Colourists please help!!!

[LemonSwan]

I am loosing my mind with this.

Hallway north facing - basically no light at ground level, some natural light comes through from the large gallery in the stairs. This added contrast in a way makes the darkness downstairs look even more extreme by comparison.

currently painted in decorators brilliant white. Floor is black and white. It’s like walking into a real life version of Schroeder’s stairs. Way too much black, grey and white!

Decorators Brilliant white is coming out cold and grey downstairs. Quite nice upstairs but obviously very ahhh white!

Put a tester of james white on - this is coming out as a cross between bone and mizzle, or a lighter version of french gray.

Put a tester of Wimborne white - this is coming out the colour of somewhere between white tie & new white.

Where do I go with this? There’s obviously not enough whites in F&B to get where we need to go (the direction or destination I am becoming increasingly confused about).

Any ideas?

Would be so grateful!

What about wallpaper?

That's lush! I may have to buy a gallon or two of that for sure

We have little greene tusk in our north facing dining room and all of upstairs - it's absolutely gorgeous and brings a real warmth to being north facing. We started off with dulux rock salt upstairs and seeing the difference, splashed out on having the tusk everywhere.

Try China Clay from Little Greene. It was a pinky white that I had in my last house.

I think colour will work best too as we have given up with whites in a room which is bright but with grey reflections from outside. But Little Greene have a new (ish) white called Silent White Pale which is a lovely milk white. Quite bright but not harsh and I don’t think would go grey.

The other day I discovered the F&B archive colours archive and a blue-green called Coppice blue which they describe as a deep teal www.farrow-ball.com/archived-paint/coppice-blue

I wish I had seen the F&B archive sooner. Lots of nice blue-greens/ green-blues in the F&B archive Sloe, Mere Green. I wish I could afford to try them all.

Also lots of archive colours I have only just discovered at Little Greene when I was in ‘paint finishes’ intelligent eggshell and selected a colour

Dulux Heritage Boathouse Blue is gorgeous.

Thanks @repatexpat but wallpaper is absolutely out. Walls are 6m high in the corner over stairs and we are still terrorised from the wallpaper removal when we first arrived. 🤣

Thanks all I am going to continue the search.

Blues are the only colour coming true so that makes most sense but it’s such a big space and so strong with the black and white it might be all too imposing? (Can’t describe but am worried about an extreme nautical impression 🤣

I think DP is right that to make it work it would have to be slightly knocked back in a way like Teresa’s Green is for us.

Personally having seen the pinks in there now I think that’s the direction I want to go down. DP not convinced still. China Clay actually looks like that might be perfect as a slightly lighter less red version.

I do love all the other greige off white type neutrals you are all suggesting. They are my absolute fav colours! but the undertones are so powerful in our hall it’s literally a complete gamble until I have bought the testers and I am not sure I can spend that much on playing a strange game of pluck the colour out of a hat 🤣

Ok spent all day staring at the colours again.

Have decided China clay looks too grey and washed out.

Am going to try LG Masquerade series to try to get a lighter version of Setting Plaster.

Until tomorrow my fellow colourists 😘

Woo to update today has been a success day!

Hitting home runs with LG

Masquerade Light is the perfect little sister to Setting plaster.

Clay Pale is looking glorious

Tried a number of others from the Beauvious Lilac series and one called Stone-warm- pale but they are not right.

Still have silent white, slaked lime and China clay series to sample but run out of paint brushes. Feel we are moving in the direction of a colour scheme for not just the hallway but the whole home 🥳

Does it have to be F&B?

i really liked the idea of setting plaster but couldn’t get a tester pot. Instead I’ve used Wickes Soft Cashmere in a west facing hallway. It’s a lovely soft neutral that you somehow only see it’s a colour when you look at the white ceiling (which we had painted in Dulux timeless rather than bright white) and see the actual difference.
It’s somehow a non-colour colour.
my stairs and woodwork are black and it sets it off really nicely so your eye is drawn to them and not the walls.

So to report back the hallway is now PINK 🤣

Never thought I would have a pink hallway but there we are.

It’s masquerade series from LG. Varying shades on the colour scale to deal with the different light levels but give an overall FB setting plaster effect. Woodwork Brilliant white and the door is going to be in an off black (potentially red based black).

Have realised red based is the way to go. Doing another room on that facing in LG Clay pale and that’s coming it true to colour as well.

Thank you lords and ladies of your subsequent manors 😘

I was thinking Wevet but glad you found one , or the new tailor tack it’s pink they say I’m having a awful time picking for my new dark kitchen !!

Loving the mood board @MrsPaulaMichelle

Omg do not get me started on the new f&b colours!!! So many stunners. Wish they had released earlier they were bringing new colours and I would of held out to see what they were. I think tailor tack would have been perfect, perhaps even whirlybird too as green blues were coming true. Or Kind of wish we had gone darker now with setting plaster.

Am sure we will get it right eventually!

And your mood board is stunning @MrsPaulaMichelle