Colour to go with F&B 'Railings'...?

8 years ago

Hello. We are decorating hall, stairs and landing. Have decided to do the inside of the front door and stair banisters in Farrow & Ball's 'Railings' (all the bits currently in dark wood). Would quite like to keep the walls as bright as possible as it's quite a narrow and dark space, so thinking about doing them white. With white walls, perhaps I should paint the doors and skirtings in a colour... But what? Can anyone tell me a nice grey or mid-tone colour that would complement the white walls and Railings woodwork?

Thank you!

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Clever And Simple

8 years ago

Hi Jackie,

Here is a closeup photo of the wall upstairs with the pictures illuminated with a spotlight in the ceiling. As our hallway is very small, it's hard to get a good zoomed out photo, but I'll put one up when I get a chance. The house is still a work in progress, but downstairs we are going to build a recess into the wall and sit an orange glass vase in it. This contrasts really well against the Railings....

Lighting wise, I assume that you have an attic above the hall. Is it boarded or do you have access to the ceiling and wiring still? If this is the case, you can get an electrician to fit spots for you after decorating is complete if you need a bit more light in there. Do you get much natural light into the hall? I can see in your photo that the front door is solid, is there a window next to it? Our front door is partially glazed and faces West. We get the evening sun through the door and it changes the Railings colour from dark grey to a much lighter Bluey green grey : )

Thanks,

Peter

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Comments (18)

PRO
User
8 years ago
Railings is a really nice contemporary colour, slightly more blue than black. ( I hope you're using Gloss by the way, as the Estate Eggshell is not hard wearing enough for high use areas.) We use Dulux Trade Professional paint, which you can have colour matched to anything at the shop, paints like a dream and the Satinwood is particularly good for all interior woodwork. As the 'railings' going to be quite striking, i'd stick to white, or off white for all other paintwork. If you start adding more colour, one will compete with the other. You could always use a Comtemporary Stripe Carpet, very on trend!
Jackie Bourne
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks, Bagpuss Antiques. Did you mean I should get F&B gloss or did you mean I should get it colour-matched in Dulux Trade eggshell? Thank you.
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Jackie Bourne
Original Author
8 years ago
Sorry - meant Dulux Trade Satinwood, not eggshell.
PRO
User
8 years ago
Hi Jackie, You can go with F&B Interior Gloss, or the Dulux in Satinwood. Don't buy Eggshell in either ! Had a thought, you could always paint the walls in a really, really pale grey with the rest of the woodwork white, I think it could be a little stark otherwise. The last property we did, we painted both the walls and all the woodwork in the same colour. We used Dulux Matt Emulssion for the walls and the Satinwood for all the wood, architrave, doors, skirting everything. It's a nice look and tones everything together well. It was done in Dusted Moss number 3, here are a few pics. It's a very pale grey / green
PRO
User
8 years ago
p.s Sorry, can't wait to see the finished pictures!!
just4kidsphysio
8 years ago
We went the other way and did the walls in railings and the wood work in strong white!
minnie101
8 years ago
Maybe try the strong white on the walls and purbeck stone for the doors as the colours have some warmth to them
PRO
Clever And Simple
8 years ago
We did a similar thing to just4kidsphysio. The walls are railings and the woodwork in Wimborne White. The Farrow&Ball Railings in modern emulsion is quite shiny so I had it mixed in Little Greene Intelligent Matt Emulsion so it is harder wearing than the F&B estate emulsion but less shiny than the estate emulsion.

I then used pictures and spotlights to bring interest to the hall.

Personally, I like the more dramatic darker colours and the contrast between the dark walls and the white woodwork works for me.

I'm away at the moment but can upload pictures later.

Thanks,

Peter
Jackie Bourne
Original Author
8 years ago
Wow - so much to consider! Thanks everyone! Today we have painted the ceiling in brilliant white and came down onto the walls a bit as an experiment. Made me think that all white ceiling, walls AND woodwork might be too stark (as you pointed out Bagpuss Antiques). Now I'm thinking we might do ALL the woodwork in Railings...

Love the contrast of the dark walls and white woodwork in your pics, just4kidsphysio, but your staircase is rather more grand than ours!

Would love to see pice of yours when you get a chance, Clever and Simple. Was thinking we would bring life in with vibrant artwork so keen to see what you did. Alas don't think we can put lights in as well at this stage.

Thank you all again. Will post pice when it's all done! : )
PRO
Clever And Simple
8 years ago
Hi Jackie,

Here is a view looking into the hallway. As you can see, the hall is a work in progress : /

The wall on the right hasn't been plastered yet as we were just experimenting with the colours. The Railings frames the pictures nicely and the Wimborne white adds a nice contrast.

At a later date, we're going to remove the bannisters and replace them with a sheet of toughened glass. (Too many projects and not enough time!!)
Jackie Bourne thanked Clever And Simple
PRO
GuigsART
8 years ago

Hi.

Have you ever considered a real interesting eye catching piece of art work to really brighten up this area I think a select piece of art would really make the space stand out, add interest, colour, texture and add a great talking point to the room....

Please check out my website if like the idea and please get in contact, commission work is also welcomed so if you like a particular style I can do in a select colour palette and size but with this it can only be done as a original piece and not a print.....but all prints i can do to the same size or smaller than my original paintings, so lots of options..

Www.GuigsART.co.uk
Helen C
8 years ago
I think the bannister painted in railings will look gorgeous. Whites/greys which match well with railings are wevet, ammonite, Cornforth White and purbeck stone. Which of these you choose will depend on the amount of light.
Jackie Bourne thanked Helen C
Jackie Bourne
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks again for the latest comments. Clever and Simple - love your look! We do still have access to the ceiling for spots so yes - thinking about that… but I quite like the idea of a shade that casts a pattern on the ceiling. Also contemplated one of those light tunnels but surely they get dirty and not easy to clean if they're on the roof! Like you - so many projects but so little time (and money!).

Thanks for the colour references minnie101 and campo73. Will check those out!
PRO
Clever And Simple
8 years ago
Hi Jackie,

Personally, I'm not overly convinced by the light tunnels. If you can do it, a Velux or similar would let more light in and look better. I think your idea of the shade could work. At least it is an easy thing to install and see the effect of. If you go Railings on the walls, the type of shade will make quite a difference. One thing that I like about the spots is that they make the pictures stand out on the wall and draw your focus away from the smallness of the room. If the shade is too opaque on the sides, the hallway may look too dark, but you can easily change it : ) if you don't like the pendants at all, then you can look at spot lights. There are still plenty of options after the room is decorated.

Good luck

Peter
louisescutt
8 years ago
We've used railings in our cast iron radiators with strong white walls and it looks stunning. Strong White is a lovely soft grey white and it has really warmed my room up. Just a warning on colour mixing railings, we had 2 different companies doing our rads as some were new and some were refurbished. Railings was specified in each and they came back quite different colours. Similarly our kitchen was already in when we moved and is painted in Old white, we had a garden room extension with the wood work to match and we bought real F&b to do the skirtings etc ourselves. All 3 very different colours. My friend has had cornforth white eggshell on a larder unit mixed by dulux and doesn't look a patch as good as the real f &b. I'm sorry but sofar not a fan of colour matching f and b as I've not seen it come up to scratch yet from about 6 different sources. Anyway railings and either strong white or cornforth look really lovely. I loved the deeper contrast of the strong though
PRO
Maison De Caron Interior Design
8 years ago
F & B Railings is a good choice for your hallway and landing. My suggested colour choice for the walls and wood work is cream, many variations on the market. Valspar st B&Q offers many good colour options. A striking piece of artwork mounted along the staircase wall and a statement mirror in the hallway. Both benefiting from accent lighting.
PRO
The Paint Pot Colour Centre
8 years ago
if it's not too late to make a suggestion. You should check out the grey range of colours from Little Greene. There intelligent paint, either emulsion or eggshell, are very hard wearing. They also do a new blue range of colours not to mention the normal heritage colours too. Hope this helps

Colour to go with F&B 'Railings'...?

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