Farrow & Ball - which colour scheme?! (pic inc)

[cazzyc]

Please help. We have decorators coming soon and I need to decide. We have an old cottage (see pic for an example of part of the landing) and I want to paint the woodwork a darker colour than the walls but I can't decide between the following:

1. Shaded White on woodwork and then a trade white on walls - is white going to be too stark and Shaded White too lacking in real contrast to the white?

1. A darker grey (Cornforth White or Hardwick White) on woodwork and then a very pale greyish white on walls such as Weber or Ammonite - but will this look traditional enough?

1. Another option? PLEASE SUGGEST. I don't like creamy or yellowy colours.

[TheRollingCrone]

I think you need to get test pots on the walls, and see what it looks like at different times of the day, F&B never looks the same twice (IYKWIM).

[cazzyc]

I've used some tester pots, so i know what they all look like, it's more the combination of the wood and wall colours that is troubling me. Also, I want to use the same scheme throughout the house, so it's less reliant on how it looks in one particular room.

[TheRollingCrone]

I love the Cornforth with ammonite! Lovely room, it will look heavenly all through the house

[Waitingforsherlock]

Hardwick white transformed our unwelcoming living room into a really cosy space. Ceiling is painted in Stony Ground, skirtings, doors etc an off white. It was painted six years ago and I still love it.

I also have Shaded White, lovely but not as warm.

[Bluntness100]

Oh don't paint the lovely old wood out. Do you mean the doors and windows?you will totally devalue your property. You paint things like eighties pine, you don't paint old wood like that, 😞😞😞

[ArriettyClock1]

My house looks very similar to yours from that photo.

We used to have Cornforth White in our kitchen and it's now All White.

But as Waitingforsherlock said, Hardwick White is lovely - our sitting room, upstairs hallway and study are painted in this and I am leaning towards painting the entire house in it.

[Bluntness100]

Have your floor boards sanded and varnished. They will come up a pale honey colour. Have the ceiling beams sandblasted if you wish to lighten it, even the doors they will come up very pale too. But don't hide the wood. Honestly. It's a feature.

[GinAndOnIt]

It is absolutely gorgeous as it is. Honestly. We live in a cottage that has had all wood doors etc painted white, and it makes us so sad. It would be so much work to strip them back. I know it makes it feel darker, but I think these cottages aren't designed to be bright and airy.

[cazzyc]

I don't propose to paint the floors or the beams! Sorry for the misleading post - I mean the windows and the doors which are modern and cheap pine installed in the nineties. These aren't original doors and they are very knotty and stained.

[Bluntness100]

Ah I thought the windows and doors were the originals 😂

[cazzyc]

No, there are no original doors left - they are cheaper wood, with loads of knots and have been stained dark. I truly think that they are not adding value being left as they are. The photo may be misleading, but they are very orange in real life.

[trixymalixy]

I think you should go with option 2, darker grey on the woodwork.

[PointlessUsername]

Option 2

[ArseyTussle]

I have Shadow White and love it, depending on the light it can look greeney grey or creamy greeny beige. But our house get lots of light. Would that work for you, with Shaded White as your woodwork colour, or is that not enough contrast?

Shadow White and Worsted are a nice combo. As is Shadow White and Purbeck Stone.

I don't like yellowy creams either, or browns.

[cazzyc]

Thanks ArseyTussle - I don't think there will be enough contrast with Shadow and Shaded White as I've considered this before; I will take a look at your other suggestions though, thanks so much.

[daro]

i have hardwick white and love it. Not in a old house like yours mind you. It is definitely not a white white.