Paint it Black?

I know I’m three weeks behind with the building work updates but tomorrow I’ve got to go pick a masonary paint which means I need to decide what colour the house is going to be.

It’s currently a yellowy buttermilk shade which isn’t really my jam. The extension needs to be painted the same colour as the rest of the house, and if I’m going to paint the whole house, the gable end should really be painted while the scaffolding is up and before the roof goes on. So yeah, I need to pick it now.

So, what colour should I pick? Next door is all white – which is fine but I think it’s nicer to have some contrast with the windows and window sills. I also want everything to be grey – it’s an unavoidable fashion, I’m going to end up with a grey kitchen, a grey bathroom, grey carpets, grey house…

But, as every pun writer knows, there are 50 shades of grey and my initial thought was that I wanted a dark one à la 10 Downing Street. Bonus fact – Downing Street was originally only black due to years of London pollution, when they cleaned and restored the facade in the 1960s they discovered the bricks were yellow and were forced to paint them back to black to retain the iconic look.

Farrow and Ball’s Railings is a lovely, almost black colour which is so popular I was sure someone would have tried painting a house with it before.

After a bit of googling it was looking promising – there’s the Hazel Pear Inn in Acton Bridge.

Before:
hazelpear-before

After:
hazelpear-afterPhoto source – Steve & Judy Pardoe

How much do the window frames ‘pop’?

Then there was this astonishing transformation of Arren Williams house in Canada.

arren-williams-railings-facade

Via House and Home

So, thinking I was maybe on to something I brought out the GIMP.

I took this photo from the start of the building project and had a quick go at ‘photoshopping’ it dark grey (I wasn’t aiming for perfection – just an approximation).

Shed Gone

houserailings

Yeaaaahhhhh…… maybe not. I think it somehow manages to clash with the roof – which would never have occurred to me – thank goodness for the GIMP, eh?

So that’s ruled out one shade of grey, only another 49 to go….

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