A 1930s Semi by the Sea: Selecting the right paint

I decided to be organised about our paint selection, rather than make one of our typical last minute decisions, so I started collecting samples of paints a few weeks before the painter was due to start on the house.I narrowed the paint companies I wanted to use down to Little Greene, Farrow & Ball and Fired Earth because of their low VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which means the paint is less toxic, mild smelling and… can be licked by my tiny-and-eats-anything son.

The day Lynn (the painter) started, I arrived with my box full of sample paint pots and colour charts and explained the look we were trying to create – breezy, light, airy. We went through the various pots and she painted each one in a chunky patch on a wall she had prepped that morning. She wrote the name of each paint above the patch (in pencil) and we let them dry for about an hour so we could get a sense of the true colour of each one.

As anyone who has painted a room before knows, what a colour looks like on a colour chart and what it looks like on a wall can be two very different things, so I was very curious to see how the test would go.

When the paints dried it looked like a charming mural of whites, greens and greys. The colours I preferred jumped out at me right away and, luckily, my husband had the exact same preferences, so no battle there. We decided to go for Little Greene Linen Wash for the majority of the house and Little Green French Grey in the kitchen. I had not even heard of Little Greene until this project, and had discovered them in a mention they had in Grand Designs magazine where the paints were described as being environmental, chalky and very washable. They are pricy, but so are Farrow & Ball and Fired Earth. (Each sample alone for my short list of brands cost around £3.) And even though Lynn thought I should consider colour matching my Little Greene preference to Crown to save money, I was quite sold on the low VOC and ‘easy to wash’ combination.

Lynn was also worried it would be too watery, as some designer paints are. But after putting on the first coat she called to say it went on beautifully and that there was virtually no smell. And after a few days of painting with it, she let me know she loved it (’it goes on like butter’) and planned on using it in her own house. I have to wait until my trip down next week to see it for myself.

Permalink||(0) Comments