Burford grey kitchen diner feature-ish wall help!

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Hi everyone, please can you help with my convoluted design issue...

We have a lovely Burford Grey kitchen (grey green units) from Howdens and are painting the majority of the kitchen diner Wimborne White (Farrow and Ball) which is a very slightly creamy white, goes very nicely.

Our problem is we were going to do a feature wall (not a big fan but one wall is a bit, well, featureless, and needs some oomph) comprising the gorgeous Renaissance wallpaper by F&B. However we've realised we can't spend £500+ on papering one wall which is bound to get, at best, pasta splashed on it, and at worst, drawn on in permanent marker (DC are nearly 1 and 3.5). So now am stuck for colours and have found Burford Grey lovely shade but hard to match throughout (hence slight cream choice).

Any ideas? Was wondering about Teresa's Green or Cooking Apple Green but they seem to close.

Something dark grey - really dark like Downpipe or mid-dark like Pavillion or Lamp Room?

Or something mad like orange (Le creuset volcanic style?) or mustard yellow.

The wall has a white radiator and eventually will have a nice vintage leather chair or something along those lines; lots of white chairs painted in Annie Sloan and a dresser which we will do a complimenting colour but haven't decided yet - maybe Annie Sloan French Grey...

Would be so appreciative of guidance, going slightly mad!! Thank you :)

Blackboard paint?

The white chairs (and dining table) are in the diner section, not lined oh against the wall btw! That reads weirdly. The floor is vintage embossed auburn laminate (nice I promise!) from Topps Tiles.

Ooooh that's not a bad idea, thank you. We had considered that ages ago for elsewhere... It's a big wall though (4m by 2.5 high)... Will definitely give that some thought though, kind of practical version of Downpipe...

Does anyone have a really dark or blackboard wall? Has it made the room dark or does it ping nicely with the other colours? Ours is quite a light 30s house...

I love blackboard paint but it is a very big wall.
Downpipe would look good or Charleston Grey which is a bit paler/softer?
You could add a huge vintage mirror and some prints in bright colours which would look great against the dark background.

Something like this (last one with links W) Pannacotta?
www.drivenbydecor.com/2012/10/design-inspiration-kitchen-chalkboards.html?m=1

We have lots of family pics we could incorporate... Quite excited to give kids free reign too...

*pink not links

Yes maybe I could do mustard and volcanic accents... Realise that Burford is a bit country but have gone a bit funky with industrial lighting and modernish range so think vintage and industrial stuff would work together... Thanks so much for thoughts so far...

I had meant that I thought it might be too much to have a chalk wall that size and I still think that, though I do like that last pic on your link where they have stuck things on the wall. That said it is not a big wall on that link.
But I do think a blackboard wall can look scruffy/messy and just a bit too busy, and I sense from your post that you are quite keen on design and want it to look lovely/ordered.
Could you have a large framed blackboard area as per some of the fist pics on your link? Or use the end of a run of units to add a blackboard?

Yes I see your point, sorry am being slightly incoherent and overexcited in my stream of consciousness postings! Maybe I will get DH (teacher) to bring home a load of black sugar paper and we can pin it to and see the effect. A framed area might be good compromise... I am seeing quite a few big blackboard walls on Houzz but you never know how it'll look and yes I do worry a bit about scuffy, fuzzy bits... Rest of house is very clean and ordered and has a definite pale grey/green/blue palette to it. Every other room has picture rails which we put in but think this would be too faffy in kitchen diner as too many fiddly bits due to external doors, windowsill structural bits.

I had the sense your house wall orderly!
I personally think a blackboard wall is good in an eccentric/boho house but a bit out of place somewhere neat but good idea re the paper.
You could always varnish over the wallpaper you liked, using a matt varnish?

Another thought, you could paint the big wall in with the others and experiment with prints/colours etc once the kitchen is done and see how it feels. I think it is easier to make those kind of decisions once you have experienced how the light falls and how you use the room.

I like the idea of a blackboard wall.

Btw - we have Burford Grey kitchen and Wimborne White walls!

Haha, well I'm a interiors perfectionist following big renovation project but very untidy so it's a constant battle!! DH OCD tendencies and we have a cleaner so that helps...

Had wondered about varnish... Decorator didn't mention as an option when he was busy talking himself out of a job but might run that by him.

Some of the pics on houzz have incorporated sleek homes ( as in more scandi) with big, messy blackboards and it seems to work but can imagine reality different - does anyone have experience IRL of blackboard looking really messy really easily? I accept that we need to have kids art and notice board up somewhere so might be able to embrace the boho-mess on one wall of house!

StopSquabbling - good to hear you came down on same combo... Units are lovely but have definitely found it more of a challenge to get the perfect shade that doesn't risk making it look sludgey.

Am getting tempted by blackboard now, especially as just saw another thread where you can get magnetic bb paint, amazing!

I think NoddyHolder suggested that F&B paint to me.

We too have gone funky and have a modern range. Our house is 400 years old but it definitely works.

(However, I have just discovered pizza sauce does not wipe off it .)

Just a word of warning to properly colour test. We have Elephants breath in the sitting room & had seen a gorgeous photo of a similar room where the alcoves were painted in Charleston grey - might have been my room / my light but it definitely wasn't the grey I had in mind - definitely more of a sludgey / chocolate brown.

We have French Gray painted units with cream walls and are about to knock through into dining room. Watching with interest

Thanks so much for all your thoughts. We have gone totLly crazy and my DH is currently painting the wall: RAILINGS!!! We decided we wanted close to blackboard colour but without the functionality of a blackboard...

Argh! It's so dark (obviously!)! May as well be blackboard paint really... It's a lovely rich colour but eeek very scary! Will be very interesting/awful to see it in daylight! Oh well! Holding fire on painting the radiator just yet...

Cross your fingers it suddenly looks perfect -and not at all clashing with every other design idea in the house- in the morning!!

Well if it is too dark you can always break it up with a huge mirror (with a pale frame) and lots of prints/photos/fairly lights etc.
Look on Pinterest for some ideas if that helps.