I get questions all the time from people who are fully signed up to taking the plunge and going to the dark side, but are suddenly hit by a load of other dilemmas. Sure, you’re committed to painting your walls the most sumptuous, intoxicating, sexily sophisticated inky hue imaginable, but what about all the woodwork? And those pesky window frames? And radiators?! Well never fear, because I’ve gathered all the FAQ’s I get into one place to help you out. So now you have no excuses not to paint it black (or mulberry, or grey, or inky blue…)!
First things first – I’m sure you guys probably know by now, but my all time favourite paint trick is to paint absolutely everything the same shade. Walls, floors, ceilings, woodwork, radiators everything – it’s really striking but simple, and it makes spaces feel magically bigger. By painting everything one shade you remove boundaries and create the illusion of infinity. Easy peasy rule of thumb you might think, but these are the snagging points people usually hit:
Help! What colour should the doors be?
Obviously this is personal and I know some people are really anti-, but I have no problem painting each side of the door different colours to match the rooms. I think it works because all my different rooms and spaces are in the same tonal hues (my entire pad is painted out in my own paint range, natch!) so although rooms are different colours it’s never jarring. Instead there’s a soothing harmonious flow of colour from room to room, and for me the doors are part of that. The one thing to never do if you’re painting your pad dark is leave the doors white – it’s a total needle scratch and not soothing or harmonious at all! It draws the eye to it and really, who wants to make their door the feature? It ought to be all about your fabulous mirror or favourite art work or amazing new chandelier, not the flipping door.
The way I divvy it up is to paint that side of the door plus the depth of it in the same hue as the room it opens into. So if you’re in a hallway looking at the closed door that opens into your bedroom, the bit of the frame and door that’s visible from the hall should be painted in the same hue as the rest of the hall. Imagine yourself opening up the door into the bedroom – the other side of it, the other half of the frame and the edge of the door is in the bedroom colour. Hope that makes sense!