Name: London Clay 244, Shaded White 201
Brand: Farrow & Ball
How hot is this? I’ll forsake color this week ever so slightly in favor of line and graphic gravitas. File this under “Fun With Paint." Yes, this is decorative painting. You see things like this on wallpaper sites all over the web, and it is my new mission to steal as much work as possible from paper hangers. When you paint instead of paper, specific color and scale become putty in your hands.
My new goddess Nina Freudenberger of Haus Interior was the lead designer on this project. We kept the palette pretty neutral here in deference to boldness and simplicity, Farrow & Ball London Clay over a base of Shaded White. I sketched in the first zigzag directly on the wall, vertical lines were drawn and a repeat was established of one inch white to five inches London Clay. I chose to paint brown over white instead of white over brown — it’s trickier to paint thin lines than thick, and no I don’t like to use tape, it triples the time and inevitably bleeds.
This was my first decorative paint project using Farrow & Ball, and the paint behaved marvelously — it covered well and brushstrokes in the emulsion flattened out into nothing. Who knew? And as I say, I still paint free hand, no tape. If you zig when you should have zagged, it’s lost in the pattern. And thanks to Michael at Bosse Limited for bringing me into the project. what a perfect triumvirate.
- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
That looks awesome but SO complicated! Eek, I'd be paranoid of making a line crooked.
Ashley
http://rainycitystyle.blogspot.com
view RainyCityStyle's profile
It always amazes me to read that he does this stuff free-handed...
view bepsf's profile
I need a tutorial!!!! Sooo neat!
Gracia
view xieta's profile
Gorgeous work, but too busy for my taste.
view SherryBinNH's profile
Love it!
view olga's profile
Oh, it's gorgeous! I was excited until I saw that 2nd picture. No way I can pull that off.
view STYLeyes's profile
Beautiful but not very calming for a bedroom.
view sally305's profile
I want that! It looks great!
view dennisd's profile
It reminds me of when Lucy & Ethel try to wallpaper the bedroom with striped wallpaper and they did it so crooked that they lost their balance every time they looked at it.
I admire the workmanship, though, very nicely executed. And the color is divine.
view robyn's profile
Amazing. Not sure my hand is steady enough for this, but you're a mad genius, Mark. Very cool. Love the colors too.
view LiliZ's profile
Impressive! It would also be great (although lose a lot of the drama) in tonal colors, like cream on white. I'd love that in the bedroom.
In the meantime, I'm stealing this idea to paint on the safety of a giant canvas, since my rendition would absolutely turn out like Lucy and Ethel's (great reference robyn!), and my landlord would not be happy. Thanks for the inspiration.
view firecracker's profile
Looks great. Striking. And done by hand, wow. Though, I think I'd get dizzy walking toward/by that wall. But that's just clumsy, dizzy-prone me.
view bluemonday's profile
This would be amazing in an entryway .
view Seaside's profile
Give us more ColorTherapy! *sigh* I wish they were in DC.
view ftpansy's profile
Magnificent! It looks like wallpaper, but better.
Bespoke "wallpaper" .
I love it!
view dewi's profile
This is beautiful.
view Curtis's profile