Iconic brand Farrow & Ball began in the 1940s as a small firm based in Dorset specializing in paints made in the traditional way with traditional ingredients. Despite its success, Farrow & Ball has stayed true to these origins. It is the quality of the paint, with its exceptional depth and subtlety of colour, that has made the company famous worldwide. Farrow & Ball paints look as good on the walls of a slick Soho flat as they do in a period ballroom and are as perfect for a cottage as in a castle. Divided into chapters according to style, including Classical, City, Modern Country, Cottage and Country House, the first part of the book shows Farrow & Ball paints and wallpapers in a wide range of unusual and beautiful interiors. Part Two of the book is devoted to colour. From the themes of All White and In Neutral to Softly, Softly and Bright and Beautiful, each chapter explores a particular palette and shows how colour can be used to create atmosphere, character and charm. Inspiring, instructive, celebratory, this book brings out the painter and decorator in us all.
| ||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Ros Byam Shaw is a former Features Editor of The World of Interiors. Now a freelance journalist, she writes for The World of Interiors, House & Garden and the Telegraph, among others. She is the author of Interiors by Design, Old House New Home, Perfect English and Perfect English Cottage (all by Ryland Peters & Small).
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Katy E
Format:Hardcover
I was blown away to see other reviewers give this book such low marks. Boring, really? Well it's not over the top modern but a book filled with interiors that have a more relaxed lived in style. I'm a huge fan of Farrow & Ball paints and anticipated the release of this book for months. If you're a fan of English country style and author Ros Byam Shaw you'll love this book. I'm currently renovating an 18th century home in Massachusetts and found myself marking every other page as inspiration for my bathrooms, living room and bedrooms. I buy a lot of interior design books; Living with Colour is one of my favorites of 2010.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you love Farrow & Ball paint, you'll find this book useful....
November 14, 2010
Format:Hardcover
If you like Farrow & Ball paint or any quality interior paint, this book should be extremely helpful to you. The top interior designers recommend their paints, and some use Farrow & Ball almost exclusively. This book shows why: room after room of rich, luxurious paint. The issue with paint is that it's difficult to see from a small sample how it will look on the walls of the room as the color tends to intensify once the whole room is painted. Designer Jeffrey Bilhuber recommends buying 4 large poster boards, painting them with your sample and placing them on all four walls of the room to see how a large sample looks in your room.
However, it's also helpful to see a particular paint color you are considering on all the walls of an actual room. That's where this book comes in. It is composed of case studies of 16 homes decorated with Farrow & Ball paint and papers grouped by chapter into colors labeled: "all-white, in neutral, softly,softly, bright and beautiful and dark and handsome." Farrow & Ball offers 132 shades of color for every "stripe in the rainbow", says author Ros Byam Shaw. They tend to be "off-colors, knocked back and subtle", she describes.
The paints are created in Dorset, England where the company was founded in 1946 and often were designed to resemble historical shades from the past. The paints have 30% more pigment than other paints, without filler of microscopic acrylic beads, and they have the "refractory quality" of titanium dioxide, an iron oxide that has been used for paint since prehistoric times. These natural ingredients insure the paints have little odor and zero VOC's (volatile organic compounds) that folks nowadays are concerned about. Their depth makes the walls appear "almost as if you could dip your hand into the wall" as one employee is quoted by author Byam Shaw. It also makes them very difficult to try to replicate with another paint brand. You get what you pay for: inimitable quality and the rooms in this book illustrate it. The colors remind me of those in Vermeer paintings.
In this book, the colors star, the interior decoration recedes or blends. And the colors are gorgeous. If you like cottage, country, modern, eclectic and classic historical styles such as Gustavian, Regency, Victorian, Art Deco, Colonial, English Country, French Provencal, just about any style but "Hollywood Regency"--although you could probably find paints of theirs compatible with that style too!-- you'll love the colors in this book. This book is perfect for any interior designer, or anyone thinking about painting their home with a high quality paint who wants to see what gorgeous, quality paint should look like on a wall. The book helpfully lists the names of the paint colors and wall papers so if you see one you'd like to sample, you can take the name to your paint store. The rooms are fairly simple in decor, so if you love simple, understated style, you'll enjoy seeing these interiors. Again, this book is less about decorating tips and styles, and more about the paint and colors themselves.
I love author Ros Byam Shaw's other books OLD HOUSE, NEW HOME and PERFECT ENGLISH and PERFECT ENGLISH COTTAGE on English country decorating and her same quality text is here, too. She has paint tips sprinkled throughout the book and a helpful glossary, based on typical questions Farrow & Ball gets from customers about paint. Ros Byam Shaw is former Features Editor of The World of Interiors, is a Deputy Editor for W magazine (British edition) and the author of 5 books on decorating. One warning: after looking at this book, I wanted to freshly paint all the walls in my home with Farrow & Ball paint.
However, it's also helpful to see a particular paint color you are considering on all the walls of an actual room. That's where this book comes in. It is composed of case studies of 16 homes decorated with Farrow & Ball paint and papers grouped by chapter into colors labeled: "all-white, in neutral, softly,softly, bright and beautiful and dark and handsome." Farrow & Ball offers 132 shades of color for every "stripe in the rainbow", says author Ros Byam Shaw. They tend to be "off-colors, knocked back and subtle", she describes.
The paints are created in Dorset, England where the company was founded in 1946 and often were designed to resemble historical shades from the past. The paints have 30% more pigment than other paints, without filler of microscopic acrylic beads, and they have the "refractory quality" of titanium dioxide, an iron oxide that has been used for paint since prehistoric times. These natural ingredients insure the paints have little odor and zero VOC's (volatile organic compounds) that folks nowadays are concerned about. Their depth makes the walls appear "almost as if you could dip your hand into the wall" as one employee is quoted by author Byam Shaw. It also makes them very difficult to try to replicate with another paint brand. You get what you pay for: inimitable quality and the rooms in this book illustrate it. The colors remind me of those in Vermeer paintings.
In this book, the colors star, the interior decoration recedes or blends. And the colors are gorgeous. If you like cottage, country, modern, eclectic and classic historical styles such as Gustavian, Regency, Victorian, Art Deco, Colonial, English Country, French Provencal, just about any style but "Hollywood Regency"--although you could probably find paints of theirs compatible with that style too!-- you'll love the colors in this book. This book is perfect for any interior designer, or anyone thinking about painting their home with a high quality paint who wants to see what gorgeous, quality paint should look like on a wall. The book helpfully lists the names of the paint colors and wall papers so if you see one you'd like to sample, you can take the name to your paint store. The rooms are fairly simple in decor, so if you love simple, understated style, you'll enjoy seeing these interiors. Again, this book is less about decorating tips and styles, and more about the paint and colors themselves.
I love author Ros Byam Shaw's other books OLD HOUSE, NEW HOME and PERFECT ENGLISH and PERFECT ENGLISH COTTAGE on English country decorating and her same quality text is here, too. She has paint tips sprinkled throughout the book and a helpful glossary, based on typical questions Farrow & Ball gets from customers about paint. Ros Byam Shaw is former Features Editor of The World of Interiors, is a Deputy Editor for W magazine (British edition) and the author of 5 books on decorating. One warning: after looking at this book, I wanted to freshly paint all the walls in my home with Farrow & Ball paint.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Beautiful and somehow peaceful book. I like the most the perfect selection of wall painting for each room. The "pallet" offer to the reader, as the selection of tapestries and wall paper are very armonius although is not new they match perefctly together. It gave me good ideas for the restauration of my new beach house. The size of each page also is ideal for reading by two, as a shared activity.
My problem was that the colours itself tend to be a little monocromatic when it come to the end.
My problem was that the colours itself tend to be a little monocromatic when it come to the end.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
This book does a great job of illustrating the subtleties and effect of color and light within the rooms shown. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Haeth
1.0 out of 5 stars
Yes indeed, a flat out bore.
I was hoping the reviewer who stated the book was "a bore" was wrong, so I took a chance. Well I guess I will pay more attention next time! Read more
Published on March 21, 2011 by M. Fris
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as the paint
I Love F and B paint, but was disappointed in their book. I had hoped that the photography could have more accurately captured a true representation of the paint colors, the... Read more
Published on October 16, 2010 by Janet
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bland Bland Bland
If you are looking for interesting decorating or looking to get ideas, pass this one up. Its just so bland I flew through the book in 10 minutes. Boring
Published on October 6, 2010 by Joy Tassoni
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
