Blue/black. Love it or loathe it?

We've just about finished the front room now bar the odd picture or two.

I think I like it.....

I argued with myself over colour along the fireplace wall. Too dark? Wrong shade all together?

The thing is, sometimes you just have to go for it. It's only a painted wall after all. I can change it relatively inexpensively if I decide it's not right. At the moment, I think it is.

I'll start with the 'before' picture taken from the agent's details. Very brown!

Fortunately this room is triple aspect and therefore benefits from lots of natural light. As a result we could afford to introduce some dark, bold colour. Sticking with a bit of a theme....though I try to avoid too much 'theming' I introduced some citrus zing via cushions and will in time bring in some further colour with pictures.

I didn't really want white walls everywhere, despite having originally planned to have white walls everywhere! We tested lots of wall colours including purples and greens but eventually plumped for Farrow and Ball 'Railings' along the chimney breast wall. Though this looks black on this photo, it is actually an intense blue. I don't really go for blue and black together, but on this occasion it actually helps that the wood burner is black as it clearly shows the blue in the wall if that makes sense.  

 

I don't know if any of you have seen that new Interior Designer challenge show that has been on recently, where amateur designers are let loose on members of the public's homes...presented by the woman that was a dealer on 4 Rooms? Anyway. Last week, one of the rooms featured a black wall and one of my friends happened to comment asking why anyone would paint a wall black?

 

Given that the room was quite small and quite traditional in style, I would agree. Black was completely wrong. Any kind of feature wall in a dark or bold print needs space and preferably light to sit comfortably. I'm not sure where they found these amateur designers, but I would have cried had they done any of the things they did on my house!

 

We haven't been out and bought new furniture for this room and so I have mixed a few more traditional items from the cottage with some slightly more contemporary touches. Margo, the cat, has a new cushion!

 

Wood burner - Charnwood www.charnwood.com

Stove and hearth fitting - www.eglow.org

Paint - Farrow and Ball 'Railings' - www.farrow-ball.com

Sofas - Ikea

Cushions - John Lewis and Oka www.okadirect.com

Flooring - engineered, oiled oak.