The Best Front Door Paint Colours

If you're anything like us, here at Relics of Witney, you won't be able to resist eyeing up beautiful front doors. Your head will be turned this way and that as you walk down a new street, being inspired, and squirrelling away ideas for the future.

 

Try Dulux Party Surprise 1

 

We all know that changing the colour of your front door is one of the simplest ways to make a dramatic change to the front of your house. 

 

Try Little Greene French Grey Dark

 

Choosing the right colour can instantly boost your kerb appeal, and, consequently, your house value. However, it's one thing to be bowled away by a particular shade you've spied but quite another to be able to confidently pin down a specific paint colour for your own front door.

 

Little Greene Carys

 

Here's where we'd love to help you. Coming into Relics of Witney is a little like hiring your own designer, only it's free! Between us all, the Relics team has decades of experience helping our customers choose their perfect paints.

 

Try Little Greene Dark Lead Colour

 By giving us relevant information about your home, the way it faces, as an example, and the period it was built, we can help you put together a look that will perfectly suit the way you live.

 

Try Farrow and Ball London Stone

 If, for instance, you live in a stone property, whose door is mostly in the shade, then we would steer you towards colours like Dulux Weathershield Green Stone from their Heritage range, which seems to radiate light, even from within the most gloomy of settings.

 

 

Or, if you feel that you would like your period home to have a slightly more contemporary feel, then we might suggest a harmonious shade to tie in with the brick or stone work, such as Dulux Weathershield Chalky Downs.

 

 

We've said it before but it's worth saying again (and again!) that Dulux Weathershield has absolutely fantastic staying power against all the varieties of weather. For your house exterior it's always worth choosing the very best exterior products to avoid needing to rectify peeling paint again in a couple of years. Using sub-standard paint is a complete false economy.

 

Farrow and Ball Pelt

 

Front door paint gets some of the highest traffic of your home, and is certainly the area that is most noticed. Take the time to get it right. The perfect front door paint should protect your door from the elements, withstand the elements and create a warm welcome for your guests.

 

Try Dulux Weathershield Fuschia Lily

 

 

 

Images via Pinterest, Voysey and Jones, Telegraph, Pinterest, Pinterest, unknown, Leopoldina Hayes, Farrow and Ball, unknown

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The Best Farrow and Ball Paint Colours For Kitchen Units

Probably one of the cheapest and most effective ways of transforming your kitchen is with judicious use of paint. But please let us emphasise the word judicious. Simply daubing your units with any old colour can be disastrous, giving you a poor finish and a room that ends up feeling dark and gloomy, rather than appearing spacious and stylish.

Yes, it's essential to take time over the colour. With years of experience, and many, many happy customers, the team at Relics of Witney can easily help to take the angst out of picking the right colours for your kitchen. Contact us or visit the shop in person, for a completely personal service.

For now, however, let us lead you through some stages of initial inspiration to get you well on the way to a transformed kitchen.

Firstly, find out the orientation of your kitchen. Farrow and Ball have produced a great booklet called 'All About Colour', available in Relics of Witney, which explains how the light that different rooms receives can greatly affect the appearance of paint.

For example, South-facing rooms are full of warm light for most of the day and, on sunny days, everything will look more yellow. Farrow and Ball suggest that it's worth emphasising that feeling of light and space with pale blue tones, such as Pavilion Blue or Borrowed Light, or use red-based neutrals, such as Joa's White, for a warmer feel.

Conversely, North-facing rooms can seem cooler and harsher with the lack of light. Farrow and Ball suggest that you focus on yellow-based colours, such as New White and Ringwold Ground to help bounce light around the room. 

Or, instead, try working with that natural lack of light and create an intimate, cosy room with dramatic choice of colour, such as Brinjal, a deep aubergine, or Down Pipe. a dark grey with a hint of teal.

The light in West- and East-facing rooms changes throughout the day as the sun swings over the sky. It's worth taking the time to think of when you'll use the room most to tailor your colour choice to the light you'll most often experience. If you want to use the room at a time when the light is very strong, you might like to pick a shade a little darker than you'd naturally be drawn to, as sunlight has a tendency to bleach out colour.

Secondly, work out the kind of artificial lighting you'll be using. Very warm lighting, such as incandescent bulbs, will cast a yellow glow, whilst LED lighting gives a bluish cast, meaning that your chosen paint may not appear as you'd first imagined it. 

Lastly, decide where you want your colour choices. The effect can be very different when painted on walls, compared to painted kitchen units. To demonstrate what we mean, here are two kitchens which both feature Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath. The first has Elephant's Breath on the walls, and the second on the units.

We hope that's given you lots to think over. For help picking out paint colours that will work perfectly in your room, we'd love to hear from you.

Images via HousetoHome, Langham Painted Kitchens, housetohome, roomenvy, Farrow and Ball, Hamhigh, Farrow and Ball, Derbyshire life, Kate's Creative Space,  unknown, unknown

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How To Decorate With The Best Brown-Grey And Greige Paints And Accessories

If the thought of decorating with browns takes you straight back to ugly memories of the seventies, now is most definitely the time to think again. Able to act as both a neutral and a colour, brown is a hugely versatile shade which is happy to straddle a whole variety of looks.This month we want to take you on a tour of the best that fashionably-greyed browns (often referred to as greige, a cross between grey and beige) have to offer, and that Relics of Witney have picked out for our customers.

First of all, Let's talk paints. Today's browns come in a whole dizzying array of different hues - from the palest of caramels to the deepest, warmest chocolate. 

We think these are the best grey-browns:

Little Greene Attic II:

Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray:

Little Greene Silt:

Little Green Chocolate Colour:

Farrow and Ball Mole's Breath:

These are fantastic choices for adding depth to your decorating - by painting and distressing a favourite but tired pierce of furniture for a gentle feel, or for adding a bolder hit on feature walls. None of these are run-of the mill browns; they will all having you looking again and again, trying to fathom their moody hues. 

And now onto our accessories. We are huge fans of our rattan baskets...we have a large collection in a whole gamut of shapes and sizes. They are incredibly popular, and rightly so. Strong, tough and beautifully elegant: who knew such a combination was possible? Their thick-stranded woven texture will bring interest to any area needing a bit of a nudge style-wise. And the possibilities for use in your home? Oh, the possibilities! Just take a look at some of these images....

And, lastly, for those of you who are looking to add a tangible sense of vintage character to your home, we have a fantastic Bakelite range of switches, socket and ceiling roses, as well as traditional fabric-covered flex.

Who said brown had to be boring? They clearly hadn't seen our stock! Come into Relics of Witney, or shop online for all your decorating needs...

Images via: Farrow and Ball, Vanessa Arbuthnott, Little Greeene, Farrow and Ball, Little Greene, Little Greene, Little Greene, Little Greene, Farrow and Ball, Modern Country Style, Garden Trading, quickcrop, Pinterest, Claire Mee, stilinspiration, woondroom, cox and cox, room seventeen, Relics of Witney, Relics of Witney

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Farrow and Ball Paint and Old Made Pop-Up Shop In Relics Of Witney

This month, Farrow and Ball are encouraging all of us to think more creatively about decorating and adding colour to our homes through their Find It, Paint It, Love It campaign. Farrow and Ball say that we tend to focus on the walls, often leaving the trim and furniture as an afterthought. 

When it comes to interiors, it pays to get creative with paint. By custom-painting furniture pieces, or introducing colour to your interior trim (such as skirting boards, banisters, door frames or dado rails) you can inject personality and interest to your decor.

At Relics of Witney, we've long been fans of helping our customers pick out paint colours to bring out the best in their homes. We think this means allowing homes to reflect their owners passions and personalities: what you truly love, not just having a magazine-beautiful space to tiptoe about in.

Two people who have this gift in spades of injecting personality into any space are Lee and Kate, owners of Old Made. 

We're very excited at Relics to be hosting them at what we believe is Witney's first ever pop-up shop. 

They sell an exquisitely curated collection of artsy, fifties-inspired pieces. Yet, let us be clear: this is no run-of-the-mill vintage shop.

Old Made has a unique take on interiors that is hugely influenced by Lee and Kate's combined background in graphic design and textiles, with a definite nod to Modern Rustic and light touch of Industrial style.

Think 'Last Tango In Paris' and eclectic apartment living, think jazz record covers by Reid Miles and Picasso's atelier, and you'll be half way there to understanding just what it is that makes Old Made so special.

Old Made love to work with local design/makers, such as these lovely cushions by Mabel and Bird who are based in chipping Norton.

Lee and Kate adore illustration, fabrics, maps and colour. They cite Farrow and Ball Cinder Rose and Blue Ground as some their favourite paints, as well as the monochrome hues of Lamp Black by Little Greene and White by Earthborn Claypaints.

So why did they choose Relics to launch Old Made? Quite simply because they love our vision too. We asked what their favourite Relics' buys are: 'We recommend Relics cup handles for adding a quirky twist to unloved pieces of furniture. The Bakelite light switches for a slightly retro take.  And it has to be Black Bison wax for perfect sprucing!'

Lee and Kate's blend of experience, as well as their obvious talent, combines to create a look that is different from anything we've seen before.

Find Old Made on their website, Twitter and Pinterest, and, for one more week at Witney's first pop-up shop in Relics! Then, in the near future, they'll be over at Love Your Plane in Oxford.

We wish them all the very best.

Make sure you come and visit. 

{You can find Old Made in Relics of Witney until Saturday 28th June.}

  

Relics of Witney Limited

Tel: 01993 704611

Fax: 01993 380029

www.relicsofwitney.co.uk

www.twitter.com/relicsofwitney

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