Glorious Colour

Article by Cate Burren, of Angel + Blume, for Velvet Magazine (June 2018)

This article first appear in Velvet magazine in it’s June 2018 issue

What colours do you like? It should be such a simple question really, shouldn’t it? But when it comes to decorating, even the biggest brained of the population can feel some considerable distance outside of their comfort zones when faced with a paint chart. Of course I know that it is not the most vexatious of situations in the world, but there is a very certain disappointment in discovering that you hate the colour scheme of your freshly decorated room.

My firm belief with most aspects of creating a beautiful interior space is that no one element should be dominant – the overall effect should be what you and others see, with components revealing themselves as the eye examines what it is in front of it. Paint colours may or may not be noticed as part of what makes a space work, but if they shout louder than anything else, they are probably wrong, and certainly the room is out of balance. Therefore the paint selection must be made with the main elements such as flooring, furnishings, fabrics, artwork and so on, in mind.

The quantity of colour that you want is also something to be aware of. Some of us love colour and lust after layers and depths of colour that others couldn’t live with. Some of us want very little at all and there is nothing wrong with either but once you know what you want, it is important to keep an eye on the amount of colour in a scheme and therefore the combinations and contrasts of colour that you feel happy with.

So how on earth do you create the right paint scheme for you? Well, there are some easy tricks that I would strongly recommend as a basis for getting started.

1. Firstly, forget trends. It’s good design advice generally – why be dictated to by those who don’t know your personal taste? If you don’t like grey but you do like yellow right at the moment, good for you – yellow isn’t currently fashionable but it is used to perfection in some of the smartest houses I know and it is my firm belief that all colours can look current if used properly.
2. Use decent paint. There is a reason that some paints are twice the price of others and it is to do with the quality of the ingredients and the time and effort that has gone into producing a beautiful range of colours. Finding a range of paints that you like will save you time in selecting your preferred colours and will also help you to find hues that work well together. Don’t even consider having a colour of paint mixed up in a cheaper range – the cost saving that you make (which is small because most of the cost involved in decorating is labour – either paying someone or doing it yourself which is time you could have spent in other ways) is small compared to having to redecorate when you realise that the mix is just wrong enough to not work.
3. Invest in sample pots. The colour of paint on a chart is deceptively different to what the actual paint will look like in your room as colours next to each other alter what you see, so don’t ever decide on a paint colour until you have purchased a small sample pot and viewed the actual paint on the actual surface it is intended for. I would start with putting the paint on a piece of paper as lots of splodges of paint on the wall will not only be annoying to paint over but the colours will also affect each other as they do on the colour chart. Only paint on the intended surface when you are pretty sure you have got the right colour.
4. Consider the light. Both changes to the light during the day and the difference between daylight and artificial light will have an impact on the colour of the paint. If you have put your sample of paint on very sunny wall, you may find you feel differently about it when you see it on a poorly lit wall or at night. An added benefit of starting off with your sample paint on a piece of paper is that you can move it around the room to see how it alters.
5. It’s not just about the walls. A wall colour will look very different depending on what colour you put on the woodwork (skirting boards, door frame etc.) and the ceiling. So for example, if you choose a darker wall colour and you have a darker wooden floor, a white skirting board will create a strong stripe effect between the two that you may not want. Do not simply assume that ceilings and woodwork will be in white. That approach can work but often a blend of colours works better. The eye tends to go to where colours change so if you want to draw attention to say, a beautiful cornicing at the top of the wall, you may well want to put it in a contrasting colour. If a ceiling feels low in a room, painting it in an obviously contrasting colour will draw attention to this where a blend or even painting the walls and ceiling the same colour would help to disguise this. Remember also that there may be a host of other areas in the room that you might want to consider paint colours for – the outside of bath, the inside of a cupboard, a fireplace, furniture – all the colours will make an impact on each other and are best considered as a whole.

 I know that it all sounds like very hard work and it is, at the outset, but a well decorated room makes such a huge difference that I think all the initial effort pays off, and will hopefully avoid having to repaint anything, which is a depressing job at the best of times.

A strong paint colour on the wall blends with the rich furnishing fabrics and dark wood floor and provides a strong contrast with the crisp white woodwork of the door and frame. The wall colour is Teal and the woodwork is Glacier Grey. Both by Zoffany.