Flat Makeover with Farrow & Ball Moles Breath
One of the colours I have used a lot is Farrow & Ball's Mole's Breath. According to the brand "Mole's Breath is the most versatile of our accents as it can be used both with the Easy Greys like Purbeck Stone and the Contemporary Neutrals like Elephant's Breath. It is particularly effective to ground kitchen islands. When used on walls, especially in small rooms, it creates a fabulously moody but soft room so is a great alternative to the colder bluer Down Pipe".
What makes this colour so loved in the F&B Palette?
It is definitely popular. If you look at the F&B website, it's one of the colours with the most engagement from clients through photos of their makeovers. It also has more than a thousand tags on Instagram. As for Pinterest, it is really set on fire with photos of this beautiful grey.
Love warm grey?
Dark greys seem to bring the best out of a number of interiors styles and this one works well with period homes as well as modern pads that lack architectural features. Here's how I used it in a new 2-bed, 1st floor split-level rental flat in trendy Fulham, that needed to be "dressed" to accommodate the needs of a professional couple. And the total cost of the makeover was equal to 2x 5-litre paint cans - a total of £150 pounds (or $180 for my American friends).
About the space
This flat has two very generous sized bedrooms but a small L-shaped living room that sees all the way into the kitchen. The living room gets a lot of natural light during the day but as the ceilings are low you still want plenty of light colours to help bounce as much of it around the inside of the flat.
The wall behind the sofa was painted in Mole's Breath and a picture rail was added. The scheme could alternatively support two pieces of abstract art to make it neutral enough for most people's taste (as you need to do with rental properties). Bright white looks great against this colour but you can also use mustard yellow.
Next, in the downstairs bedroom, another accent wall was added. I took the photo pretty much from where the door is so as you enter the room I painted the wall that you see first - opposite you. This used to be our first home and where we had used to live when we had our our son, so prior to that, the wall was painted a baby blue.
Is Farrow & Ball worth the high price ?
The Farrow & Ball coverage was great. I used two coats of paint and no undercoat. For a longer lasting finish, I would recommend the undercoat. For me it was about getting the job done quickly and within a small budget.
As we expected to rent this flat to a professional couple, we left it as minimally 'dressed' as possible. This bedroom could make an excellent home office, or accommodate a sofa bed for guests. This is a double height ceiling room, so we used one of IKEA's largest pendant shades for effect, in bright white. For some glamour, we added a glass top and trestle leg desk and purple taffeta curtains. The rest of the walls were painted in bright white.
Tips for dressing a rental property
Now, I'll give you a few tips for rentals, if you want to make sure that you rent out fast - and I am not kidding but this flat was rented out on the very first viewing! You should always make an effort to keep your flat neutral in style and where possible, give it a boutique hotel look, especially if it is in a new block of flats where multiple similar flats are available.
Move furniture out while viewings take place and use a lot of glass and mirrors. For example, use glass desks, glass dining tables (round glass tables are great for this as you can squeeze them in small spaces, they can fit up to four and the chairs fit neatly under the table using no more that 1-1.20sqm). All glass coffee and side tables are much cheaper than they used to be 10 years ago and in bedrooms use mirrored ones.
The master bedroom is upstairs and that was not spared when it came to theme walls. I felt that wallpaper might not have been to everyone's taste, whereas with a grey coloured wall you could not go wrong. A black shaded 5-arm chandelier provided a lot of light in the evening and added to the boutique hotel look.
When it comes to beds, avoid divans, as they are chunky and seem to be taking up a lot more space than they do - all the eyes see is a bit bulky furniture. Avoid metal framed beds too - they are not good rental material, especially if you have flatmates. A low bed is an excellent choice.
This master bedroom is really big and there are 2 double wardrobes in there too, in cream gloss colour (gloss also helps the boutique hotel look) as well as under eaves storage. If the room was smaller, we would have chosen a bed with taller legs.
All in all I spent one day to paint 3 walls and for my £150 I definitely feel I got value for money. Would love to know what you think and apologies for the quality of the photos, these were all taken on my iPhone and mostly in the evening as you can tell! Now, get pinning!
