The home ownership project: wall colors – a closed book
The interior walls of many apartments and houses are all too often kept in a classic, neutral white color. Is it because the Swiss are not bold enough? Or perhaps because you can’t go wrong with it?
Of course, white goes with many things. But not all white is the same. As soon as all the walls and even the ceiling are the same color, rooms quickly lose their depth and structure. The eye has difficulty orienting itself and focusing. In addition, objects such as furniture or accessories against white walls also tend to contrast. One popular solution is to paint a single wall a different color. However, we think this is only aesthetically pleasing to a limited extent. That’s why we have invested countless hours in the subject of wall color; we have almost more windows than walls. We are looking for reason rather than extravagance.
Narrowing down the selection
You can find wall paints in any DIY store. They’re certainly not bad quality either. But we thought it would be too risky to blindly go for an off-the-peg color. That’s why, as a first step, we procured color cards from well-known manufacturers such as Little Greene, Farrow & Ball and Kt.Color.
We are guided by natural tones. Furthermore, the wall color should not play an overly dominant role, but rather discreetly support the character of the apartment. We describe our furnishing style as soft minimalism – consisting of lots of natural oak, creamy white and gray in various shades.
For this reason, we are also sticking to wall colors in this area. We are therefore limiting the evaluation to wall colors ranging from white to grey. The aim is to break up the harsh contrast of neutral white and thus harmonize the overall picture. We narrowed down the selection further by taking inspiration from books, including one that deals exclusively with gray wall paint (Shades of Grey, ISBN 978-1-78879-124-3).
In the end, we decided on one manufacturer: the English paint manufacturer Little Greene with its 32 colors from the „grey“ palette. The colors from Little Greene have an unprecedented depth of color. They contain over 40 percent more pigments than the products of conventional suppliers. In addition, the colors are durable and are produced with respect for the environment.
The thing about the cardinal points
The shades of this color chart alone are extremely varied: shades of grey with green, umber, ochre and iron oxide in a wide range of intensities. The next decision criterion we took into account was the orientation of the windows or rooms. Sunlight has different proportions of red, yellow and blue at any time of day. The same color has a different effect in a west-facing room under the evening sun than in an east-facing room in the morning. Rooms facing east are particularly bright in the morning and appear cooler in the afternoon.
Without direct sunlight, colors tend to appear cool. To give such rooms more warmth, yellow tones are more suitable. South-facing rooms, on the other hand, are characterized by a warm atmosphere. The northern direction poses the greatest challenges. The light coming in from the north is cooler and harder. This characteristic alone makes harmonious design difficult. We therefore limit our selection to warm shades of white and gray.
From the color chart to the practical test
In the end, we settled on three colors: Shallows 223, French Grey Pale 161 and Wood Ash 229. We ordered a sample tin of each of these, coated a large area of white paper with them and observed them for days in a wide variety of natural and artificial light. In the end, we chose Wood Ash 229, an off-white with minimal warm gray tones. We strongly recommend that you take this step. You can hardly make a decision with the color chart alone. The area is simply too small for that.
All the walls and skirting boards should now be painted in this color. Incidentally, we leave the ceilings in a neutral white to visually lift the ceiling slightly. This also results in a better room layout.
The colors from Little Greene are again available in several compositions – from matt to glossy, everything is included. For us, the Intelligent Matt Emulsion comes into question – it is extremely matt (<5%) and has a wet abrasion class of 1. It is therefore suitable for areas with heavy use and is easy to clean. The wet abrasion class indicates the resistance of the coating to repeated cleaning. The coating materials are assigned to a wet abrasion class from 1 to 5, with wet abrasion class 1 having the greatest wet abrasion resistance. Ideal for smooth plaster walls and a household with children ????. In short: in the end, we ended up with white again, but we now know that not all white is the same.
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Michel N. (38) and Michèle G. (37) live in Lucerne with their daughter Lilou (2) and their newborn son Rémi. The two communication specialists with a flair for beautiful living are fulfilling their wish to buy a condominium near the city limits of Lucerne. Bruno Wickart accompanies and advises the couple on their project from day one – from the floor plan design to the fully furnished property.
— Do you need support with your residential project? We will be happy to help you. You can find more information here ((https://www.bruno-wickart.ch/interior-design
Interior Design by Bruno Wickart
Bruno Wickart is the preferred partner of the leading brands in the world of interior design. We love design classics and closely follow forward-looking material and product developments. As a customer, you benefit from our keen interest in design and design trends.