Thursday 31 March 2016

Fifty Shades of White....


No this post is not a review on a new erotic romance novel
....sorry to disappoint!
I am to busy at the moment to read books of any kind.
The only reading I squeeze in these days
is of home magazines for a bit of creative inspiration.

 

I have mentioned before that our new house is 
in desperate need of lots & lots of TLC.
Stuck in a 1980 time warp it boosts no vintage charm 
just hideous design blunders.
Every room in the house requires some form of attention
but the kitchen & bathroom are needing gutting from floor to ceiling. 
£££££
is all I can see at the moment when I look around my house!!
There are so many decisions to make
    all interlinking with one and another that it can be a bit overwhelming.        
I guess having a Champagne taste on a Happy Meal budget isn't helping.
WELL.... strictly speaking it's not so much a Champagne 
more of a Shaker meets New England
mixed with flea-market treasures finished by a few skip finds taste. 
A cheap taste to have a few years ago when it wasn't fashionable.
Unfortunately not so nowadays!
Most second hand stores pricing these days makes me wounder 
when I see chip-wood do they see Chippendale.    
I grew up in a house where home decor was hunted for
by enlarge on flea-markets at the side of the road & in skips!
It wasn't called up-cycle when I was a child,  
my parents were just way ahead of their time. 
But to be honest my Mum & Dad never cared much for fashion & trends,
they always created their own eclectic style mix.
Strange to think of them as trendy in today's interior styling terms.  
I can tell you as a child & teenager growing up in a 1980's 
perfect suburbia with flawless conservatively styled 80's homes & gardens
having parents with a quirky style made me the odd one out 
....that wasn't always easy for me.
Nowadays I am much more appreciative of having been the odd one out, 
as it has given me an independent spirit ....not just in design terms. 
Wow....I'm loosing my tread for this post.

Okay, lets get back to the Fifty Shades of White....

 If you have been following me on here for a while
you know by now I like

 soft **** pale **** bright **** strong 

****  colours ****
**** prints ****
**** patterns ****
**** whimsy ****
I need all of the above everyday in my life. 


However when it comes to my interior I LoVe to add plenty of   
  WHITE  

White walls * White furniture * White accessories.
White makes me happy 
and it is the perfect backdrop.
I found picking the right white for my walls though
isn't as easy as it sounds....
there are so many shades of white paint
from so many different manufactures 
that I have spent weeks collecting paint-cards 
and the same time again studying & comparing them.
After narrowing my choices from fifty shades of white
down to nine I invested in sample pots. 
Over the years sample pots & I have become great friends
I have come to appreciate how much time,
money and energy they can save.
Painting large squares on the wall really helps 
to visualizes a colour 
and it's fascinating to see how it changes in different lights. 


How do you define white
....where does white finish and cream, soft blue & green start?
 Sample pots are really money well spent....
not just was I surprised by some of the shades 
....they really did not resembling the colour from the paint card at all
....I was also shocked by the runny almost milk like consistency 
by one of the paints making it very difficult to work with. 
Buying without trying could have been an expensive "saving".


After living now with the samples squares for a couple of weeks....


....seeing the whites in different lighting natural & artificial
we have finally made our choice. 
Once the electrician and plasters are finished
in the room we can start to paint,
however that may take a few more weeks.


In the mean time I'm enjoy another look at my magazine.

xxxx




4 comments:

  1. Those macaroons look so tempting! Hope you enjoyed them. I like the cute little bunny too.
    Recently I needed to buy a white to paint a radiator cover so I know what you mean about there being white and white to choose from! I'm looking forward to finding out which one you went for and seeing your transformation taking place.
    Thank you for the comment about the new job. It's been a tiring week meeting loads of new people and trying to make of what I'll now be doing. I hate being the new person and not knowing what I'm doing!
    Have a great weekend.
    Lisa x

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  2. Dear Anna, I hope you will be happy with your choise of white... I also love white walls, we have it in most of the rooms. White, and white with a little touch of grey. Your dining room looks very nice and cosy!
    Have a nice weekend, Ida.

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  3. I spot a Johnson Brothers Greydawn teapot!! I have the same one :)

    Glad to hear you've come to decision with your white. When I repainted my bedroom a couple of years ago I painted sheets of thick card in various shades of off-white, propping them up around the room until I made my choice. It's worth taking time over.

    Your blog is beautiful by the way :)

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  4. White really can be tough! It sounds easy enough but it certainly isn't. I understand that feeling of being overwhelmed. That's where we were when we first moved into this house 5 years ago. It's been a slow process for us because we have a budget to work with but somehow it's more satisfying that way and since we have done most of the work ourselves it very much feels like OUR home! I look forward to seeing what you do to your new home.

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