These paint effects are not for everyone. I spent years building up colour on walls with at least three different shades, to provide something luxurious and akin to wallpaper, but without the joints. My current clients love the uneveness of a simple one colour colourwash. In fact the more uneven the paint is on the walls, the more they like it. In the photos this seems to be emphasised even more.
The hall, stairs and landing. My client chose a high quality laminate for the whole of the ground floor, that tones perfectly with the carpet and I painted all the walls in the grey/blue shade of the stripy carpet. I absolutely love this colour - I think it is the nicest one I have ever mixed up. It doesn't feel cold atall but cool, fresh and light. (Bearing in mind this was a grey day in England !) At the bottom of the walls I painted the same glaze twice more up to 16" high to build up the colour and basically to give the walls more punch so that they weren't lost against the flooring.
The kitchen. I stone blocked the mantle around the cooker. If there was an upstand then a colourwash would have worked but as there isn't I felt it needed something more. I tried to tie together the colours of the granite worktop with the glass splashback which is a bit green for my liking. I do try and advise but at the end of the day I'm not an interior designer, just the decorator and when I've finished and walked away my clients need to feel comfortable in their own home.
Entering the kitchen there is an annex which now has a bureau and is used by all the family. I wanted to give this area definition and they took a chance on my idea of horizontal stripes. As you walk into the kitchen the stripes can only be seen on the right, so they don't compete with the stone blocking etc.
When you look back the other way you get a different feeling. Once again they were highly delighted and it definately gives the wow factor they like.
The tv also works well against the stripes, which won't compete with much else when they sit down against the opposite wall on the leather sofa they have ordered. Above the sofa are four paintings I did years ago and which originally hung in my cafe. They are on permenant loan - which means they can stay here for as long as they want unless I feel I want them back. We're all happy because I have no room for them at home.
I painted the spare room with a simple effect that I have done before. I just leave about a 6cm gap at the corner of each wall and around the ceiling, skirting and door frames, so that there is a white border, which I then emphasise with a tiny painted line on the edge of the colour. It works in really simple rooms and this is literally a box with one window and one door (and as, yet no proper furniture).
In the sons bedroom in the loft I didn't do too much. I wanted to keep it light and painting the sloping walls would have meant painting the ceiling, just because of the way the walls are. I did a simple border - grey ( the colour of the ensuite tiles) and then blue and then a putty colour to match the carpet.
So, the last of the five rooms - the dining room. My client bought the furniture years before, for a house that they lived in, that was partly built in 1789 ! The style went well there, but in the new house seemed too old fashioned and my client had actually gone off it. She told me she wanted to fall in love with it again. I wanted to do something richer than all the other rooms, but not dark and not too full of colour. I chose wall panels, and made a stencil from the patterns in the carpet. The colour has more yellow ochre in it but still ties with the other rooms and the furniture now doesn't feel out of place. My clients were once again happy people !
Before and after !
So, the house is nearly done, only the cloakroom and the lounge to show you. But in the last few weeks I have also painted the kitchen tables and chairs, the furniture in their daughter's room, an occasional table, a mirror, a candle sconce, a watering can and the walls of the summerhouse ! There is no other house where I have done so much, but I am indeed grateful and happy with the results.
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