Using Grey in your home ...

At one point, people would look at you totally gone out if you suggested painting the walls of your home grey. Grey? But isn’t that dull, dark, dreary and miserable?  Not exactly the look and feel you want to achieve in your home..

However, recent years have seen the humble grey fight back against this stereotype and creep its way into the interior sphere. Spotted now in almost all top interior magazines and blogs, people are going mad for this once shunted colour.

Despite being associated with miserable weather, inside a home grey has the ability to look quite spectacular. The right grey can actually have a lot of light in it, especially when paired with a smart white trim. Even on a dreary day a wonderful, bright grey can look good.

What’s more, grey is a colour that works well with so many other colors. A mix between black and white, grey is by definition neutral, and it is actually becoming the ultimate backdrop because it really does look good with any other colour. Whites, creams and magnolias are inherently dull, and an entire house glossed in such shades can be overbearing, lacklustre and depressive. Grey is perfect for when you want a neutral base colour that isn’t vanilla. It allows you to add colour schemes on top of it that will complement it without overpowering it.  

A modern neutral colour that creates a light and airy feeling yet adds more warmth to a room than basic white. With its varying shades, from light dove to dark charcoal, it is actually as versatile as any colour.

We recommend matching your grey walls with contemporary metal furniture, warm wood floors, and vivid coloured rugs to draw out the warm undertones of the gray walls. This will create an overall look that’s bright, inviting, and anything but sterile.

Little Greene Paint Grey Teal No.226

Earthborn Paint Cat's Cradle

Farrow & Ball Paint No 88 Lamp Room Gray

We have a beautiful range of paints of the highest quality, at the best price.  If you have an item or garment that is the perfect colour for your walls we can match it to produce your dream paint! See more here, or feel free to call us for more advice on - 01206 216000

How to create a welcoming guest room…

It is only natural for homeowners to want to leave their guests with a positive impression of the house. 

Inevitably, a large proportion of a guest’s stay takes place in the bedroom – it is after all where they will drop off their things, get changed, sleep all night, and get ready in the morning so it is important that the room is clean, welcoming, and pleasant to stay in.

To achieve a welcoming guest room there are some straightforward tips that you should follow…

Wall colours

The most impactful change that you can make is to colour the walls. If you are decorating a guest room in your own house then naturally you will choose colours to suit your personal taste. However, you should bear in mind that it will not usually be you who is sleeping in the room so it is important to put the needs of your guests first.

Lighter colours tend to make a room feel more spacious and airy – it is important that your guest doesn’t feel claustrophobic away from their property so decorating with light creams or shades of white is often a good idea. The Little Greene Paint Portland Stone (above left) would make a good background colour for most of the walls as would the slightly peachier Little Greene Paint Down No.242 (centre).

 

 

If you are somebody who tends to find these shades dull and wants a more interesting room, then richer colours such as these might be more appealing. The theatre red is a good colour to splash onto one wall to stand out against a different, more neutral colour and likewise the Turquoise Blue is an attractive, vibrant accent colour for a bedroom.

An inviting bed

A good night’s sleep impacts on everybody’s day so it is important that you invest in a snug, cosy mattress and pillows. Provide a double, queen, or king sized bed, depending on which is most suitable for the room size. Choose a duvet with natural fillings because they are light and fluffy so that your guests are comfortable without feeling too hot and provide an optional silky blanket for extra warmth. The bed should be a mixture of tones that complement each other, for example you might choose a caramel duvet, with a chocolate brown blanket or a rosy pink duvet with a hot pink blanket etc.

Bedside Tables

Put a bedside table on either side of the bed and perhaps an alarm clock for guests to use if they need to leave at a specific time in the morning. Try not to clutter bedside tables with much more than a lamp. If you want to add a personal touch you could leave magazines, fresh flowers, or small sweets in the guest room, depending on how formal you want it to be.

Windows

Ensure that windows are clean, window sills are cleared of clutter, and that you use tall curtains which give the illusion that a room is bigger than it is. Likewise, try to put a mirror opposite the window so that it reflects light as well as providing a more spacious feel.

If you are decorating a guest room in the near future, have a look at our range of Little Greene paints online now. We always recommend that you order sample pots initially to ensure that you are happy with the colour before you put it on the wall.

 

How can paint impact on profit?

If you manage a business, have you considered painting yourself into profit? It might sound a little silly and you’d be forgiven for being a little sceptical but there are many studies that suggest a relationship between the decor of an office and a team’s productivity.

So what colours should you choose to achieve the perfect working atmosphere?

Perhaps the first thing you will consider is your brand colours. If you run a company where customers frequent the building, then perhaps you might choose to decorate according to the colours of your brand.

Depending on the interior structure of the building –and the theme of your brand – you may decide to just decorate the entrance room in these tones rather than each office. Particularly if your reception area is frequented by clients or potential clients decorating in your brand theme is a positive way to introduce brand consistency across your company.

In terms of the offices where your employees work, there are a few tips that are widely recommended to ensuring that you have a mentally alert and active team:

• Avoid red: while red is a warm colour that can look striking in a bedroom or lounge area, it is generally recommended that you avoid it in the office. Connotations of rage associated with this colour suggest that it could have a negative impact on staff relationships; however, it is thought to be a good colour in socially interactive rooms such as eating areas or areas where ideas are supposed to generate.

• Go green for a calm atmosphere: particularly if you have an office full of stressed lawyers or accountants, you might opt for a shade of green to inject some tranquillity into the room. A calm mind tends to be more productive, hence why many office owners choose to decorate in these shades. At Kent Blaxill, we have many tones of green from subtle shades like Cooking Apple Green (above left) and stronger colours such as 214 Arsenic (above right).

• Black & White: simple and smart, black and white is often used in corporate offices to symbolise a business environment where high standards of professionalism are expected at all times. You can go for a complete white, or  shade such as James White (above) which looks particularly smart in an office environment.

For more colour inspiration for your offices, visit our website to explore our Farrow and Ball collection.

Interior Design Trends 2015

For many of us a New Year means a fresh start, new beginnings, and a good time to make changes. While January might symbolise a time for new regimes and commitments, December is the month in which we can prepare for them whether we are buying ingredients for a new diet, signing up to a new class, or planning some redecorations.

When home decor has not been changed for a long time it is amazing the difference that a fresh lick of paint can make, so the next decision is: what colours should you choose? A New Year inevitably means new trends, so what will be “trending” in the world of home decor in 2015? Here are some examples to get you started…

Blues & greys

According to Lush Home, one of the key trends to look out for next year is a surge in strong, dark blues and greys (as demonstrated in this image from House to Home).

As you can see, deep blues and purples can create a sophisticated, clean look which work particularly well if accessorised with light grey lamps, pictures, vases, ornaments etc.

At Kent Blaxill you can find lots of diverse blue paints in our Little Greene paint colours such as the LG Paint Juniper Ash No.115 (below left), the Deep Space Blue, or the lighter Blue Verditer (below right).

Caring for the environment

The trend for caring for the environment will not stop in 2015 but will continue to be just as significant. Not only are businesses are now legally required to incorporate a carbon emissions report into their annual company reports, but increasingly companies and individuals are paying more attention to their carbon footprint as a means of demonstrating good values that consumers share.

Little Greene is devoted to creating paints in an environmentally friendly way, using sustainable ingredients in the paints and recyclable materials for the tins. Manufactured in the UK, Little Greene only uses suppliers who share their eco-friendly policies.

Colour Blocking

Another important trend to look out for next year is colour blocking: having large chunks of colour either on the walls or the furniture. E.g. pale blue walls with large, vibrant, mustard-yellow or red sofas and chairs. Colour blocking also works if one wall is painted in a vibrant colour while the others are covered in a pale creamy tone.

If you’re looking for design inspiration for 2015, have a look through our Little Greene paint range online. Please get in touch with any queries.

Creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere at home this Christmas

Christmas is merely 6 weeks away which means that the time to get your home prepared for the big occasion is rapidly running out. It is the time of year when family and friends visit and you will want to pull out all the stops to impress them.

Although 5 weeks is not that long, it is still time enough to organise your house so that you feel completely confident when visitors arrive. Here are a couple of tips to creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere at home this Christmas:

Refresh your main rooms with paint

Most people know which rooms will be the setting for the guests’ entertainment. You might have a dining room at home where everybody sits around the table over Christmas, or perhaps everybody congregates in the living or family room. Whichever it is, you will want to ensure that this room looks its very best when guests arrive.

To achieve this you will need to decorate it in time for the big occasion and choosing the right colours is fundamental to achieving a spacious, warm ambience. To create the illusion that a room is bigger than it actually is think about the effect of colours: dark wall colours bring a wall towards you whereas lighter ones make them seem further away. 

If you are decorating a relatively small room choose light colours such as Wevet or Ammonite from Farrow and Ball and create a contrast using darker colours such as Stiffkey Blue (left) or Pelt.

Christmas Decorations

Christmas decorations evoke a warm, welcoming and festive atmosphere which is personal to the homeowner and will likely be a talking point among your guests.

Here are some quick tips to creating a warm atmosphere using Christmas decorations:

-Buy a real tree: plastic trees have not been fashionable for many years; real ones are more authentic (obviously), tend to have thicker branches, look healthier, and bring a taste of nature indoors

-Bin the tinsel: likewise, tinsel has not been trendy for many years, it creates mess on the carpet as bits fall off & can look tacky (depending on the colour scheme). There are all sorts of baubles, candy canes, cherubs, robins and ornaments that can be added to your tree to make it look lively and festive.

-Add as many lights as possible: whether you choose white ones or coloured ones, they are what makes a tree truly sparkly so never scrimp on lights.

References

Tree image: brentwood.thefuntimesguide.com