One of the best examples of how two different colors affect the same exact space is perfectly captured by these photos of a hallway in a Victorian house in London. For me, it’s a study in color dynamics and the often overlooked issue of what happens on the floor and stairwell.

Not surprisingly, the house belongs to Joa Studholme, color consultant to Farrow & Ball paints which were used. The floor and stairs in both photos is F&B Slipper Satin, a blush-y white recommended for use with strong colors, which here almost appears to be lit from below. ‘We installed the light-painted staircase to slot a contemporary element into dark Victorian architecture,’ she told an interviewer at Livingetc.

The dark hallway is painted in Downpipe — essentially the color of steel while the lighter variation is likely Chinese Blue or Stone Blue, colors that always remind me of 18th Century Chinese ceramics.

While the darker hallway is the more dramatic of the two because it offers a higher contrast with the floor, it also looks shorter and narrower because the walls advance visually. Also, fewer details show and it suggests the season of winter. In contrast, the blue hallway makes the seasonal suggestion of summer and does everything above in reverse: it looks longer, wider and shows more detail.

The few furnishings in the hall also coordinate with the wall and floor color. In the dark hallway, picture frames are darkened as well. In the blue hallway, the frames are white to pick up and accent the floor and stairwell.

For me, personally, both of these colors are rather dark. But I recognize that’s not true for everyone so I would love to know which would you prefer and why?

(Photos via Livingetc and Clive Nichols)

To paint what Joa Studholme calls her "headboard shape" she used Farrow & Ball Teresa's Green 9 (no. 236) with London Clay (no. 244) on the walls.

Occasionally, I come across smart idea that so easy and inexpensive to do, it’s surprising not to see it all over.

That would be the illusion headboards English color guru, Joa Studholme, painted right on the walls in her London home using Farrow & Ball paint colors she develops. Joa created one in her master bedroom and another in her son’s room. To me, this idea is especially useful for childrens’ rooms which change style as they grow.

What makes the illusion headboards work are high contrast paint colors. While the dimensions are not provided, it’s easy to go into onto a furniture site like Crate & Barrel, or Williams-Sonoma Home and take the measurements of a headboard you like, mark them on the wall and use blue painter’s tape to make sure the proportions are right in the room.

When time comes to do the painting be sure the lines are level and plumb, then I suggest using green Frogtape, which is made for use on cured painted walls and will seal down to give you the razor-sharp lines required to pull them off.

Farrow & Ball's Rectory Red (no. 217) and Drawing Room Blue (no. 253) were probably used to create the red wainscot that ties in with the bedspread and the blue headboard shape that goes right up over the wainscot molding onto the wall.

(Photos via Livingetc and Clive Nichols)

Beach house white. Cottage white. Stark white. Winter white. Snow, milk or chalk. No matter what the style of a room, or which words are used to evoke the almighty absence of color, white rooms are the greatest shape-shifters of all. Some call them stark. Others find them soft. True, they’re not for everyone and yet they’re found everywhere.

To my mind, white interiors endure because they can be infinitely tuned in to color, texture and surface treatments – differences which are amply visible in each of these very different white rooms.

The countrified feel of the slick white tongue and groove walls and ceiling – in tandem with the relaxed white linen slipcover on the sofa — give the living room [above] an ageless, timeless, it-might-be-anyplace aura. East Hampton, New York. The English countryside. New England. Scandinavia. Napa Valley. Weathered saddle-color leather chairs, the fumed oak floor, and wicker baskets provide the warmth in a space that feels like endless summer.

New white wood floors always  seem defiant to me. To walk on them is to mar their pristine appearance and maybe even leave nasty scuff marks. Yet these floors can be surprisingly durable (well, to an extent) especially in households with a no-shoes indoors policy. Coupled with white walls, mirrors and white blinds, they give this stark corner of a bedroom the effect of a ghostly reflecting pool. Stark but chic.

Cappuccino. I cannot help myself. Kitchens such as this one, with with java-hued acacia flooring and snowy Corian counters always make me think of strong morning coffee topped with frothy, steamed milk. With the white walls (Farrow & Ball’s Strong White), it’s bracingly super-clean as well. In this space, the orange leather seats on the Jasper Morrison stools are like sugar cubes. I’ll take two, please!

Can white be girly? You betcha, especially with a crocheted, fringed throw on a bed. The granny-gold headboard and fringe on the chandy add to the vintage-y feel in the room. The one gold post bed post shows a sense of humor, too. Not everything needs to match. While the accessories are romantic at heart that white tile floor is strictly business. Or perhaps it’s just a truly boring, modern apartment floor like one I remember in Belgium.

If you are brave and handy and don’t mind handling serious wood-working stains and potions such as lye and tinted wood oils, then properly whitewashed floorboards are attainable (consult thesolidwoodflooringcompany.com and click on finishes). Or, there’s always paint. We’ve seen the clawfoot tub and pedestal sink a lot so there’s not much to say on those. But wow, those shaped mirrors treated like pictures sure do deliver the  bling.

A painted black stripe in the corner almost gives the illusion of a hallway in this room. Touches of black need no explanation. Restraint is the key.

(Source: Livingetc. 5/07)

The electrician replaced 1940s wiring (the stuff sheathed with cotton) in my bathroom last week and marked the spot for a new wall sconce. That emboldened me to finally get serious about the wall color.

The new window has a mahogany-brown frame. It wasn’t a leap to consider going dark so I painted a swatch of medium brown (Farrow & Ball’s Mouse’s Back) over a section of the wallpaper opposite the medicine cabinet. The brown looked terrific until I started to dry my hair and watched it disappear into the wall behind me each time I rolled it a section over the brush. Ouch — reality bites.

Thoughts of a light, bright and soothing color reminded me of two bathrooms in a magazine roundup that could work well with my white tile walls and floor. One uses a blue I always have long admired – Farrow & Ball’s Borrowed Light [above] – which is pale but intense and much like the color of the sky. Designer Frank Roop used it effortlessly in this master bath which also has a pool-hued mosaic floor installed like an indoor-outdoor carpet. (Source: via House Beautiful 4-08; photo: Francesco Lagnese)

House Beautiful’s Style Director wrote about building his dream house, Twilight Field, in upstate New York (not far from us). Newell Turner’s bathroom [above] boasts popular fixtures like the Pottery Barn Somerson sconces and a Kohler pedestal sink with a lever-handle faucet. White subway tile wainscoting and 2-inch black and white hex tile floor put out country vibe. Still, it was the color – Sherwin William’s Hinting Blue – that offers a similar sense of calm and luxury that every good bathroom should claim. (Source: via House Beautiful 4-08).

A copper and reclaimed pine hood (Vent-a-Hood liner) sets the rustic tone for this cooking space, which opens into the family room and two adjacent pantry areas. An antique iron seal from a New York bridge handsomely decorates the tiled range guard (Frosted Soda 4” from Status Tiles), creating a focal point behind the GE Monogram dual-fuel stove.

The kitchen takes its theme from the paint color on the English-style island. Inspired by the British bespoke firm, Chalon, the island has an open pot-shelf on each end. The cabinets were custom made in England, painted with Farrow & Ball’s French Gray, and glazed. Pine base cabinets flanking the range are also glazed, and topped by honed Golden Leaf granite. Panels on the 48” GE Monogram fridge are glazed Farrow’s Cream.

Antique pine gives the top of the island the mellow quality of a farm table — the Rohl faucet is the big clue to its true function. Adjacent to the double-bowl Villeroy & Boch fireclay apron sink is a set of Fisher & Paykel dish drawers which look like regular storage. The floor is travertine.

The ends of the island have great English detail often found in Victorian kitchens: slatted pot shelves, drawers with contrasting wooden knobs, and table legs with tapered block feet. In contrast, note the bracket feet on range-wall cabinets.

This pine beauty has ample storage and heaps of charm. Adjacent to the refrigerator, it visually relates to the cabinets flanking the stove: the same granite counter (making it durable as a buffet) and a copper midriff that matches the hood. The center of the top has a two-tier plate rack. Upper cabinet doors are inset with chicken wire.

Lurking in the side pantry is a dramatic, pine-backed Farrow & Ball black hutch that serves as a “coffee station.” A bar sink, installed under the pine counter top, has a Newform faucet. Glass-front upper doors are piggy-backed on a pair of horizontal cabinets with chicken wire fronts — home to the mugs and other crockery. (Source: Allison A.)

Be sure to see the rest of Allison’s home in the Alabama Stone Cottage house tour.

Cherry has just enough color to warm up this elegant white kitchen, which was a DIY labor of love. Counters — stained, sanded and repeatedly oiled to give them a satiny sheen –- are set off by big English-style cherry knobs (from Lee Valley) stained and oiled to match. Those play off unfinished Crown Point cabinets, which our friend Ivette painted herself (with Fine Paints of Europe ECO Satin #7430 Select).

To emphasize the Victorian bracket feet on the Crown Point cabinets, and lighten the visual load, Ivette cleverly coated the toe-kicks with Farrow & Ball’s Off Black so they essentially disappear! The island is fitted with shallow cherry drawers on the sink side and a SubZero wine refrigerator on the front. A pair of Sub Zero refrigerator drawers sits next to the dishwasher on the window wall. The 36” Rohl fireclay farm sink is fitted with a Barber Wilson’s bridge faucet.

Above: A 700 series Sub Zero refrigerator is installed in a cabinet with side panels finished to match the ends of the island. On the island, a Franke Euro Pro stainless steel prep sink sports the Herbeau Valence faucet. Powell pendant lights are from Rejuvenation. White oak floors were finished with Waterlox.

Above:  The Lacanche French Blue Cluny range sits against a wall of 6-inch tongue and groove paneling with a custom hood overhead. Cherry shelves, flanking the range, help keep a light open feeling – the kitchen has no upper cabinets.  (Photos: Ivette)