Caroline’s Top Ten Paint Colours

Our businesses: The Good Life Society, Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages and Hawarden Estate Experience, are known for their bold, bright colours. This is largely thanks to the colour connoisseur, Caroline Gladstone, who always knows precisely what paint to pick. Here she names her favourites and where to buy them.

By Caroline Gladstone

1. Strong deep blue

My favourite version of this colour is the very dark, inky Stiffkey Blue, by Farrow and Ball. I have used it in a bedroom and a dining room at Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages, and at the Farm Shop and The Glynne Arms at Hawarden.

`The Bothy at Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages`

2. Neutral

There are many great neutrals out there that are contemporary, calming and will work with most interior styles. Farrow and Ball’s Elephant’s Breath, Little Greene’s Portland Stone or Rolling Fog. The one that works best for me is Farrow and Ball’s Bone, which I have used a lot over the years and I never tire of. Most recently, I have used it in the sitting room at Cuttieshillock at Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages.

3. Vibrant green

The best versions of this magical colour are Paper and Paint’s Sevres Green, Farrow and Ball’s Arsenic and Little Greene’s Green Verditer. The hall and corridors at The Glynne Arms at Hawarden are Farrow and Ball Arsenic and two of the walls in the washroom at Garden Camp at Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages are Little Greene Green Verditer.

4. Deep grey

I sometimes worry that a deep grey will be overwhelming and oppressive, but then when I use it, I am always thrilled with the results. Try The Isle of Skye Paint Co’s Falaisgear, or Little Greene’s Juniper Ash or Mid Lead Colour.

5. Dark jade/peacock

Farrow and Ball’s Vardo and Little Greene’s Canton are deep, rich versions of this jewel-hued colour. I’ve used it in a stairwell and a bedroom, and it works equally well in both. The Isle of Skye Paint Co does a slightly brighter, lighter version called Fairy Pools which is also lovely.

6. Soft blue

Soft, grey-blue is a colour I return to often. Like the neutrals, it is a calming contemporary colour that works well in any room. My favourite iterations of it are Farrow and Ball’s Oval Room Blue, used in the new Café at the Hawarden Estate Farm Shop and in the kitchen/living area of The Bothy at Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages and Little Greene’s Bone China Blue, used in one of the bedrooms at North Lodge at Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages. Edward Bulmer’s Aerial Tint and Paper and Paints' Sky Blue are also lovely versions of this shade.

7. Warm red

This is a very comforting shade, which works equally well in a modern setting or in a more obvious period interior. Try Farrow and Ball’s Eating Room Red, which I used in the main restaurant at The Glynne Arms, or Edward Bulmer's Pompadour, or The Isle of Skye Paint Co’s romantically named Red Cullin.

8. Pale grey

Farrow and Ball’s Pavillion Grey has long been a favourite of mine. Pale grey is a surprisingly warm colour, as long as you pick the right shade. Too much blue in it and it is cold. Too much red and becomes almost lavender. Little Greene's Inox and The Isle of Skye Paint Co’s The Misty Isle also work well.

`North Lodge at Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages`

9. Palest blue

I recently experimented with Little Greene’s Drizzle when I was looking for a colour for the hallway at The Hay Loft at Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages and fell in love with it, so I used it again in the stairwell and corridors at Cuttieshillock. It is fresh and light with just a hint of blue sky.

10. Bright pink

Anyone who knows me knows that my favourite colour is pink. Any shade really, oh except bubblegum. Dulux Fuchsia Falls 2, which I have used somewhere in all our business locations, is a strong, bold, gorgeous deep bright pink, and has become known as Caroline’s Pink.