This weekend I did something I’ve wanted to do for ages; I gave our kitchen a blue wall.
I chose the colour a few months ago and love it more than ever now it’s on the wall and not just in a tester pot in the shed. We went for Craig & Rose 1829 in the colour Smalt. It’s a beautiful blue that looks almost primary when in the tin, but when it’s on the brush and on the walls it’s deep, rich and – surprising for a blue – warm.
It gives real warmth to the kitchen, which otherwise is quite neutral – done on purpose though I may add.
The paint dried seriously fast and whilst one coat was pigmented enough to give it a great coverage, as you may be able to tell from the pictures, it was the second coat which really gave it the beautiful finish. It dries almost matte and you can’t see the brush strokes, which I love. It’s as if we’ve used a blue lining paper, it looks so smooth. I suppose the fact that it’s a new wall, devoid of cracks of years or neglect like the walls in the rest of the house, makes a huge difference.
In fact, when we get around the painting the rest of the house, I’m probably going to give this chalk paint range a second look because of the way the light reacts to it. You see, we painted our lounge a lovely subtle neutral brown colour when we moved in. Over time, we’ve learned that when the room gets light (so, most of the time then!) you can see every single messy brush stroke as the sun bounces off the walls. And it looks so awful. For the most part we hibernate in darkness in the lounge so it’s not too bad. But in the kitchen, with a double French door, a side door, and 2 windows, light is going to be important.
As Joe managed to grab a sneaky picture of me in my scruffs giving the painting my everything, you can see I’m not always the neatest of painters…
Before
Progress
After
(If it looks like the bottom right bit isn’t finished, it is! We’re just missing a piece of skirting!)
I was hoping to consider the kitchen wall finished for now, but one thing that really ticked me off is the edges. I spent bloody ages taping them up with frogtape. For the most part I got an awesome straight line if I do say so myself. But sadly, some humongous splodges got through here and there, meaning I’ll need to touch up with white paint. It’s going to be a buggar covering that rich blue…. Thankfully it doesn’t seem too visible from a distance, but oh well, it give me something to do next weekend I suppose!
I’m planning on adding white framed items, yet to be picked/bought, which will overlook the dining table. When we’ve bought one…
So what do you think? Do you like the colour? I LOVE IT.
