{idea notebook+paint color} Farrow & Ball: Living with Colour

Farrow & Ball: Living With Colour
A new, fall must have featuring gorgeous Farrow & Ball wallpapers and paint. With beautiful photography of British living (from country homes to city flats) the offering shows "how colour can be used to create atmosphere, character and charm in any home". The sampling is both sophisticated and terribly stylish.

You might also like: Farrow & Ball: The Art of Color and Paint and Colour in Decoration


*Image via Farrow & Ball also available at Ryland, Peters & Small

{idea notebook} Color Ceilings

I became inspired to paint ceilings when I saw a fantastic aged-silver treatment all aglow above a glorious chandelier. It crossed my mind at that moment how overlooked ceilings often are. If you think of masterpieces, the Sistine Chapel comes to mind, how ceilings were frequently used by great artists as another canvas. In decorating a treated ceiling is much like a fifth, but often forgotten, wall. I love shimmery ceilings to create feminine spaces, striped ceilings to add a visual graphic for nursery spaces and deep ceilings in overtly masculine rooms. House Beautiful recently asked several designers where they loved to use painted ceilings, the following are some excerpts to inspire:

• " I wanted a library to be dark and moody, elegant and lush, so I picked this marvelous gray for the walls, trim and ceiling... The whole room felt like the inside of a jewelry box." (John Oetgen: Benjamin Moore's Dior Gray 2133-40)
• "When I worked at Parish-Hadley, Albert often suggested putting a little pink in the white of a ceiling to make it more of a flesh tone. It just sort of blushes, and the reflection is more flattering." (Thomas Jayne: Benjamin Moore Opal-OC-73)
  
• "I love to paint porch ceilings the color of a clear blue sky..." (Paula Perlini: Benjamin Moore Tear Drop Blue 2053-60)
• "I usually opt for an ethereal shade like this pink...In this bedroom it adds warmth and contrast to the green. It brings your eye up and automatically raises the ceiling height." (Jamie Drake: Benjamin Moore I Love You Pink 2077-70) *As seen in the image above

*photography via House Beautiful, Interview quotes by Christine Pittel

{idea notebook} Shades of Gray

What I am loving right now is gray... there is nothing chicer, more sophisticated, more fantastic. Gray can be romantic, subtle, industrial or cool. Gray is the much hipper version of the neutral white. Polished or unfinished it is always dead on perfect.

If you need inspiration in finding your perfect color read the article in House Beautiful for 26 wonderful options:House Beautiful


*pictured:Benjamin Moore's Bear Creek 1470, Farrow & Ball's Green Blue 84, Benjamin Moore's Graytint 1611

{idea notebook} 3 Perfect Paints

As I am away for a weekend work trip & will not be able to sign in today I thought I would leave you with a little ditty I recently read in Womens Day called 7 Perfect Paints. Now although I don't love all seven colors I do quite like the three listed below and seen above. Excerpts of the article will give you an idea of the paints' personalities... just in case you are searching for something to redo this weekend!

"Benjamin Moore Gray Owl (#2137-60) A sophisticated alternative to light blue, this hue is extremely adaptable to all color schemes. Just like a pair of basic gray pants,it goes with everything."
"Olympic Lettuce Alone (#B68-3) Green, particularly a crisp, clean green like this one, looks great in kitchens, where food and colors abound. Consider it for your bathroom too, where it will be fresh and calming."
"Benjamin Moore Wood Grain Brown (#2109-30) Brown is a great color to warm up a room. But it’s hard to find a good one—they often have too much red or yellow in them, which can make your walls look muddy. This brown has a gray undertone instead, which gives it a touch of refinement."
*photography via Annie Schlechter