Inspired by Willow Crossley's Living Room, painted in Farrow and Ball's Elephant's Breath (what a name!), here is another colour study...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath living room |
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath is soft, calming, warm neutral...here's the lowdown! Colour toning paint suggestions: (from top) Farrow and Ball All White, Slipper Satin, Elephant's Breath and Charleston Gray
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| Farrow and Ball |
{For information on my other Colour studies, click away...
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| Elephant's Breath bedroom |
Farrow and Ball's paints are chalky, matt and delicious BUT are notoriously changeable in different lights.
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| Bedroom in Elephant's Breath (Farrow and Ball) |
This acts as a positive (enormous depth of colour, and instantly recognisable) but also makes some of colours pretty tricky to predict.
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen |
I've tried to eliminate this unpredictability as much as I possibly can for you by sourcing images that best reflect the results you should expect in different conditions.
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen |
In soft (by which I mean overcast!) daylight, Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath can appear greige - a gentle mix of grey and beige...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath in dark Victorian hall |
However, give Elephant's Breath even a glimmer of lamplight and it can go in two different directions....
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath in artificial light |
either a bruised lilac shade....
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bedroom |
or a peachy brown...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath under light bulb |
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath under light bulb |
Under cool, white halogen-type light, Elephant's Breath looks grey with delicate lilac undertones...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen |
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath under halogen lighting in Victorian hallway |
It's the unknown line between these variations that means Elephant's Breath gets VERY mixed reviews from shocked home-owners who haven't realised that this paint has a mind of its own!
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bedroom |
Farrow and Ball's description Elephant's Breath as 'an interpretation of this famously named colour by John Fowler. Use as a colour in its own right, or as part of a 'stone' scheme.'
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath |
What? What does that even mean?
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath under dado rail in Victorian hall |
'Stone' is usually a euphemism for warm, brown-based neutrals, which will work beautifully with natural materials, think rattan, linen and wood, but less well with cool greys...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath on bathroom tongue and groove panelling |
It's worth being aware when looking at images like this...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen |
...that special lighting techniques will have been used, which may give a false impression of the real colour.
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen |
Even though the room has the lights on, more cool light will have been added from an off-picture source to give an additional effect.
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath panelling |
This image below demonstrates what I mean. In the first room, the Farrow and Ball paint appears as a warm gray but if you peer carefully into the second, you'll see that in places, the paint takes on a definite lilac hue.
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath undervarious lighting conditions |
Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath is dark enough to work well as a floor colour...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath painted floor |
or as a darker woodwork foil to an airy room...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath woodwork |
but still light enough to be used as an exterior wall paint colour. Here is Elephant's Breath with a Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray front door...
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| Front door is Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray with Elephants Breath house exterior walls. |
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| Front door is Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray with Elephants Breath house exterior walls. |
So whether your room is flooded with natural light, for a warm grey...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bedroom |
...or whether your intended room will need artificial lighting, which make Elephant's Breath lean towards a richer purple-toned brown...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath bathroom |
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath |
...or, if you're looking, like me, for a new front door colour (the stark outside light giving a pale taupe finish to this front door in Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath)...
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath front door |
...you'll end up with a sophisticated, modern, yet pretty and warm space....
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| Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath kitchen |
...with Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath.
Images via: Willow Crossley, Wealden Times, idhomes, broad oak, woodwork, adam rogers, turquoise textiles, houzz, Bibsnbraces, BibsnBraces, paradise design, claire mcfadyen, klausandheidi, dcdesigncenter, unknown, inspired living, unknown, Hill Farm, The Wall Panelling Company, g, Willow and Stone, Willow and Stone, Beautiful Homes, Stone and Chrome, chalk farm home, murdoch joinery
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