Regular readers may remember that we gave our living room a black feature wall a while back and although I’ve loved it and all its inky blackness, the problem has been with the rest of the walls. I didn’t feel confident enough – or that I would want to – have black emulsion on all four walls, but living with children and pets means the neutral colour on the other walls just doesn’t stay clean! I’m forever discovering a new dirty smudge to try and remove or paint over.
So after a bit of deliberation, we decided to go mid-dark all over and fashionable Stiffkey Blue from Farrow & Ball seemed an ideal choice:
Inspired by the north Norfolk beach where the mud and cockles are this shade of blue, it is a deep hue that looks different in certain lights. In the daylight it is rich and warm (yes, blue can feel warm!) and at night it’s all moody and cosy.
Farrow & Ball paint is a firm favourite with many home enthusiasts and interior design bloggers that I follow, but this was our first time using it. So did it meet expectations? Well, yes. We found it easy to use, the consistency being neither runny nor too thick and the pigmentation was good and even. After we rollered on a couple of coats, cutting in around the edges of the room with a small brush, it had worked its magic and transformed the room, giving it not only a new look but a different feel. This particular shade of blue really enhances all the wood we have in our living room, too – it all seems to glow with warmth now.
I had wondered whether our grey sofa would go with the new colour, but I needn’t have worried as I think they partner beautifully. I even felt like an extra pop of colour could be introduced and so when I saw some nice cushions at Matalan recently in gold velour, they seemed ideal.
The room isn’t quite finished yet as I will be adding some wall art above the sofa (you can see an update here) and I would really like to change the curtains eventually, perhaps to something with a gold geometric pattern or even go for roman blinds which would probably suit the angled bay window we have. Linen curtains from 3HLinen make a great addition to room’s interior. Here, you can select high-quality natural linen curtains with various types of headings, colours, and linings to perfectly complement your space.
The question in my mind is whether to paint the skirting board and picture rail, either in Stiffkey Blue or a contrasting shade of Farrow & Ball paint (shown below with woodwork in Brassica). It might be nice, rather than keeping to traditional white.
Food for thought! What would you do?
For info about the gallery wall, go to this post next. Why not pin this post for later?
Collaborative post – the paint was provided by Farrow & Ball for this project and blog review
© Copyright 2017 Antonia, All rights Reserved. Written For: Tidylife
Fabulous makeover, the blue works so well and I love the addition of the gold cushions.
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Ah, thank you – nice to hear your feeback! x
This is beautiful Antonia,
You really did a great job there, the colour is just perfect. I especially love the look in the second and third picture and I’m already thinking i should also give my room same colour 🙂
I will love to see how everything turns out when it’s finished. Might consider imitating you if you don’t mind 🙂
Thanks for sharing and more strengths to your elbows.
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Thank you, I would be flattered! 🙂
What a gorgeous colour! Love it. And the gold cushions look fab.
Thank you so much!
Hi Antonia.
Loved the colour and I’m thinking of using it in my bedroom. My conundrum has been the choice of wood for the bedroom furniture. Yours matches perfectly. What wood is that? It looks Walnut ish? Hope you can help.
Simon
Hi there, thanks – glad you like 🙂 The 1940s cabinet is Walnut, I believe, yes. We have mostly warm wood in the room and I think any mid-toned, rich wood finishes work well with this particular paint colour. I’d recommend taking a look at https://blog.making-spaces.net/ for more rooms with dark walls to give you further inspiration.
Brilliant
Thank you!
Your room looks beautiful. just bought some stiffkey blue and was thinking of a new grey sofa so you’ve solve the problem. The Walmart looks great too. Well done.