Please tell me about these paints...

[Kaloobear]

Sitting room is quite small and dark. It faces east and gets sun in the morning but not afternoon. The window is too small for my liking but I'm stuck with that for now at least. I'm thinking of painting it a cool pale grey/white to try and make it seem brighter and airier but I am rubbish at imagining colours, or what rooms will look like post decorating. If you've used any of these Farrow & Ball colours could you let me know what you thought of them? Did they have any undertones I might not be expecting/imagining?

The ones I like the look of are:

James White
Great White
Strong White
Blackened
Skimming Stone (though maybe this is quite warm?)
Borrowed Light (can't tell how blue this is though-maybe too much)

Thanks :)

James White came out a bit greenish for us - not nice imo.

Skimming stone is definitely warm, slightly beigey

Blackened is quite blue/cold in many lights but that sounds like what you want?

Haven't tried the others but Great White would seem most likely to fit your bill.

Outside of F&B, I recommend French Grey Pale or French Grey Mid by the Little Greene paint company as a really lovely cool pale grey. Has a bluey tone.

Also recommend looking at the Paint & Paper Library and Sanderson. Sanderson Birch White is a nice cool pale grey without bluey tones.

I painted my tiny sitting room Little greene french gray and I love it. It has some warmth to it which is good as it's WN facing so is gloomy till 4ish.

I nearly used Blackened which is a very pretty pale grey.

Not sure about the other whites though I do think you're right borrowed light is bluey.

Oh look at that xpost

Ok, thanks for this and the recommendation for Little Greene.

Agnes did you find having a warmer colour helps the room feel brighter then? I thought I should go cool for brightness-have I got it the wrong way round? Am such a novice!

French Grey Pale/Mid look really brown on the website-are they closer to grey in real life?

We used blackened on our kitchen, lovely pale grey, we used farrow and ball all white in our hall - made it look sooo light and airy

No Blackened is brighter certainly. For me it wasn't a strong enough colour, though pretty and cold, while pale/mid french gray has a browny undertone, though it isn't remotely 'brown' iyswim.

The only way you can tell what it will look like in your room is to buy sample pots and try them in the room(s) you are painting. I have used the same paint in different rooms and it looks different colours due to the quality of the light and the colours of the other furnishings in the room. Better to spend a few £ and a few mins on test pots than spend £££ and hours getting it wrong.

Blackened is quite bluey lilac in my house.

For a true neutral grey I recommend Cornforth White.

French Grey is green.

I was referring to f and b french grey btw. Little Greene's French Grey Mid is very similar to cornforth white and is a beigey grey.

Am definitely going to get samples-just don't want to spend loads on them and would rather narrow it down to 2 or 3 beforehand.

(I am cheap so will probably get whatever colour I decide on matched rather than buy F&B.)

Thanks for the Cornforth White recommendation-hadn't really looked at it before as have been obsessively looking for cool colours but it looks really nice.

Little Greene's French Grey is definitely not browny on our walls. It is a bluey grey. Definitely no brown or beigey in it at all IMO. However it is a bit warmer than Blackened which is quite "icy".

Cornforth White is a fair bit darker than the other colours mentioned here, so steer clear if you want something v pale. But it's a lovely colour.

We have F&B French Grey in our kitchen and its definitely blue!
James White has a cool pale green tone.
If you have a good independent F&B stockist near you they will have the sample boards so you can see the colours properly painted so you can narrow down your choice.
I would beware of getting an F&B or LG colour copied and expecting the same effect as its the very chalky matt finish that you are paying for and that honestly does make a difference to the colour as it absorbs/reflects light differently to a cheap copy (speaking from experience:( ).

I had Elephant's Breath copied for our bedroom in our old house and I LOVE the colour but you are right it's not as good quality. Problem is that in the new place I want to do the whole house all at once and the idea of that amount of money just on paint is a bit of a head fuck.

We've just used F and N Lime White which is lovely. Homebase had samples which we could look at. The finish you get from F and B is superb, and is well worth the money.

With sample pots, paint a board or sheet of lining paper so you can see what it looks like in different parts of the room where the light is different.

Good tip, thanks for that. I think I have narrowed it down to getting samples of Blackened, Cornforth White and Great White. I reckon Blackened is going to be the one...

Sorry to resurrect this but I need to pick more brains.

BECAUSE I AM INCAPABLE OF MAKING A DECISION BY MYSELF

DD's nursery (to be) is quite small with a largish window. I was set on Elephant's Breath for it and then realised it has a gross, dark red carpet that we can't afford to replace yet. Is EB going to look awful next to it? It is isn't it :(

Nah I reckon warm browny colours look quite good with dark reds, so I think Elephants Breath would work fine.

If you want a safer option then Pointing or Wimborne White will go nicely.

Hm, ok, maybe I'm worried unnecessarily. I know realistically that we can't make any decisions until we get in there, but we're not going to have long to decide as in order to move at the right time we need to get the painting done within a couple of weeks of completion. Yikes...!

Borrowed Light is blue but with a tiny tinge of green in it. It's not a cold light blue. It's got a warmth and softness to it Mine's a copy though; maybe the real thing is not as nice

Good to know, thank you-I'm definitely after cool colours for everywhere except the bedrooms!

I use F&B Pointing a lot. I agree with others that you should test before buying - light levels and direction (north etc...) changes the colours. Also re. the matching service, don't do it. I matched Pointing in my mum's place and had a left over can of F&B Pointing and used it on a different wall - they looked completely different.

Borrowed light is very blue IME- it's in our soon to be bedroom in our new house and we are planning to repaint (possibly with Pointing or Little Greene Shirting) as it's too cold for us.

Reading this thread with interest!

I've just put some samples on A4 paper and agree Borrowed Light is quite blue-it's really pretty though. I'm considering it for DD's nursery if Elephant's Breath looks awful with the red carpet. Though realistically I think everything will look awful with the red carpet except white. It looks like something left over from a 70s student house.