Inspiration: Alex's Deep Blue Makeover

Painting our living room was one of the first things we did when we moved into our flat – we had the paint chosen and the job done within a week. The thing is, because we didn’t really have a vision for the room at that time, we deliberately picked a colour that was inoffensively bland. We may have used the words, this’ll go with anything. It was a lovely colour, but in terms of impact, it was neither here nor there.

In the intervening two years we’ve become bolder with our use of colour, and the living room had some vibrant fabrics that were sort of lost among the softly-hued walls.

Every time I went into the room I just felt it needed some drama, and eventually we decided that we needed to abandon the countryish grey-green and opt for a colour that really had something to say.

We chose Farrow & Ball’s Hague Blue, the darkest of their blues, that has a gorgeous peacocky green undertone. So here’s our New Year new look.

The deep midnight blue makes the walls look positively velvety (and for once I think the woodchip wallpaper actually improves this effect, as well as being a dreamy surface to paint).

The colour brings the room together and makes the large space cosier. Dark paints seem intimidating, and there’s always a fear that they will make a room look smaller, but actually this one seems to have made our living room look bigger. Maybe it’s the contrast between the cornicing, big windows and the luscious blue walls that makes the room fill out somehow.

We also painted the radiator and dresser in the eggshell finish of the same colour, which gives them an architectural quality.

What’s the most exciting colour you’ve used in your home? Are you thinking about taking the plunge with a dark paint?

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