In my never-ending quest for the perfect colour for the hallway, I am still hunting. My dear new friend Christopher, gave me a copy of the Farrow & Ball colour brochure, which is incredible. 
As wonderful as the variety of shades are, their names and descriptions are even better. Who wouldn’t want a hallway painted Elephant’s Breath, or a dresser painted Mouse’s Back? I am sure that people would say that I can be Churlish Green, but really, I think that Dead Salmon. 
The shades of String, Cord and Matchstick are so evocative of an old English Country House, while French Gray and Vert de Terre call to mind the French countryside. 
As much as I’d love to use F&B paint, I don’t think our Estate Manager would be able to deal with paying that kind of money for a gallon of paint. Too bad.
What’s your favourite F&B paint name?
***UPDATE: As much as I love the yellows, there are psychological studies that show that people fight more in yellow rooms than in any other colour. Because the children here have mental and behavioural issues, yellow has been taken out of the running. Too bad, because there are so many great shades.***
I love them all! Perhaps F&B (or one of their local distributors) would be willing to make a donation?
ReplyDeleteDiscovered Farrow & Ball thru Joni at Cote De Texas. Their chart is in the trunk of my car at all times with the rest of my en plein air garden design office.
ReplyDeleteTheir colors don't need time to settle into fabulous. From day 1 they create magic. Timeless magic.
Choose 1. Can't!!
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
I love my F&B Color Chart. Borrowed Light makes me think of quiet times while Pavilion Blue has me expecting a party.
ReplyDeleteI'm always on the lookout for someone traveling by car to a city with a Farrow and Ball retailer. Not only is the paint expensive, most of us would have the additional cost of shipping. Maybe someday...
They are all so beautiful, I would not know, which to choose, but names... I love Borrowed Light, Orangery, Carriage Green, Hague Blue and Babouche....
ReplyDeleteThey all bring associations connected with pleasures of all sorts.
Arsenic. I know a building in Mount Vernon that just painted the stairway using F&B "Arsenic"---it's fantastic.
ReplyDeletelove the name babouche- dorset cream is wonderful too and Lulworth blue - must be the name of an important country house
ReplyDeleteMeg, such a good post, believe me-even so much so that I have just scanned the very images recently. Great Minds, Great color names- what does possess them?
ReplyDeletepelt is my favorite name from F & B though i've yet to find a use for it...
ReplyDeleteand i bet lancaster yellow would be smashing in your hall (yes, i'm still flogging the yellow horse to cheer up the joint :-)
oxoxo- c.
I can't pick just one. I have their brochure tacked up on the corkboard at my office. It's nice to gaze at...
ReplyDeleteLight Blue is my favorite...is it blue? grey?
ReplyDeleteSherwin Williams does a good color match of F&B, btw.
My sunroom is painted Pale Powder,and we love it. My daughter used Borrowed Light in her home, and it is wonderful. I spent a fortune on the little sample cans before I decided on mine, but you really need to see the color. Many that I had chosen from the chart turned out to be too dark. There is a richness to this paint that others don't seem to have.
ReplyDeleteI think India Yellow is lovely. But for names pitch-perfect: pitch black. Now where is that Connor's Ears?
ReplyDeleteLancaster Yellow reminds me of "Nancy," natch, and I'm still wishing for that wonderful Wharton Paris yellow. I love the word "barouche." So evocative of Morroco and men's curled toe slippers. My former professor, now friend, just wrote me of sitting in YSL's garden there.
ReplyDeleteHaven't you ever wanted to name colors? I have. Deauville Grey. Baldwin Brown.
I agree with that study, yellows always give me the "mean reds", I just started painting over the yellow in my laundry room with Ben Moore's Silver Fox... plan to hang my old chinese red bamboo chandelier in there after. Love the F&B names, can't seem to find it here in Raleigh though.
ReplyDeletethe names are so funny. I asked a friend the other day what she had painted her living room, her reply was 'ointment pink' ew.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite color is down spout - a sooty flannely gray
Many of the names derive from the era of John Fowler and Nancy Lancaster. An earthy taupe was called "Caca du Dauphin" but it has since been transmuted into the more polite "Dauphin". What I really want to see is the Fowler/Lancaster colour "Vomitesse de la Reine". Greenish, I would guess.
ReplyDeleteNow, if you've got a good and patient paint dealer, the FB colours can be copied with surprising accuracy. The actual consistency of the paint might not match up to the quality of FB but really, it is the FB palette that matters most. We recently combined 5 different FB blues in varying mixtures and came up with something that was copied in Benjamin Moore acrylic. It has depth and character~which is the whole point of FB.
Found your blog thru Renee Finberg
ReplyDeleteInteriors. Love the pastel colors.
I knew grey blue was depressing and certain orange reds make me angry.
Yellow always makes me happy. How strange. Then again there are many shades of yellow.