Wednesday 30 April 2014

The Top Ten Grey Country Kitchens

Grey kitchen AND country kitchen? Can it be done? 
Oooooh, yes!! 
This is a look that Modern Country Style does to perfection.

Here, in no particular order, are my current Top Ten Grey Country Kitchens...


Country kitchen... oak beams, cream aga and touches of grey blue



Freestanding Kitchen

Moody greys. A kitchen perfect for English light?

Practical layout | Step inside this traditional muted green kitchen | housetohome.co.uk | Mobile


 

Proof, if proof were needed, that a grey kitchen and a country kitchen can go hand in gloriously stylish hand.


Images via here

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Monday 28 April 2014

Colour Study: Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath

Inspired by Willow Crossley's Living Room, painted in Farrow and Ball's Elephant's Breath (what a name!), here is another colour study...

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath living room
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath living room

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath is soft, calming, warm neutral...here's the lowdown! Colour toning paint suggestions: (from top) Farrow and Ball All White, Slipper Satin, Elephant's Breath and Charleston Gray

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath Mood board
Farrow and Ball

{For information on my other Colour studies, click away...


Farrow and Ball Elephants Breath paint bedroom
Elephant's Breath bedroom

Farrow and Ball's paints are chalky, matt and delicious BUT are notoriously changeable in different lights. 

Farrow + Ball Elephants Breath paint in bedroom. Fabrics from fox linton and gp & j baker.
Bedroom in Elephant's Breath (Farrow and Ball)

This acts as a positive (enormous depth of colour, and instantly recognisable) but also makes some of colours pretty tricky to predict.

Kitchenpainted units in Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen

I've tried to eliminate this unpredictability as much as I possibly can for you by sourcing images that best reflect the results you should expect in different conditions.

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen

In soft (by which I mean overcast!) daylight, Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath can appear greige - a gentle mix of grey and beige...

Farrow & Ball Elephant's Breath hallway
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath in dark Victorian hall

However, give Elephant's Breath even a glimmer of lamplight and it can go in two different directions....

Paint : Elephant's Breath by Farrow & Ball bedroom
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath in artificial light

either a bruised lilac shade....

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bedroom
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bedroom

or a peachy brown...

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath paint bathroom
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath under light bulb

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath paint in bathroom panelling
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath under light bulb
Under cool, white halogen-type light, Elephant's Breath looks grey with delicate lilac undertones...

Elephants Breath by Farrow and Ball painted kitchen units
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen

Farrow & Ball's Elephant's Breath hallway
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath under halogen lighting in Victorian hallway

It's the unknown line between these variations that means Elephant's Breath gets VERY mixed reviews from shocked home-owners who haven't realised that this paint has a mind of its own!

elephant breath paint (farrow & ball)  living room
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bedroom

Farrow and Ball's description Elephant's Breath as 'an interpretation of this famously named colour by John Fowler. Use as a colour in its own right, or as part of a 'stone' scheme.' 

Elephants breath 229 farrow & ball paint
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath

What? What does that even mean?

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath Victorian hallway
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath under dado rail in Victorian hall
'Stone' is usually a euphemism for warm, brown-based neutrals, which will work beautifully with natural materials, think rattan, linen and wood, but less well with cool greys...

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath tongue and groove panelling bathroom
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath on bathroom tongue and groove panelling

It's worth being aware when looking at images like this...

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen

...that special lighting techniques will have been used, which may give a false impression of the real colour.

Contemporary kitchen in Farrow & Ball Elephant's Breath and Manor House Gray
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen

Even though the room has the lights on, more cool light will have been added from an off-picture source to give an additional effect.

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath panelling
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath panelling

This image below demonstrates what I mean. In the first room, the Farrow and Ball paint appears as a warm gray but if you peer carefully into the second, you'll see that in places, the paint takes on a definite lilac hue.

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath undervarious lighting conditions

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath is dark enough to work well as a floor colour...

floors painted Elephant's Breath by Farrow & Ball.
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath painted floor 

or as a darker woodwork foil to an airy room...

Beautiful Farrow & Ball Elephants Breath paint match in a 63mm slat size
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath woodwork

but still light enough to be used as an exterior wall paint colour. Here is Elephant's Breath with a Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray front door...

Front door is Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray with Elephants Breath house exterior walls.
Front door is Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray with Elephants Breath house exterior walls.

House exterior in Farrow & Ball Elephants Breath (walls), Charleston Gray ( front door), and Pointing.
Front door is Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray with Elephants Breath house exterior walls.

So whether your room is flooded with natural light, for a warm grey...

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bedroom paint
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bedroom

...or whether your intended room will need artificial lighting, which make Elephant's Breath lean towards a richer purple-toned brown...

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath Bathroom paint
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bathroom

Farrow and Balls Elephant Breath paint
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath 

...or, if you're looking, like me, for a new front door colour (the stark outside light giving a pale taupe finish to this front door in Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath)...

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath front door
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath front door

...you'll end up with a sophisticated, modern, yet pretty and warm space....

Farrow & Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen

...with Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath.


Images via: Willow Crossley, Wealden Times, idhomes, broad oak, woodwork, adam rogers, turquoise textiles, houzz, Bibsnbraces, BibsnBraces, paradise design, claire mcfadyen, klausandheidi, dcdesigncenter, unknown, inspired living, unknown, Hill Farm, The Wall Panelling Company, g, Willow and Stone, Willow and Stone, Beautiful Homes, Stone and Chrome, chalk farm home, murdoch joinery

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Friday 25 April 2014

Willow Crossley's Home: House Tour

Situated in a tiny Cotswold village, author Willow Crossley's home is a mixture of Manor House and cottage, whilst the palette of understated muted colours she has chosen make my Modern Country heart beat a little faster.... Shall we take a house tour?

Come with me through this beautiful beamed porch, taking note of the hydrangea wreath on the front door...

Wreath on door of Willow Crossley's home

At first glance, this room looks small and cosy but look again...see how teeny-tiny the sofas look in comparison to the fireplace. Willow Crossley has done a fantastic job at toning down the imposing double height ceiling, and creating a warm cottage-y vibe. The living room is painted in Farrow and Ball Pigeon.

Drawing room in Willow Crossley's home

The kitchen, with its bottle green Aga has units painted in Farrow and Ball's Elephant's Breath, and Willow has used Sanderson's Swallows wallpaper. 

Willow Crossley's Cotswolds home

The family room leads off the kitchen (also decorated with Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath paint)...can you spot the Cabbages and Roses cushions?

The living room in Willow Crossley's Cotswolds home

 and into the conservatory, strung with simple fairy lights...and a hot air balloon!

The conservatory in Willow Crossley's home

More cushions from Cabbages and Roses fill the sofa in the bedroom...

Master bedroom at Willow Crossley's Cotswolds home

Hand-painted walls in a paisley design create a snug attic-chic space...

The spareroom in Willow Crossley's Cotswold home

Willow Crossley's office is lined with Cabbage and Roses Hatley wallpaper...

Willow Crossley's office in her Cotswolds home

The gardens contains enormous yew topiary, and parterre, with an ancient well.

Willow Crossley's cotswolds cottage exterior

The mellow stone and rolling surrounding countryside remind me why I love living in the Cotswolds...


Images via The Telegraph

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