects with the walls. In the ensuite I reversed it - the neutral border around the window and rest of the walls in blue.
Then I added a daisy in various random places along the blue border.

The colour above the blue is the same as below but washed out so that the room doesn't look too boxy. There is no coving as the client didn't want any; and no ceiling light either, just lamps that all come on with the flick of a switch. These ideas she has brought over from Spain and really help to keep the look simple.  This is also the furniture I painted which last time we did cream and really distressed - now it's just white !
The clients were really pleased so it was onto the next room - the master suite.

In all of the properties we have done these stripes. The first time around was in the main bedroom, the next time in a spare room and last time in the daughter's bedroom in Spain. Here I have run thinner stripes in the hallway (which has a door to the en-suite) and then painted larger stripes in the main room and dressing area. Once again they tone with the carpet although there was more yellow ochre in the mix.

In the ensuite I just used the same colour allover, no stripes, as these would have been competing with the tiles. The client already had the pictures which look perfect.

Going in to take these photos (when I was painting there was no furniture or carpet) was like walking into a hotel suite- very luxurious, but still with a very cosy, homely feel and perfect for my clients !

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