Farrow & Ball are without a doubt, one of the biggest names in home decoration and paint, and it seems that their popularity is growing stronger and stronger! Dark wall colours are such a huge trend at the moment, and if you asked those people that have embraced the dark side what paint they used, I think about 80% would say Farrow & Ball. The brand has a cult following of daring and bold home decorators and it’s helping to propel the trend further into the homes of, well, pretty much everyone!
If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that all of the walls in my house were all white until about 3 weeks ago (when I painted my bathroom a soft grey), but the urge to go to the dark side is so strong, but I’m forcing myself to wait until I get a house that’s a little bit bigger so the colour won’t swallow up the small space I currently have.
Railings (shown below) is definitely a fan favourite, and why wouldn’t it be, it’s a beautiful, strong grey that makes any room look striking but isn’t so dark that you can’t appreciate the tone of the colour. It looks amazing when paired with gold/brass hardware and panelling (another huge trend that i’ll be covering soon) as well as the oaky toned floor in the second photo.
Paint: Railings No.31 | Estate Eggshell
Although Farrow & Ball are known for their dark colours, all of the colours they sell are rich and full, like this French Gray, which has a definite almost regal feel about it. It’s a great colour for a bedroom, with a soothing quality about it.
Paint: French Gray No.18 | Estate Eggshell
And let’s not forget about the pink trend, one I will definitely jumping on when I move house (more about my love for pink walls here). Cinder Rose is a beautiful warm pink toned colour, which depending on which swatch you look at, can almost look terracotta, so has more of an orange tone, but I love it in all it’s forms!
Paint: Cinder Rose No.246, ceiling in Dimity No.2008 and woodwork inChurlish Green No.251 | Estate Emulsion & Estate Eggshell
Again, on the pink trend, Calamine is more of a baby pink, a lighter, more soft version of Cinder Rose. It looks great paired with bright contrasting colours, as well as the white tones.
Paint: Calamine No.230 | Estate Emulsion
Stone Blue looks beautiful with the matching woodwork, it makes the panelling more functional, being incorporated into some handy storage spaces. I love this colour in contrast with the wooden floors and rich toned Rectory Red bath and matching rugs.
Paint: Stone Blue No. 86 & Bath in Rectory Red No. 217 | Modern Emulsion & Estate Eggshell
Staying on the red theme, Brinjal is a beautiful, almost gemstone-like red colour, and again, looks perfect when all textures are painted the same colour. It would look great in an older home, taking advantage of all those original features.
Bathroom in Brinjal
All photos taken from the Farrow & Ball website.
Which is your favourite?
Mary | hellopeagreen
I’m a big fan of the Stone Blue and my kitchen units are almost the same colour – I used Mylands rather than F&B. The colour though I’d most like to put somewhere (no idea where yet) is Churlish Green. My home office is seriously dark and painted in London Clay – I LOVE IT
zoeoliviablog
Ooh that sounds lovely! I definitely need to be more daring with colour
Fiona Mostyn
I’m not one for dark walls but I do like all the tones of pink that are starting to come through.
zoeoliviablog
You might like my PEACHY PINK post then 🙂
Ricky Vann
The dark navy blue is really growing on me these days! I think it would look great in a room with plenty of natural light. The grey would still be my favourite 🙂
zoeoliviablog
Me too! I’m thinking about dark navy kitchen units in my next house!
Natalie Holden
I love the idea of going dark in places like your downstairs loo, a snug or spare bedroom (spaces where you aren’t using them all the time, or that you tend to use just in the evening). You can be a bit more daring when you know you don’t have to be around it all the time! Or in the case of rooms that you use in the evening, it can be nice to have darker, more moodier space as it can be made to feel nice and cosy. I used Valspar Zephyr in my downstairs loo and I loved it. In terms of kitchen or dining room however, I do like the idea of having a nice bright space.
zoeoliviablog
Great idea to experiment with lesser used rooms, it’ll also give you a better idea if you want to go for it in your other rooms!
Hayden
I’m so glad dark colors are coming back into style! It adds such a bold statement to the room. I have yet to try this brand but have heard so much about it lately!
zoeoliviablog
It’s a trend I’m loving, I’ve just written 2 more posts about my love for it! Haha
Fawn Interiors Studio
Our favourite is the Brinjal bathroom. And not all of the images are dark…the important message in this post is that we should be more inspired to consider different colours apart from white, which is a great message to us!
zoeoliviablog
I completely agree, in my first house, I went for the safe option of all white but I think I’m ready to be a bit more confident in my colour choices for my next home!
Stacey Sheppard
I agree with Jenny, going dark on all four walls can be a bit much. I went for two adjacent dark walls and the other two lighter in my bedroom amd it worked so well. Like other people here I also go for valspar as it’s very hard wearing and scrubbable and as I have two toddlers it’s more practical. I do like F&B colours but the same shade can look so completely different in different pictures. I guess it depends on the light. It’s always put me off a bit though as I want to know exactly what colour I’m getting before I shell out all that money.
zoeoliviablog
I totally agree about the colours looking different in each room/ photo! It makes choosing a colour so difficult. Valspar doing such a huge range, I’ve just used it to paint my bathroom.
Becky at PinksCharming
I love the look of the dark walls but I am not sure if I can pull it off in my house! I love white walls too much! x
zoeoliviablog
That’s exactly what I think about my house, I’m hoping to move this year so will hopefully be able to try out the dark colours!
JENNY KAKOUDAKIS
I love Farrow and ball and have Mole’s Breath and Railings in my own home. I do find that if I went all dark (all walls and around the home) yes it would be ‘cool’ but it can feel depressing. That’s my view as I have tried it and hated it. If used in moderation it can be impactful but arguably when you paint all walls it looks better. Not really sure… I have taken a different approach lately where I paint in L shape – two walls dark, two walls light in a room. It works for me, not sure for others 🙂
zoeoliviablog
I agree it could definitely be a little depressing to have all dark walls, but 2 and 2 is always a great idea! You have such a beautiful home!
Pati
Oh my Gosh what a beautifuly written post i love all those colours – i am a big fan of farrow and ball colours but as a dog owner valspar is my main paint of choice – one day when my walls will be slob free i use f&b ❤️😉
zoeoliviablog
Thank you so much! I’d love to be able to afford to paint all of my walls in Farrow & Ball, but for now I’m a Valspar girl too!
Niki
I love the darker colours .. but I live in rented so am extemley limited .. so I paint my furniture 🙌🏻😉 .. I have an urge to repaint some in the items .. but am going to wait until the spring has sprung …
zoeoliviablog
I went for all white in this house but I’m so tempted to go to the dark side! There are so many ways to bring in the dark shades without painting the walls, great idea to paint your furniture!