Want to paint the house all one colour, not PBW, something warmer? F&B?

[FlingonTheValiant]

I think one colour will be easier as the rooms are on the smaller size, so I don't want to have lots of half-used tins of paint. Also this way I can brighten things up using furniture, curtains etc without worrying that it's clashing.

The house is one room deep so most rooms have windows on both sides, NW and SE.

I'd like something neutral, but warmer than white. Ideally something that could have warm greens or blues with it. And not too yellow.

If we're having the one colour DH has agreed to F&B as there'll be less paint wastage.

So who knows there F&B colours inside out? What would you recommend please?

runs to get F&B colour wheel

How pale do you want to keep it?

Pointing is a nice neutral thats very pale still but still warm.

Stay away from James White - green tinge very cold. Off White has green undertones too. Lime White more yellowy (although lovely).

Slipper Satin (very warm neutral and anything goes with it - I have it with a duck egg blue sofa in my kitchen and it goes - although I have plans to replace it with Pale Powder...)

Dimity - havn't used it myself but very warm colour (not sure how it would go with blues and greens though).

p.s do you have woodwork you are doing too in same/different colour?

There's not woodwork in the skirting/picture rail sense, but there are lots of beams and some wood panelling.

The wood panelling is currently varnished pine so that will definitely be stripped and repainted (in blues or greens). The beams are painted white, so I plan to strip those and then see whether they're nice enough leave, but if it turns out they're not so attractive then they'll also be green/blue.

I like the look of Slipper Satin and Dimity. Good to know about James White, it looks nice on the website.

Lime White looks lovely, and not too yellow on my colour card, is it more yellowy on a larger scale, do you think?

I suppose to go with green/blue I'm after neutral grey tones, which I think Slipper Satin and Off White both are.

I wondered about Skimming Stone?

It's a cottage, so I'd like a sort of country/coastal feel.

Pale, but definitely not white IYSWIM. I think Pointing is too pale.

Should ceiling always be a different colour? I did have Slipper Satin earmarked for ceilings.

Gosh it's so hard to pick between neutrals!

Thanks for your help :)

Slipper satin goes with everything not yellow which I think is key to a neutral.

How dark a green/blue do you want to go for on the woodwork? Something along the lines of Dix Blue or much paler like Pale Powder? (btw the new colour Cabbage White is a beautiful colour, but its a definite blue rather than green/blue. Very fresh and bright though.

Ceiling colour depends on the join between wall and ceiling. Some cottages have a curved join meaning its difficult have a join between two colours. If you can have separate colours though then I think different coloured ceilings are quite nice. Especially if the ceiling colour is more pale (off white and slipper satin would make a nice combo IMO though).

Skimming Stone is a definite grey. More cool than warm I'd say but a nice colour.
I've found Lime White is one of those colours that varies a lot in different lights so may not be too yellow in your house. The best thing to do (with all the colours) is buy a roll of cheap lining paper, and cut out 0.5x0.5m square and paint the sample paint onto these. It means that you can move it around in different rooms, hang it up, see it in different lights. It also means you avoid turning your house into a patchwork of paints AND you can keep the sheet for future use when you next want to redecorate!

Have you looked at shaded white? Can be yucky or lovely depending on what light you have.

I think Skimming Stone is a really good neutral.I am painting my kitchen units in it-it looks quite warm in my house.Its actually very similar to the colour of Ikea stat white units that i have in my utility.Alternatively Strong White is a good all-round neutral.I have used pointing for ceilings and woodwork in my house.Blackened and Shaded White are also really good colours in certain environments.I'm afraid you need to buy testers and see what colours look best under your lighting conditions.When i moved into my house [albeit 10 years ago] i painted all of mine Dulux Gardenia [and didn't regret it].

manchurian - I was thinking something along the lines of Parma Gray for the blue and Cooking Apple for green, but I've not seen them in the flesh so I'd need to test them. Dix Blue is lovely too. I like Cabbage White as well What would you combine it with?

Actually I'm worried that Off White might be too yellow, I just looked on the website and it looks very yellow-cream in the room shot.

teta - I was wondering about Blackened, it looks very nice too. Is it warm in your opinion?

I know going to need lots of testers, but I'm trying to narrow it down so I don't have to test the entire neutral range

Ideally I'd like to whittle it down to about 5 and then a couple of blues and greens.

Thanks everyone :)

Tallow is nice, pale but creamy when the sun shines on it.

Oh, nice - I think it may be a bit too yellow though.

Ringwold Ground looks nice too.

So many nice colours... so few walls...

have skimming stone in living room - repainted after archive turned out too yellow. warm, but not yellow.

check out stone white for green - tried both for the dining room; stone white a cool grey/green, very victorian. love it.

i have got a nice warm grey-white upstairs but can't remember if it's old white or new white. you can have too many whites.

and parma gray in bedrooms.

tried both = stone white and cooking apple, and stone white was nicer. must remember to proofread.

Yes,i love Dix Blue also.I am painting my patio doors in this.I also love Teresas Blue [utility room] and BlueGreen [was going to be on island unit but is now Elephants Breath].Terre De Vert is lovely but can sometimes look a bit insipid in bright light.I haven't tried Blackened yet though.

Thanks for the info littleomar, stone white is really nice, I've added it to my testers list.

teta - I hadn't thought about doors etc, but Dix Blue is a perfect colour for patio doors.

Vert de Terre seems a bit insipid to me anyway, I don't think I'll risk it.

Teresa's Green and Green Blue are both lovely!

Old white is really lovely.

Matchstick or String are nice darker white/brown colours and quite warm. Parma Grey is very dark as we have it in the nursery. Pointing is a good warm white and Pale Powder is lovely. We have it with Powder Blue and Pointing in our bedroom.

Off white isn't as yellow as the picture on the website makes it out to be (unless you have the exact lighting that they have in their picture). I have off-white on some of my woodwork and its a really lovely colour. I'm not sure what it would be like on a wall, but in my house it comes out as almost an ivory colour. I have pointing for most of my woodwork and went for off-white as it was just a bit richer and warmer in some rooms. Definitely worth a try I think.

Cabbage white will go with any definite blue or neutral. But it won't (IMO) go with anything with green in it. Lots of the F&B blues have hints of green in them but Cabbage White has no green or yellow. I have Cabbage White on the walls in parts of my hall and I chose it because it looked nice in all lights. Borrowed light for example is lovely but can sometimes look grey. As it happens I also have Parma Gray (I have Parma Gray below dado and Cabbage White above). These are very much the same "tone". It depends what overall colour you want to go for. If you want blue then Parma Gray and Cabbage White go brilliantly together, but difficult to bring greens into the equation. Neither has any green in them (something I specifically told the F&B people I was after as I'd had trouble with greeny blue colours coming out as purely green). I have Pointing on woodwork and it goes with both Cabbage White and Parma Gray.

I ALSO have Cooking Apple Green (it's like you have been in my house!), but I have this in a bedroom. Of all the F&B colours I have ever used Cooking Apple Green is by far and away my favourite. If you can find an excuse to use this colour DO. Every time I go into the bedroom it looks slightly different and always lovely. But its a definite green.

So it depends how your house flows. I think both Parma Gray and Cooking Apple Green are beautiful colours (given that I've used them) but they don't really go together. This isn't necessarily a problem if you want to use them in different rooms but want to find a neutral that will work with both? Where were you planning on using the different blues and greens? If you want to use green and blue woodwork in different rooms then I can examine my colour wheel against Cooking Apple Green and Parma Gray tomorrow. I'm sure there is a nice neutral that will suit both these colours. They are both very "clean" colours, and in a cottage I think they would look brilliant so if that's the plan I'm sure we can find something that matches them both!

Have you bought the colour wheel for £15? It's definitely worth it. I went through about 30 sample pots for one room once, and my cellar now looks like an F&B showroom! It won't negate the need for sample pots, but with it when I came to do the next room I was able to narrow down my choice to 2!

So main question is do you want a matching colour scheme between all rooms or do you want a neutral colour that goes with bluish scheme in one room and greenish in other?

Btw, I'm very happy to see another Blue/Green fan! My entire downstairs is now (and what isn't will soon be) different shades of blue and green!

Also, have a look at Pale Powder, it's neither a definite blue or green. I'll look at it tomorrow against Cooking Apple Green and Parma Gray.

clunch is very good. a creamy white.

Just in farrow and ball yesterday and bought £450 of Lime White.

It is an amazing colour that changes all day long depending in natural light, electric light, bright rays if sunshine... It is just beautiful... My SIL and cousin who are both set designers/ interiors crazy use it throughout. It is warm and cool and city and chic and just stunning.

Its a conundrum isn't it,choosing colours.We got our cranberry colour rangemaster yesterday, which is lovely and quite a subtle colour.Goes with all the colours i have picked so far [all look fairly neutral beigy/stoney colours].Now i'm debating what to paint my tall glass wall-mounted cabinet.Cooks blue is a similar blue to cornishware-but will it look too garish?.I have lots of cornishware pots and blue and white antique china[dh's].So i was up at 8 am sticking bits of colored paper to the units to try and work out what to do.Sorry for hijacking!.

No problem hijacking teta! Hopefully all the colour descriptions and matching are useful to more people than just me!

Manchurian - I would like a neutral that goes with both green and blue. I think I'd like my kitchen to be in green, and my sitting room in blue, bathroom in blue, playroom/den in green, office -either, hallway - either - oh, and futility (once it's plaster-boarded) blue. Highlights that is, not total colour.

I love the sound of your house, I think yours probably looks the way I'd like mine to

I'd already been thinking that I might do Cabbage White and Parma Gray together in our bedroom.

Thanks again everyone!

teta - I've had a look at Cooks Blue, it's lovely but I can see why you're worried it might look garish. What about Lulworth Blue, or is it too muted?

Aargh, colour wheel is out of stock. Hopefully they'll have more in soon.

Sorry for delay! Major plumbing issues. argh.

I've looked at a few colours against Parma Gray and Cabbage White.

Shaded White definitely looks like a contender. Will depend whether this comes out as grey in your house (which it did in my hall)
Lime White looks quite nice but does appear quite yellow in contrast to the blue - same with Clunch.
Off-White also seems good, maybe a bit greeny next to blue but I'd still say it goes.
Slipper Satin goes excellently with both colours.