Saturday, January 8, 2011

Choosing colours for the Blue and White Room

I got some little pots of historical paint colours, having checked out which wall colours were possible circa 1700.  Stone colour was popular, as was a dark blue and a yellowish ochre, so I grabbed some examples of those and painted some swatches so I could look at some blue and white plates against the colours.


I like this dark blue, but it's a bit predictable with the blue and white.


I like this stone grey, too, but it's a little dull for this particular room.  I want this room to be quite pretty :)



Okay, now we're talking!  Elga sent me some photos of her own delft-ware against a yellow wall.  You can't beat blue, white and yellow, can you?  I think this is very pretty.

Here's some plates against the red wallpaper:



And here's the same plates against an earth-toned paper:

What do you think?

10 comments:

  1. What a wonderful way to display all your blue and white china. I love seeing it on the wall. As for the colors... I think it get a little lost on the wall paper. My first choice would be the very dark blue my second would be the yellow. Not having seen what else goes in that room...All I am thinking about is the china. I guess it all depends on what sort of mood you want the room to have.

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  2. Definitely yellow. I love how the blue stands up among the yellow.I may be biased because my real home walls ARE yellow but I truly like it.
    I agree with Catherine about the wallpaper. Rosanna
    PS thanks for the link to Petitpointers; I asked to join it

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  3. What a challenge, Nina! I love the yellow walls.... and I know they were authentic in the eighteenth century.... not so sure about the seventeenth century? One does picture the dark paneled walls.... and I tend to agree that the china gets lost against the patterned paper. But, with all that said, I LOVE detail and pattern and complexity and I really like the china against the patterned wallpapers! And I really like the ochery goldish one....perhaps because it feels older than the red one!

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  4. Well you know I like the yellow, I think since the William and Mary period was so late in the 1600's that yellow is probably ok, here is a link to some info http://www.oldandsold.com/articles03/decorating11.shtml

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  5. I love the grey, but the china looks beter on the yellow I think! I don't like the wallpaper..too distracting!

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  6. I like the dark blue and the yellow. If you want sophistication, I think the dark blue, but as you said you wanted pretty, the yellow wins. :)

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  7. What a wonderful collection of porcelain ...
    For sure I prefer the yellow background, especially if the furniture is walnut.
    Among other things, this is a popular choice in many historic houses and be original is not required :-)
    Mini hugs, Flora

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  8. The plates certainly make more of an impact on the yellow background. I think the detail of them gets lost on the patterned wallpaper so, for me, it's got to be the yellow!

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  9. I would probably use the red wallpaper ;) but the yellow is a good contrast with white and blue.:)

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  10. Thanks so much for your comments, guys! Collaborative mini-making -- the wave of the future :)

    I think I'm going to do yellow-painted panelling, with perhaps some touches of wallpaper. I'll see how it goes.

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