t_graylish

F&B Breakfast Room Green in a breakfast room. Too much?

T Gray
5 years ago

On to the third room we are redecorating in the ridiculous Edwardian. This time it is the dining/breakfast room. We want to use this Graham and Brown wallpaper because it is bright and nods toward the Morris wallpapers around when the house was built





It's going on the red chimney breast area




We could pair it with a pale paint, green for preference as a blue will be too cold. Little Green Acorn is really good with it. However, I think a darker paint like Breakfast Room green with gloss white woodwork could look fantastic. The window is south east facing and gets lots of beautiful morning light, hence us calling it a breakfast room rather than dining room.


I am just pretty nervous about choosing that dark a colour though. The furniture will be staying and I will paint the dresser and wine rack. I would just appreciate some thoughts on the light/ dark paint dilemma from you lovely Houzzers.


A couple more pics if it helps.






Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Comments (35)

  • PRO
    Celery. Visualization, Rendering images
    5 years ago

    here is my rendering to show how it can be. I would go with grass colour for wall.


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  • Sonia
    5 years ago

    That sounds lovely. I think it will look fresh and I can imagine lots of plants too. Painting the dresser is a really good idea too. As you may remember, I painted two huge bookcases, and although it was time consuming and very boring, it wasn’t difficult. It was a real improvement. I personally prefer a softer green than Breakfast Room Green, but I do think it will look stunning.

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  • Sonia
    5 years ago

    Here’s a couple of inspo pics. The first is Breakfast Room Green, the second of Cooking Apple Green.






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  • PRO
    Celery. Visualization, Rendering images
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I am not sure your wallpaper wall is right choice. This wall blocked with hutch. May be different wall would be better show nice wallpaper pattern?



    With Little Green


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  • PRO
    Celery. Visualization, Rendering images
    5 years ago

    You can go with white as background on wallpaper


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  • PRO
    Celery. Visualization, Rendering images
    5 years ago

    Just now I noticed that it actually looks as your wall paint. Funny. :-))

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  • T Gray
    Original Author
    5 years ago

    Some interesting suggestions there guys and thank you for the renderings and inspo pics. The furniture will be a pale creamy white (eventually) and the doors and woodwork will be white gloss. The photo that inspired me for the room because of the light was this one. I am seriously considering a mirror in there instead of one of the pics.

    Crisp Architects · More Info


    Also, we chose the chimney to put the paper on and put the dresser against because I didn't want the wallpaper to overwhelm the room. I have compared several greens with the wallpaper and Breakfast Room is the only darker one that looks right. As I said, we could go pale with LG Acorn but it may just look a bit 'ok' rather than 'wow'.


    There are 3 versions of that wallpaper with different backgrounds (white, blue and black). The white one is a really ice white colour and very 'contrasty' whereas the blue is softer.

  • Juliet Docherty
    5 years ago

    I wouldn't have the wallpaper, and the green, and the floor.....there is a lot going on.

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  • T Gray
    Original Author
    5 years ago

    So Colourhappy, you are answering my thread title with... yes. :-)


    The idea of it, I like. There has just been something not quite right and you have put your finger on it. The floor is too much. Unfortunately that's something I can't change yet. Sigh.


    Ah well, back to the drawing board. Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

  • Juliet Docherty
    5 years ago

    Sorry about the short reply, but I chipped in because this very issue came up on a colour workshop yesterday. Black and white are polar opposites tonally so create a very strong visual contrast that is quite dominating. In addition, there is zero warmth in black and white. I don't know if there are any hard and fast 'rules' about this, but having looked at some images there may be some options...

    Texture - contrast the black and white with texture to inject some character and warmth. The texture will also have colour, such as the following image. The walls are a warm buff colour and the dark of the floor is repeated in details but things are generally kept neutral.


    Another option is to go with a strong neutral grey on the walls but it would need the warmth of natural wood to give balance.



    Another option is something like terracotta which always works well with darks and cools so that could be an option, sorry I couldn't find any images of this colour with your floor yet. Feel free to ignore everything I have suggested, this stuff is subjective and at the end of the day you need to love your own choices.

    T Gray thanked Juliet Docherty
  • minnie101
    5 years ago

    I do agree with colourhappy but I have to say I quite like a strong green with black and white with wood etc for texture. I do find the wallpaper a bit much personally though with the floor. Just wondering if you'd considered the new F&B olive shown below? I would paint the skirting and the built in cupboard the wall colour (I might also assess the doors once the walls are painted but understand you may not want to!). I would at least keep the sideboard top, table Top, chair tops and wine cabinet in wood. Just wondering if you'd Looked at WM papers as there quite a few in green colourways and Jane Clayton has 20% off atm. Agree a large plant or 2 could look fab



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  • Juliet Docherty
    5 years ago

    That is funny, I almost posted the same image. Yes I love olive and it works well with grey so the same with black and white. My view is that it needs wood and warmth with the black and white and olive also looks great with warm woods.

    T Gray thanked Juliet Docherty
  • Sonia
    5 years ago

    I showed your wallpaper image to my husband, just to get another view, and he wasn’t keen. Too colourful and busy in his view. He loved the green in your own inspirational pic with the white woodwork and the natural wood table. I think that may be the way to go - green walls, white woodwork, white painted furniture (but leave the top natural) and cover the floor with a nice neutral rug, maybe a jute one. Sometimes less is more?

    T Gray thanked Sonia
  • T Gray
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    @colourhappy, please do not apologise, there is absolutely nothing to apologise for. I am very grateful that you take the time to share your thoughts.

    I also very much appreciate all the other thoughts from everyone else. The OH and I have just been sitting in the room the entire morning discussing the suggestions and advice posted.

    Some of the things we have noted:

    1. The room is essentially a corridor between the hall and the kitchen with doors at a diagonal. This makes it a bit awkward to place the furniture and makes it somewhere to go through rather than go to. Bizarrely I think this contributes to the difficulty of seeing what to do with the room.

    2. Until the other day when we took some stuff out of the room (including a way too big pine fire surround), we hardly ever used it at all. Since we did that and moved stuff about, we have spent more time in there and started to see the room as not just 'getting to the kitchen'.

    3. The existing decor feels weirdly schizophrenic (if I may use that term). The wood is badly stained pine and badly reattached after the previous owner had the walls plastered. It did have the most hideous red plastic chandelier in it to 'go with' the red wall (luckily I had a spare old metal one from another room in the house which our lovely electrician swapped out for us - he thought the red one was astonishingly ugly). The tiles go through to the hall as well and won't be removed until we knock through into the kitchen in a few years time (when I have saved up!). So that adds to the difficulty of seeing what the room could be.

    4. We probably won't be going for a dark green because the room (and the furniture) doesn't suit the formality of that style, so although I love the inspo pic, I don't think it would work.

    5. However a lighter version might, especially with the olive tones, the wood topped furniture painted a soft white, and the doors etc all gloss white. The jute rug is inspired and we are looking into that too. Sad to say but I think the wallpaper (though I love it) is probably not right. However I am going to get everything else done, then choose a wallpaper - if I still want one.

    Really appreciate everyone's help. My plan from this point is to start doing all the horrible, boring and hard prep work. But you have given us a way forward that makes that work bearable! Thank you.

  • Sonia
    5 years ago

    Bless you. I have asked for help on here with decor and it has been a revelation. It helps you focus on what you do like and what you don’t like. I actually liked it when someone said, in a more polite way of course, that something is hideous! By the way, jute rugs aren’t expensive and got I mine from Next. Now I would love to see that beautiful red plastic chandelier lol.............

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  • T Gray
    Original Author
    5 years ago

    forzaitalia, your wish is my command :-)


    It was really plasticy and hadn't been cleaned so was disgustingly greasy too. You can also see the fire surround, which stuck out either side of the chimney and I kept bashing my upper arm on it. I gave that to a neighbour who wanted it so felt better about not just dumping it!



  • Sonia
    5 years ago
    Ooh it looks like something you would have for Halloween or a bordello! :-)
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  • rachelmidlands
    5 years ago
    Hi T gray. I’ve been racking my brains thinking how it could look because I actually quite like that wallpaper as well:). It’s got a nice freshness about it. So I’ve been gathering a few inspo images. My only issue is that I think you may tire of it quickly and agree with previous comments that it may clash with the floor. But I wouldn’t let that put you off. I think for it to work you’d need a really strong colour elsewhere in the room. So my idea would be to keep the walls a pale colour but paint the dining chairs a bright colour like yellow or a turquoise/teal and paint the other furniture in white. Or..use the wallpaper on the back of the dresser behind the shelves or on the drawer/cupboard fronts. That way you get to admire it without it being too overpowering. A large window style mirror, lots of green plants, a crisp white tablecloth and bowl of lemons/fruit and blue and white chinaware would complete the look I think. There’s also a wallpaper by William Morris appropriately named ‘fruit’ which is similar but a little more muted, it’s got peaches and pomegranates in the design. Any way here’s a few inspo pics.
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  • rachelmidlands
    5 years ago
    And some more, the wallpaper used in loo pic is Schumacher ‘citrus garden’ although I don’t think it’s available in UK:(
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  • rachelmidlands
    5 years ago
    Some ideas for furniture:
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  • PRO
    Celery. Visualization, Rendering images
    5 years ago

    here is my inspiration pic.

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  • Resh
    5 years ago

    Celerygirl, love that. T Gray - have you thought about F&B Green Smoke? It's a lovely colour (we used it in the living room) with a definite character change from smoky sage in bright light to an intimate dark green in the evenings...

    T Gray thanked Resh
  • T Gray
    Original Author
    5 years ago

    @celerygirl That's the pic that Graham and Brown use on their web site for the wallpaper and it the one that inspired us to the green/wallpaper mix :)

    @Resh Green smoke is a lovely colour isn't it? It's darker than the Breakfast Room Green though and as I mentioned, in that room a darker green gives a more formal look than the furniture allows for. We have been painting a few big blocks of tester colour on the walls and so far Cooking Apple seems to be the front runner.

    @rachelmidlands Thank you for all the suggestions, it is that 'relaxed softer trad/countryish but not trying too hard' look I want to achieve. :) The Morris Fruit wallpaper was mentioned on another post and I do like it. I think i am doing the right thing and mulling stuff over while I get the prep done. Otherwise known as putting off a decision! :)


  • T Gray
    Original Author
    5 years ago

    Hey awesome Houz nerds :) no actual decorating progress to report as work been silly for both of us. However plenty of discussion and a bit more research into Edwardian houses. (Fyi the Victorian and Edwardian Haynes manual is just brilliant and goes into lots of really interesting structural and repair details)


    The discussions took into account all the great thoughts and suggestions you have given us with the result that we are not using that wallpaper. However we have gone for a plant and birds one from Sanderson called Chiswick Grove Sage.




    It is much more subtle but still gives the same feeling to the room. We have also thought about it being over the entire room, the chimney breast, one wall etc, but have finally agreed that all over would be too chintzy. In a stroke of amazing luck, Breakfast room Green works wonderfully with it. As a result we are fairly sure we will go for tounge and groove panelling on the bottom in the BR green with a dado in the same colour with the wallpaper on top all around the room.





    Woodwork in white so the horrible orange varnish goes. We have done a test piece and we think it works with the floor now. Popped a photo above so you can see where we are going with this now. The t&g is a bit tall we think so need to figure out the right height.


    Would you do the skirting in the green? If yes, What would you do with the doors and architraves? Any thoughts very welcome as you guys have been super helpful getting us to this point!

  • minnie101
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    The paper is really pretty and I like the t&g idea. I would paint the skirting. Re height, I think dado rails were generally between 3-4 ft from the floor and to stop the backs of chairs from rubbing the back of walls but you also need to take into account ceiling height. Normally something about 1/3 of the height of the wall works, the closer you get to 1/2 height i think it can visually cut the room in half.

    I would paint the doors and architraves in the green because I like the look (although I think that was a Georgian style of painting!) but you also mentioned the corridor effect before with the doors which you would lose if painted green but why not assess once everything else is done?

    Just found a couple of pics, the first for me looks too high (or too short) but the 2nd looks about right well in my humble opinion anyway :)





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  • Sonia
    5 years ago

    I absolutely adore painted panelling, so thumbs up from me! The wallpaper is so pretty and makes me think country Manor House and doesn’t it go well with the panelling? Skirting and architrave will, I think, look good in the green. I’m not sure about the doors - maybe a soft white? Or also do those in the green too? I’ll hunt through some pics and see what I can find. It is going to look fabulous!


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  • Sonia
    5 years ago

    Here’s a couple of inspirational pics, but it seems there are no hard and fast rules - some paint everything in the panelling colour, and some don’t, so it’s your preference. I just think the touch of soft white on the door will make it look fresh. The door is beautiful so why not make it stand out, as in the 2nd image below?





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  • rachelmidlands
    5 years ago
    I’m kinda gutted that you decided against the fruity wallpaper but definitely think you’ve made the right decision. The Sanderson paper is lovely:) and with the green t&g it should look fab. Skirting in green but not sure about the door and architrave, I think I’d play it safe and go for a soft white, possibly lime white or a linen type colour. You could always put a white undercoat on and then see what you think. Funny you mention the Haynes manual because we also have it and find it so helpful. Good luck, can’t wait to see finished pics:).
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  • T Gray
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Thanks for the replies folks. :) Looking at the mockup this morning, it looks lovely in the light. We are both really happy to take this forward. We treated ourselves to the F&B book 'How to Decorate' and it has lots of great advice and reference pics. It has also got what whites to use with their colours. Apparently James White is the one to go for so we are fairly sure the doors, architrave and original cupboard will be in James White with the skirting in BR Green. The ceiling we will do in a pure trade white (as all the ceilings will be, to ensure a room to room flow).

    There are some fiddly bits around the window that we are still trying to figure out how to do and the windowsill is an awful uPVC thing that has to stay so I am hoping I can figure out what to do with that. The radiator will be BR Green too but need to figure out what paint type to use.

    Talking of paint type, I like the flat matt of the emulsion I used to mock up the tongue and groove but think the dado and skirting should be a wood paint. The t&g is mdf paneling, can this just be done in emulsion or does it need wood paint?

    Now need to book a few days off work to crack on!

  • Sonia
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    How exciting! i Think the panelling would look better, and be harder wearing, in eggshell, the same as all the woodwork. There was an earlier post (think it was one of Tani’s) where there is a whole discussion on which paint to use on a radiator, so may be worth a look. I personally have used matt emulsion and Dulux satinwood and they were both fine. Satinwood was easier to clean. Just one more thing, I bet once the room is decorated, who’s even going to notice the pvc window! Hope all goes well for you!

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  • Sonia
    5 years ago
    Of course we are interested! Doesn’t the room look lovely? It has a lovely period feel without being too fussy. I was very sad to see the red candelabra go.......:-), but the replacement looks great. I also like the new lamps on the sideboard. I think the doors look much nicer painted. I think the dresser would look better painted, but I know painting furniture is such a bore, so I don’t blame you leaving it as it is. You sound really happy with your room, and it’s certainly a room to be proud of. Well done and Happy New Year!
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  • PRO
    User
    5 years ago

    Love the sound of the green with the white. I think i prefer a darker muted green though.


    Maybe Card Room Green or Green Smok. It will bring out the white.

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  • T Gray
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Thanks for the input MATH, however as per my post above it's finished now :) The time it took to paint all the woodwork, I won't be doing it again in a hurry!

  • rachelmidlands
    5 years ago
    Happy new year! Looks great! I love the green t&g and think the doors and cupboard look nice and fresh now they’re painted. I think you’ve inspired me with the green as I started doing my breakfast room/kitchen with similar green but a bit more earthy tones. Long way to go yet but I made a start (see pic). I think the cats love your room as well, the window cat bed is awesome:)
    T Gray thanked rachelmidlands
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