Farrow And Ball Cabbage White Bedroom

Farrow And Ball Cabbage White Bedroom

For our master bedroom we have turned to the dark side. We dithered about it for a long time but finally bit the bullet and can't imagine it any other way now.

Here's how we looked before:

Bland colours and hideous artex

And now:

Dramatic boudoir loveliness!

Light pours in from the massive windows

We know this won't be to everybody's taste but – like most things – we don't care. We absolutely adore it and knew this room could carry it off. The colour is Farrow and Ball's Hague Blue – in strong daylight quite a true dark blue and at night a dark dark petrol blue verging on black in dark corners.

Sunburst mirror was an Ebay bargain

Woodwork is in All White for a crisp contrast – same as the cornicing and ceiling rooms.

Door to ensuite

As with everywhere else in the house we wanted to maintain a focus on the original cornicing and feared we would 'lose' it if it was also white – so we went with Cabbage White on the ceiling. It's enough of a contrast with the cornicing without being 'wow, your ceiling is blue'.

Light fitting is from Laura Ashley

We agonised over wardrobes and drawers and for a long time thought we'd go with white/ivory furniture. But we realised there would be too much of it and therefore too stark a contrast with the paint.

Barker and Stonehouse furniture

Dark wood  – like mahogany – wouldn't work and we were struggling to find antiques we liked and that would, importantly, fit in the alcoves. And then we found this wonderful warm mango wood, beautifully built and a perfect fit.  (As we ended our long furniture search Oly informed the rather embarrassed saleswoman at Barker and Stonehouse that he had "stroked a lot of wood".)

Curtains and pole are from the wonderful folks at David James Interiors in Leeds and are such amazing quality they give the room a boutique hotel feel!

Curtains open

Floor length curtains would have been even more dramatic but practicality won out given the positioning of the radiators, which we weren't really up for moving!

Curtains closed

And as for the headboard, what can I say? I fell in love with this fabric (Sanderson swallows) when we first started looking for curtains/blinds – albeit in a different colourway. I couldn't find the right place for it in the house and then suddenly realised it could take a starring role as our headboard – in lime.

Sanderson swallows headboard

Oly was (gently) persuaded this may have been my best idea yet. And it meant we didn't need to agonise over artwork choice for above the bed.  Ain't she a stunner?

No, I don't iron my bedding. Don't judge me, it's super king – gimme a break! And, yes, we need new bedding.

We've tried not to clutter the room (quite a feat for me) and also tried not to over style it; it's a practical, liveable space after all. You'll notice the total lack of dressing on the bed…..Oly point blank refuses to have cushions/throws etc. I gave up the fight – as I was quite happy once I got my headboard!

Bedside touch lamps are from John Lewis

Now, to some of the objects. The dressing table tray was my mum's, she always kept her hairbrushes on it:

Mitsouko was one of mum's favourites, I'm eeking it out…

And the brass candle stick holder was hers as a child, back when you actually went to bed with a candle.

I love the build up of wax from over the years

I gave Winne the Pooh to my mum years ago, so he came back to us and went into an antique frame.

Sad, why should I be sad?

Below it the wire art is from Etsy. Since the early days of Oly and I whenever he said 'I love you' my retort was always 'Forever?'. Turns out it is.

The brass knocker was….yep, you guessed it, my mum's! Most of our interesting objects came from her! She always had this on her bedroom door and it now lives on the door to our ensuite.

Knock knock

It contains the Isle of Man's motto which translates  as "whichever way you throw me, I will stand."

Quocunque Jeceris Stabit

We have absolutely no connection to the Isle of Man but mum had to learn to be incredibly resilient, so she bought this for herself and took the motto also.

Here's some more details from around the room:

We adore this room, we love it in the day and then feel totally cocooned in it at night.

The dark walls help make a large, tall room feel cosy at night

Night night

So, be honest, what do you think? Is this for you or would you hate living with the darkness?

Farrow And Ball Cabbage White Bedroom

Source: https://1910housetohome.wordpress.com/2014/06/15/master-bedroom-reveal/