Which deep navy blue paint to use?
Navy is big now, it’s HUGE. It requires balls. Huge balls. Balls with bells on. But if you dare, the risk is worth the trip.
Rules of slapping that inky blue hue all over your walls;
1. TEST. It is a criminal offence not to test the actual colour in multiple places (on walls, generally) where you’ll be applying it. Rooms change in colour so much from natural light during the day and at night artificial light can have a huge affect. I usually try three walls (facing different directions) and look at them over at least 48 hours… in every type of light / time of day.
2. Decorators Caulk - use it. If you have an old property or the walls are less than perfect use masking tape (low tack people, always use low tack or else the other paint will be ripped viciously from the walls) and afterwards use a decorators caulk to make the edges perfect. It’s sort of like a mastic that you would use in a bathroom but it’s more a filler / putty to make the edges perfect. Obviously only do this where a coloured edge meets a white edge…. plonker.
3. Brush it don't roll it. Rollers give a stippled (stipple = gross word) effect application which is fine on light colours as it's not quite so noticeable (maybe it's the light) but to get a really rich, matt application you need to use a real good quality brush. Don't be a stinge on this, get the best you can afford. It will take longer, but dark colours and dramatic walls deserve respect.
My favourite EXTRA deep blue paints (squid ink if you will)
1. MOTT BY ABIGAIL AHERN
She’s not cheap but she’s pretty perfect. WARNING: you will open the tin and as our American brethren would say 'freak-the-hell-out'. It looks turquoise, and a rank turquoise at that. You need to man up and get two coats of the good stuff on the walls. See? Despite the dubious look of the paint once it’s on the walls, it’s really deep and is almost black - blue. It’s smokey, if that makes any sense.
2. HAGUE BLUE BY FARROW & BALL
A staple used by the yuppies across West London. In some parts of Nappy Valley entire streets paint their front doors in this, it signifies that the annual income of the tenant is circa £150k and that the only foods they will allow int their homes / mouths are organically produced, raw delicacies from the local independent grocer on Westborne Grove….. well of course except those marlborough lights. Anyway, a nice colour none the less. It has a hue of green in it, which, in the right light becomes ever so slightly teal-y, but it has a real depth that makes it perfectly flat and matt on the walls. It’s a pretty penny mind you and my decorators hate using the stuff. It takes AT LEAST two coats to manage a perfect finish especially in the darker colours which is why I always colour match Farrow and Ball colour books at Dulux counters (arrest me).
3. CARBON BLUE BY FIRED EARTH
A slightly chalky shade, it’s got very little green pigment (as far as my humble eye can tell) and it’s not too dark and scary either. It has a lightness to it.
4. DULUX.....
self made my yours truly (at at least matched with something I can’t recall!) Are you ready: Code: 10BB071008/10. That’s exactly what the tin says. Anyway check out the use of it below in a (you guessed it) Notting Hill pad I recently worked on. It's almost blue black, really inky and rich and deep and sexy and smokey and PURE PERFECTION. The client didn’t want to much so we compromised and did the dining area part and the bulkheads in the kitchens - which sets off the white kitchen so good. In my opinion, hell yes I would have done those back walls too but… you live and you... regret.
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