Farrow & Ball decorating feedback thread - find out how the MNers get on with their paint and at the colour talk - non testers: chance to win paint! NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

This is the thread for the lucky MNers and bloggers who attended an event at a Farrow & Ball showroom to find out all about colour in the home and who have then been sent paint and product from Farrow & Ball to decorate a room at home.

Non testers - for a chance to win 10 litres of either Modern Emulsion or Estate Emulsion paint from Farrow & Ball (colour of your choosing) please share on this thread the room in your house you'd most like to decorate - what colour scheme you'd use and why you want to decorate it. Add your comment to this thread by Monday 26th January and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win 10 litres of either Modern Emulsion or Estate Emulsion paint from Farrow & Ball (worth up to c£144, depending on what's chosen).

At the event there was a special inspirational colour talk from their International Colour Consultant Joa Studholme - she also gave MNers and bloggers advice on schemes and colours.

Participants - please answer the following questions.

At the event:
a) How informative/inspirational did you find the initial colour talk with Joa and the rest of the F&B team?
b) Please share the most interesting piece of colour advice or decorating tip you learnt on the day?
c) What did you find the most interesting aspect of our colour talk?
d) How do you think we could improve our colour talk event? (Please consider the venue, refreshments, structure etc?)

Now on the colour advice / selecting a colour scheme
a) Where do you normally go to find inspiration when deciding on a colour scheme for your chosen room/s? (Please think about Farrow & Ball websites, social media, magazines, websites showroom staff etc?)
b) Which source do you normally find the most inspirational and which is no good! Would you like more places to get inspiration and what form would they take?

F&B products
Which room(s) did you decorate?
a) Please describe your experience of using Farrow & Ball paints to decorate your room from first opening the tin, to completing the project and seeing the results?
~ think about ease of application, product quality, depth of colour and finish etc...
b) After your experience would you consider using Farrow & Ball paint in your home again? If so, why? If not, why not?
c) Now that you?ve used Farrow & Ball paint, how likely would you be to recommend it to a friend? And why?

Any other comments?

Please do also share your photos on this thread!

Thanks
MNHQ
UPDATE:
Video all edited and beautiful here:

AND amazing comp here

Non tester here. The room I would most like to decorate is my younger sons shared bedroom. At the moment it is just a basic white (not farrow and ball. and having just separated the bunk beds it needs renovating and I would like to be a bit adventurous.

I am keen to paint the 2 alcoves in Hague Blue to add depth and interest to the room. We are an artistic family and have lots of pictures which I would like to mount largely on the 2 darker alcove spaces leaving the central space over the fireplace free to hang a mirror. For the other walls (including the part of wall that has the fireplace) I would choose Light Blue - it looks serene (ideal for a bedroom) and the fact that it can also look grey or green really appeals to me as I love both.
There are lots of colourful accents in this room (such as the crochet rug, lamps, toys and artwork) and I think they would really pop against these blue wall shades.
Furthermore I think as my boys grow they won't tire of these colours quickly.
The entrance doorway into the room is opposite the bed seen on the left and is set into a third alcove - i would also consider painting this in The Hague Blue.

Pleased I'm not the only one who was delayed getting this project completed by Christmas and bugs.

I really enjoyed the colour talk but then I was privileged to be enjoying a rare child free afternoon. I wouldn't imagine I would have enjoyed it as much with a child because the room wasn't suited to an event with children - having said that the children there behaved incredibly well and didn't disturb me so I don't think children attending is the problem but a bit more space would be nice.

Everyone else has mentioned how it would be nicer to see examples in 'normal' rooms and I agree with this. That didn't stop the images being a great demonstration of how really small things like painting or not painting a picture rail could make such a huge difference. Joa's talk was fascinating and even though I often look at house magazines and pinterest boards I felt I learnt so much!

I have posted all about my experience using the Farrow & Ball paints here...

www.familyfourfun.co.uk/2015/01/farrow-ball.html

I am completely sold even though I wouldn't say it was easy to paint with, I had to do 3 coats to get really good coverage although that was directly onto white paint so no different to 2 + primer. There was barely any smell from the paint and I love how my room looks different as the light changes. I will use Farrow & Ball colours in other rooms.

Non-tester: I'd like to decorate my mum's spare room for her. She's been talking about doing it for ages so her grandchildren have somewhere really nice to stay and so she would also have a nice room to do her crafting in. Shes had a breast cancer diagnosis, breast reconstruction and a hysterectomy all in the last 18 months so would love to be able to make a nice room for her that she could relax in.

The room I would most like to decorate is our living room. We've just moved house and are building an extension to create a kitchen/living area so it would be great to be able to bring the new space to light with some fantastic paint. Not sure exactly what colour but I am liking the shade of 'Cornforth White' and think this would look great in our new living area.

Thanks for all the comments, feedback and ideas for room decoration!
Am pleased to say the tester who wins a £200 voucher is museumworker
and the NON TESTER who wins the paint is Theimpossiblegirl

Well done!

Yay! Thanks very much. DH has a week off work soon so can paint the hall!
:)

Well done theimpossiblegirl

F&B have been in touch and I have requested House White. DH is off the week after next so will be painting the hallway.

Thanks Mumsnet & Farrow and Ball. I'll take pics.
:)

Yes, do! I got so excited by my plan I'm going to save up for the paint and do it anyway.

This morning I upcycled an old chair I found on a skip - painted it in Plummett and Charlotte's Locks. It looks fantastic - I never would have thought F&B would do a great orange, but Charlotte's Locks is a beautiful burnt orange, just lovely.

I'm sorry this is so late, but I have finally finished my room and can give feedback. I'll attach the photos separately (as I'm at work).

At the event:
a) How informative/inspirational did you find the initial colour talk with Joa and the rest of the F&B team?

really good. She had so many tips and the photos she showed were really helpful. She also had some brililant ideas for my room which I wouldn't have thought about.

b) Please share the most interesting piece of colour advice or decorating tip you learnt on the day?

probably really common sense, but it was to paint up to the ceiling to make the room look bigger - so don't paint the down to picture rail in the ceiling colour, but paint up to the ceiling in the wall colour. Also her tip on how to make the front door look bigger (paint the frame in the same colour).

c) What did you find the most interesting aspect of our colour talk?

all of it.

d) How do you think we could improve our colour talk event? (Please consider the venue, refreshments, structure etc?)

venue was a bit cramped I'm afraid. and no wifi (for those of us that were, er, working from home that day).

Also the individual consultation was fantastic.

Now on the colour advice / selecting a colour scheme
a) Where do you normally go to find inspiration when deciding on a colour scheme for your chosen room/s? (Please think about Farrow & Ball websites, social media, magazines, websites showroom staff etc?)

I haven't done this for years. Now I use Pinterest and also Living Etc (but probably more so, the webisites Houzz and House to Home).

b) Which source do you normally find the most inspirational and which is no good! Would you like more places to get inspiration and what form would they take?

I don't use magazines anymore, like I would have done years ago.

F&B products
Which room(s) did you decorate?

• our hallway, stairs. I wasn't expecting to get picked and this involved taking down an internal wall, pulling up carpets and sanding all floors. Alot of work!

a) Please describe your experience of using Farrow & Ball paints to decorate your room from first opening the tin, to completing the project and seeing the results?
~ think about ease of application, product quality, depth of colour and finish etc...

I think the primer was very good. It went on easily. Floor paint also really good - we have only needed 2 coats and it looks fantastic. Woodwork paint and wall paint less good - I think that you need 3 coats to make it look ok. we have picked the wrong colour for our door too.

But there's no smell and its easy to wash off things.

b) After your experience would you consider using Farrow & Ball paint in your home again? If so, why? If not, why not?

yes, I need to do the rest of the stairs and passage (upstairs) in the same colour!

c) Now that you?ve used Farrow & Ball paint, how likely would you be to recommend it to a friend? And why?

I need to live with it a bit first. I need to see how goot it is with little handprints and also how hard wearing the floor is.

SOrry this has taken me so long to post - it has taken us a long time to do, but thanks so much for picking me.

I'll put some photos on later- and I need to upload the video too I think somewhere. (After dd has edited it maybe!).

Thanks for picking me!

I have a friend who got in a F&B consultant to her lovely home the other day. She said spending an hour an half sipping Pellegrino while discussing different shades of white was the most outrageously self-indulgent, fantastically pleasurable thing she has ever done

Video all edited and beautiful here:

AND amazing comp here

I really want to get the smallest room in the house decorated and that is my upstairs toilet, I have some mickey mouse wall paper at the ready, but need some paint to tone in with it to make it a little brighter and cleaner than the current pink stripes!