Joa Studholme - Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform Your Home with Paint & Paper

HOW TO DECORATE

JOA STUDHOLME & CHARLOTTE COSBY

MITCHELL BEAZLEY

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The walls of this sophisticated room have been painted in Limewash, which is one of the traditional specialist finishes for which Farrow & Ball has always been famous.

THIS PAGE

Plummett walls and a Railings door create a room that feels strong but serene.

OVERLEAF

The inner sanctum of the Farrow & Ball project room.

INTRODUCTION

Farrow & Ball has defined the colour choices of a generation, and what better thing can there be than to bring colour into peoples lives?

Choosing a colour or a wallpaper should be an adventure as well as a journey of self-discovery. However, this book is not so much about your choice of colour as about how to use it and understand its effect. It is reassuring, but possibly a little daunting, to know that there are no strict rules when it comes to decorating, so the following ideas are here not so much to influence but to inspire, and to help you bring your vision to life.

Farrow & Ball colours have stood the test of time in a diversity of domestic environments. They have been used in the restoration of historic interiors as well as being enjoyed by contemporary interior designers and homeowners. Each colour is meticulously researched and reflects the companys unique heritage. The Farrow & Ball range is a fabulous encyclopedia of past colours and patterns, rediscovered and reinvigorated for a modern audience.

Colour and pattern are one of the greatest forms of self-expression and the possibilities are myriad, so Farrow & Ball offers a thoughtfully created palette of 132 colours to help you with your choice. If you want to use colour to make a statement, then the basic ways in which the red, yellow, blue, green and dark families are effective in decorating are covered in this book. Should you want the colours of your home to be historically accurate, there is a broad outline of the colours used in four main decorative periods. If you would prefer to use the famous Farrow & Ball neutral families, they too are covered, together with suggestions on how to use them to create the most subtle and sophisticated of rooms.

The book includes detailed advice on how to approach every architectural element in the home, including the thorny subjects of ceiling colour and how to make the most of the natural light in your rooms. Using colour is all about combination, so the three basic ways of combining colours are comprehensively explored, as is the use of colour on floors. There are also some suggestions for decorating the rooms of the younger members of the household.

The homes included in this book are varied, chosen, in part, to demonstrate particular decorating methods, as well as to showcase individual and divergent styles. Wherever they are in the world, they are all owned by people who have come back to Farrow & Ball time and time again, taking comfort in returning to a trusted friend. Colour is a matter of personal preference and our home is where we can be true to ourselves, so the colour choices reflect the personalities and the stories of each household.

Different periods, styles and tastes are all covered here. Some schemes have an understated approach, with rooms that are calm and restrained but still have a depth and richness, while others are a kaleidoscope of brilliantly contrasting colours. Colour offers almost infinite possibilities, and the same hue that appears fun to one person can be garish to another. Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder.

The wonderful resonant names of the Farrow & Ball range still give the not entirely inaccurate picture that they, and also the colours, are invented around a kitchen table. Some of the inspiration behind the creation of these names and the colours themselves are shared in this book.

Although founded 70 years ago, Farrow & Ball only opened its first showroom in London in 1996, when I was lucky enough to join the company. I had no formal training. I am Farrow & Ball home-grown, nurtured by an astonishing group of people. However, as a child, I did spend an inordinate amount of time rearranging my set of Caran dAche crayons to see how different colour combinations worked. My dolls house was constantly redecorated and I was always experimenting with colour, painting my ceiling bright yellow to try to fill the room with sunlight or creating cosy spaces in cupboards by painting them dark. I was already a half-formed colour geek and couldnt wait to explore its visual magic.

INTRODUCTION

I have been lucky enough to work with the phenomenon that is Farrow & Ball for the past 19 years, helping to develop and name new colours, as well as looking at colour trends. An enormous amount of my time is taken up working in my role as a colour consultant, helping people in their own homes to choose their paint colours and decide how to combine them.

This role has taken me all over the world to castles on the shores of lakes, to churches, to private members clubs and to a smattering of homes belonging to music and film stars. One thing I have learned is that it is just as exciting and challenging to be decorating a diminutive basement property as it is a palace, and that the same basic principles apply to both. It is these principles that form the backbone of this book.

In 2007, an exuberant bundle of energy in the shape of Charlotte Cosby arrived at Farrow & Ball, and she has expertly aided me in producing this book. Charlotte is now Head of Creative and her enthusiasm for colour and pattern, like mine, knows no bounds. We have worked happily together to share with you some secrets about the intriguing world of Farrow & Ball, as well as the myriad ways you can change your home with our paints and papers.

Included are some indispensable practical tools in the form of decorating tips and some fail-safe Farrow & Ball colour combinations. Our intention is that you can use this book as a manual to refer to when you have a decorating quandary but also when you simply need some inspiration. Hopefully, it will help to turn your ideas and dreams into reality.

Watching paint dry may be a familiar metaphor for tedium, but I cannot think of a better way to spend time excitedly anticipating the final colour that will enhance our homes and enrich our lives.

The Victorian art critic John Ruskin wrote that The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most. At Farrow & Ball, we certainly agree.

Joa Studholme

FACING PAGE

Shaded White walls and an All White ceiling what more do you need?

BELOW

Stunning Chinese Blue (A) flatters antique furniture and portraits to perfection.

INTRODUCTION

THE FARROW & BALL STORY

Farrow & Ball has deep roots. The company was founded in 1946 by John Farrow, an industrial chemist, and Richard Ball, an engineer, who had recently returned from Germany where he had been a prisoner of war. Fortuitously, the two met when they both worked at a clay pit and they later went on to establish their first paint factory together in Verwood, Dorset. Their reputation for quality quickly spread until the pair were asked to supply paint to the Admiralty and the War Office.

In the 1960s, Farrow & Ball moved to its current site on Uddens Estate, near Wimborne, and continued to expand successfully throughout the 1970s and 80s. But while other paint manufacturers started to create acrylic paints containing more plastic and less pigment, Farrow & Ball continued using its original formulations, the finest ingredients, rich pigments and traditional processes, to make really high-quality paint that was quite different from that of the commercial brands. This was all done out of the limelight in the heart of sleepy Dorset, which helped the company retain its identity and heritage, both of which would prove to be important factors in making the company so successful in the years to come.