Forty shades of grey

The latest trends for interior paint shades are calm and elegant, with brash colours and feature walls replaced by cool tones, writes EOIN LYONS

PAINT COLOUR IS probably the most difficult element of an interior to decide on, mainly because there is so much choice. If there is a general trend in paint colours at the moment, it is towards a classical palette. On the wane are brash colours – forget feature walls – and in their place are subdued combinations. The constant is grey, but grey-blue or grey-green instead of gun-metals or pigeon shades. The look is about crisp, elegant rooms with nothing dominating on the walls.

Before you choose a shade, consider the quality of light. If the room is dark, using a pale paint colour is not going to make it brighter. Dark rooms can be enveloping and cosy. Recently, I worked on two reception rooms in a period house where Farrow Ball’s Stoney Ground was used everywhere, including dado, picture rail, cornicing and skirting, and combined with hemp wallpaper in a similar tone. The ceiling, door surrounds and arch between the two rooms were painted off-white as contrast. It’s used as an evening space for adults and the result is a warm atmosphere.

Paint colours are about how you live and what you want from a room. There has been a trend for a while now to paint skirtings and door frames the same colour as the walls. The advantage is that the walls become one seamless whole. But white woodwork still has its place in a period-style home. Ceilings are generally best kept the same colour as the walls in a modern home. Choose a light colour to wrap the room in to eliminate the division between walls and ceiling. When a room is small, trying to gain height by painting the ceiling white is a mistake. Treat a small room like a box; it’s cosier. There’s a trend for painting architraves and woodwork darker than walls, but this can be too strong.

Here are three fail-safe colour combinations that work in many situations and are of-the-moment, too.

Blue and white

Colortrend’s Paris Grey is the most perfect blue-grey shade I have found. It is ethereal rather than cold. It is actually an exterior colour, but MRCB paint shops will mix it for interior use. If you have a period home, consider using Dulux’s Ivory White for woodwork and the ceiling.

In your furnishings and decorative items, bring in warm caramel colours and burnished silver. It’s a palette that can feel both modern and classical. When used in living rooms, blue has a kind of cinematic quality – watch 1950s Hitchcock movies for inspiration. Remember, too, that artworks always shine out from pale blue. Sanderson Paints does a good blue called Dawn Blue.

Green and grey

Green with white, grey or black is chic in a Milanese sort of way. It is interior designer Maria MacVeigh’s favourite combination. “I’ve just finished some wardrobes with a deep red interior in Forest Green by The Little Greene Paint Company, and I am painting a floor at a different project in the same colour.”

Peter Johnson, another designer, shares a love of green: “We are working on a very beautiful Georgian house and are painting the drawing and dining room walls in Zoffany Lime emulsion above the dado rail. The reason I like green is because it’s a link to the landscape.”

A very soft green is particularly good in a bedroom and is neither too masculine nor feminine. A good green to use is True Olive from Dulux’s Simply Colour range.

Camel and sand

The new neutrals are about layering many different colours rather using one tone of beige. Colortrend’s Historic collection does this particularly well. It includes about a dozen taupes, sands and stones. I have used Nordic White in a west-facing living room, Salter Stone in an adjoining office, Nude Bisque in a kitchen and Linden Basket in a bathroom. As one moves from space to space there are almost indefinable differences in tone The aim was to achieve a feeling of relaxation for the busy, business people owners. Accents with a punch – gold, green and grey – are in the furnishings. If you like something brighter, consider Cashmere Wrap from the same range. It’s bright but not overly yellow.

Interior designer Sarah Cruise also rates Colortrend for neutrals: “Nougat from the Select range is gorgeous. It looks excellent in a living room and gives a subtle tone of coffee colour.”

WHAT TO USE WHERE

Different rooms have their own demands. Entrance halls are spaces where you don’t spend a tremendous amount of time and where you can take big colour risks. Why not choose something fun and warm, such as Coral from Crown Paints or Burmese Ruby from Dulux?

Life can be frenetic, so keep living rooms restful. Slipper Satin by Farrow Ball is light and bright. It works in a room that doesn’t get direct sunlight. Skimming Stone, also by Farrow Ball, could be used as a very subtle accent colour on, say, a chimney breast, to bring a little definition to the space.

Dining rooms are the place to be adventurous. This is a space for entertaining, so don’t hold back. The Paint Paper Library’s Sugared Violet shade is a grey-lilac that is lovely in a dining room, particularly with dark furniture.

Given the wear and tear a kitchen takes, you need to choose a paint finish that’s wipeable. If your budget is less substantial than your wish list, paint your kitchen units. Even gloss units can be painted, using a primer first. Light Blue by Farrow Ball is one I’ve used for this purpose and it is good with pale countertops.

Because of their often small size, bathrooms are the perfect location to use a strong, distinctive wall colour. Take a colour from your tiles and work from there: blues and greens are often good with travertine, for example.

Nearly everyone has a memory of their perfect hotel room, one where you felt relaxed and pampered, so keep that in mind as you plan your bedroom colours. Designer Philippa Buckley suggests Farrow Ball’s Strong White: “It’s a very restful colour. I used it in a bedroom where I had wardrobes custom-made and sprayed to a gloss finish for contrast.”

When decorating children’s rooms, remember that while young girls love pink, there’s no reason a rosy plate has to be achingly sweet. Try a sophisticated shade of fuchsia, or temper her pick with soft white and touches of lavender. Dulux’s Simply Colour range has beautiful pinks. Fine Peony is a good one. For boys, blue is the obvious choice. Crown’s Colours of the World range has some Caribbean blues that are more vibrant than others.

Colours on trend

INTERIOR DESIGNER and retailer Helen Turkington has designed a new range of paints for Colortrend. The packaging – matt silver paint pots with a printed black ribbon – is as smart as her glossy interiors style, and the colours are an understated mix of greys, blues, greens, pinks and taupes.

The range came about as a response to trying to find the perfect match for the fabrics and wall-coverings she works with. “We found it hard to get the perfect shades to go with, say, Cole wallpapers, so this is an edit of everything we know works. We’ve looked at paint as a whole part of an interior scheme,” she says.

Greys are tempered by a wonderful selection of whites and some outstanding blues. “My favourite is navy blue, because we always found it hard to find a perfect representation of colour from other brands. There’s a mineral blue too, which is lovely.”

The look is all about keeping things very soft, which is perfect for now.

Helen Turkington’s range of paints for Colortrend will be available from her shops in Ireland, Northern Ireland and London from October. See helenturkington.ie