Changes to decor for different area of the country

moneyistooshorttomention

In my last house I basically went through the house - both inside and out with a shade of white that looks warm/positively "glowy" and those rooms that I painted in that colour and the outside of the house (also painted) glowed like the house had a halo round it and inside it.

So - I've used the same shade of white again on every room inside my current house. It doesn't look glowy/like a halo. It looks cold. I cant quite figure why...but guess its down to a combination of reasons (the positive side being lot less pollution in the air/negative side being the skies are grey a lot more often than I'm used to). Maybe the quality of the light here is a bit different?

So - I think the best way inside the house is to redecorate again - darn it. This time to forget my shaded whites and do things a bit differently - but it still must be painted (not wallpapered). So I guess a bit of colourwashing might be the way to go for inside the house (say a colourwash, for instance, of soft white and soft peach) might help create a warm enough effect??

The outside of the house is a bigger problem. My last house was painted and I just repainted the outside from cold white to glowy white. Here - this house is painted too. I'm wondering what to do to duplicate "The Glow" when it comes to that outside d!cor. Has anyone ever colourwashed a British house?:rotfl:

Any thoughts? Has anyone else changed area and wondered how to keep "warm/glowy" when they found they couldn't use the same colours?

DaftyDuck

Part of the overall effect of the colour comes from the quality of light, and reflected light, from outside the property. In your current house, are you getting any reflections of colour from buildings, vegetation or hills to add colour? Were you at the last place? White is a great neutral when you have mixed light coming into the property (for example, in an extreme case, an old stained glass window, or a lesser case, hand-blown 18th Century glass).

You could consider the planting regime just outside the window, or even the curtain colour just on the inside. May work out cheaper and easier than a complete repaint. Certainly more rewarding.

DRP

As DaftDuck says, but also the orientation of the house - north-ish facing?

sgun

When I drive down to Devon from the North East the light changed considerably, particularly after Bristol. It puts me in mind of the "rose tinted spectacles" that people wore in the UK to try and recreate the quality of Italian light that they experienced on their grand tours in the 18th century.

We don't really get warm light in the NE and I would shy away from any white d!cor and go for soft warm colours instead. I think we had more sun than the SW this year though!

pinkteapot

Light makes paint colours look radically different. At our last house, we decorated two bedrooms with the same paint (Dulux barley white - a very light cream). One was south-facing, and the colour was lovely - bright and warm. The other was north-facing and the colour looked very white and was very cold.

As well as the orientation of the rooms, the number of size and windows, and how much light can get in through them will make a big difference too. I.e. a window with plants or other houses fairly close by will let in a lot less light than one with wide open field views outside it.

You can still go for light-coloured neutrals, but you need to have slightly stronger colours (not the near-white ones) and ones in very warm tones. Creams with a peachy/pinky tone rather than a beigey tone. That doesn't mean bright peach/pink, but creams are very different in their colour tone.

For the outside of the house I think the colour is slightly less important. Fresh paint looks clean and bright and that's the main thing. I'd just go for white or ivory - something quite neutral that no-one will really hate. Outside is easier in one way - walk around your local area and see what painted houses look attractive, then go with a similar colour. Harder to do that with interiors unless you want to start nosing in people's windows.

I personally wouldn't go for colour-washed as not everyone will like the pattern/texture. I'd stick with flat painted walls (both inside and out) for maximum, inoffensive appeal.

BucksLady

Our rooms are white or a variation of white. This works better in some parts of the house than others. To ''warm them up'', I rely on soft furnishings and this does seem to help

moneyistooshorttomention

DRP wrote: »

As DaftDuck says, but also the orientation of the house - north-ish facing?

Errrm...don't know that I'd say there is any particular direction its facing iyswim. Its a four square box, with windows on all sides. The lounge basically faces north - hmmm...that may possibly have some influence on it?? Come to think of it - the lounge is probably the worst room for "cold look" - though it has windows on another wall as well (but those are overshadowed)

Nothing that I can think of from outside casting any light - such as plants etc. There's a thought re people (particularly as they get older) need to be more aware of picking "their colours" in clothes - in order to cast a more flattering light on their skin. Hadnt thought of houses in the same light...ahem...

Yep....that sums it up perfectly - I want to know how to put "rose-tinted spectacles" on the house. The thought didn't cross my mind of the light being different in different parts of the same country.....duh!

Now wondering whether the new curtains I have in mind for the lounge when I can afford it should be the same sort of soft peachy colour/natural looking fibre that suits me personally. Perhaps that and cream with a peachy/pinky tone might be how to get my "glow" back.

Are there are any particular colour names anyone can recommend that count as "cream with a peachy tone"? That may well be what I am looking for to get the same colour effect as I'm used to..

In fact - I think the light here may be part of why I swear I look worse than I did before moving - I guess I'm not getting the "glow" either any more. I can feel a wardrobe revamp coming on as well then...

Gigervamp

A north facing room will have a cold light. One of my homes had a north facing living room, so I put up a bright yellow wallpaper (it was the 80s!) and the room looked much warmer and brighter.

bouicca21

North facing can take darker colours. Maybe try a buttermilk rather than white?

The way the light falls and whether you have lots of light from big windows really does make a terrific difference. My flat is painted the same colour throughout but the south facing room with a huge expanse of windows makes the colour look different to the North facing ones.

DRP

My terraced house faces E-W (located near Bristol).

Pure white in the East-facing hall is quite stark, whilst the W-facing white rooms are softened significantly.

moneyistooshorttomention

You can tell I'm not an artist (not a creative bone in my body in fact) - all these thoughts re light and colour having not occurred to me.

Its making a lot of sense and I can see me being busy doing some redecorating coming up....:(

I do remember the bathroom in my last house feeling very cold when I bought the house. It was painted brilliant white (or not far from). That must have been the direction it faced. Didn't occur to me - when I just painted it in a very bright colour - as the reason for that was it was the era of "Changing rooms" tv programme and so I did a "Put on the sunglasses now" colour on the walls.