Every so often a singular room launches a color craze. You might think of it as the "tipping point room" - that one additional photo that makes you think, "I've got to have this color in my house!" In my opinion, Anna Beth Chao's bedroom, recently featured in All the Best's bedroom contest, is that tipping point room. Painted in Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe (26), it is modern, stately, chic and cozy all at once. I could be wrong, but I think the success of Anna Beth's room may inspire alot of people to try this gorgeous deep blue gray in their own homes. **Update - Anna Beth has a blog - www.hashai.com **Design by Anna Beth Chao, Reader's Choice Award and Honorable Mention - All the Best Bedroom Contest 
Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe is used on the ceiling of this formal dining room with it's very hip gold chandelier. Designer Jessica Lagrange Interiors, image from Chicago Home, Sep - Oct 2009
Anna Beth said her choice of Down Pipe was inspired by the designs of Abigail Ahern. Here are two rooms from Ahern's own apartment.
A room featured in Ahern's book, A Girls Guide to Decorating, graces the November 2009 cover of Living etc.In Canadian House & Home's Makeovers special edition they feature Down Pipe in their Most Wanted section, pg.24 (thank you Terri of Windlost). They also offer two alternative paints that are close in color: Brainchild CL3216A by General Paints and Knight's Armor 518-6 by Pittsburgh Paints.
I'm not sure if the wall in this interior by John Jacob Zwiegelaor is Down Pipe, but it's fairly close..jpg)
Back in the beginning of September, I painted the fake 50's stone hearth and surround of my fireplace with Down Pipe after I changed the wall color from a green yellow to a light blue gray.
At the time I was feeling quite pleased with myself because I only spent $14 to finish the project, $7 for each sample pot. But now it's all gone and I'm sitting around here conjuring up what other surfaces in my house I can paint Down Pipe!
.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
.jpg)
29 comments:
I was JUST thinking about this color and how much I love it! I think that the blue bedroom might become grey very soon!
It is a great color and very transitional and strong. Wooden picture frames painted with this color and hung as wall art would be stunning of a pale cream wall.
Bette
I just stumbled upon your blog - and am I glad I visited! Anybody who loves gray gets a star in my book (gray is so part of my Swedish DNA). It is a lovely color you chose - and yes, you might need to go for a gallon! (: Monika.
http://www.splendidwillow.com
your fireplace looks fabulous! great job!!!
Fireplace looks grand!
too funny that you posted on this because i was indeed drooling over that color!! ! you know us bloggers!!
xoxo
your fireplace does look fabulous! And I totally agree with you on the tipping point aspect of Anna Beth's room. I've seen the color, but not sure I really SAW it until that posting. Beautiful!
I am happy for my bedroom to be a tipping point, because this color needs to be in a lot more houses. It's awesome. There's a before picture at my blog, where you can see what a huge difference just the color made:
http://www.hashai.com/?p=164
I have adored this color for awhile, a design firm I worked for had it in their showroom. (and they weren't sharing the color name!!!)
Gorgeous...giving me ideas. Thanks and I can't believe how beautiful your hearth now looks. Crazy!
Janell
Great post! Thanks for mentioning House & Home's special makeovers issue. We have lots of other Farrow & Ball paint picks here: http://bit.ly/1QIrae
Realy enjoyed this post. John Jacob Zwiegelaor's interior is beautiful...the light fixture is so captivating. Love these gray tones and am excited to see more of them this year.
I fell in love with this color when I saw it on All the Best's bedroom contest- Its the perfect shade.
I just love what you did with your fireplace- it looks so different, in a good way of course!
Gray is so sophisticated and chic-understated and bold all at once. How perfectly elegant are all these gray rooms! The only hesitation I have left to spell the color with an E or an A!
Mmmmm What a dreamy, dreamy color - Now where, oh where can I use it? ....hmmmm. =)
xo Isa
I love the color! gorgeous.
What a gorgeous color! Craze in effect over here! ...now, where can I use it? Hmmmmmm...
When we lived in the city, we had a bedroom that was the same color and I loved it, it was masculine yet with a pop of color, like yellow or pink, it was feminized.
I think a frame around your hearth with that "down-pipe" color would be nice. Several inches of that color
mimic the lines of the lantern. It would be a nice graphic touch.
pve
I'm thinking it takes some fairly serious design (ahem) huevos to take this color all-over, but clearly, such risk can be highly rewarding.
I wonder if you concrete paint this color would cover ugly tile in a kitchen!! I mean concrete paint is very durable. My tile is that color in my kitchen and I am thinking I could paint it!!
What a stunning color....I'm loving it.
Blessings,
Spencer
It is indeed a beautiful colour! I so love the third image you showed us!And you really did a good job painting those stones on the fire place!
Lovely!
Greet
I did a post on designer Lori Tippins' house, and she used similar colors in her daughter's bedroom and the front hall. They translated as so rich, sophisticated, and beautiful! Great post.
I think you're right. We're going to be seeing a lot of this color. Hmm where can I put it?
I am thinking of using a dark gray in my darkly lit Dining Room but was feeling afraid. Your post is tipping me in that direction - I guess when a room is already dark you might as well embrace it, right? Love the fireplace hearth - I love what a pot of Farrow and Ball can do!
Beautiful color.
houseitemsandroomsilike.blogspot.com
I thought the SAME THING about that color in her bedroom. I'm quite smitten myself.
I did fall in love with this color after seeing that room, so gorgeous. I love what you did to your fireplace, also gorgeous.
I definitely think you're right about this and greys in general. It's definitely been on the upswing since Monique Lhullier's home was published in Elle Decor last year.
I love the way it makes accent colors pop and adds a little drama.
Also -- the chandelier and book wallpaper -- stunning.
Cool! My wife and I have been looking through magazines and sites for ideas on our bedroom. We've been on this renovation project for a year now and it's we're so proud that it is a do-it-yourself house. Construction of our bedroom has been very fun and inspiring. We both love the color gray. Well, she likes blue and I like gray. It's funny how we actually mixed the paints, but we do not know what other colors would best complement our favorite colors. She has gold in mind, but I haven't decided yet. Anyway, thanks for this post!
Post a Comment