© Ryland Peters & Small 2015
Designer Paul Tilby Senior Commissioning Editor Annabel Morgan Production Manager Gordana Simakovic Location Researcher Jess Walton Art Director Leslie Harrington Editorial Director Julia Charles Publisher Cindy Richards
First published in 2015 by Ryland Peters & Small 20–21 Jockey’s Fields London WC1R 4BW and 341 East 116th Street New York NY 10029 www.rylandpeters.com Text © Hilary Robertson and Ryland Peters & Small 2015 Design and photographs © Ryland Peters & Small 2015 ISBN: 978-1-84975-613-6 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The authors’ moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. US Library of Congress Cataloging-inPublication data has been applied for. Printed and bound in China
© Ryland Peters & Small 2015
Contents Introduction
6
MONOCHROME PALETTES 12
MONOCHROME HOMES
56
Night Owl
130
In Black and White
14
Shades of Pale
58
Light Touch
138
Grey Matters
18
Five Shades of Grey
68
Sweetness and Light
148 156
Shades of Pale
24
Luxe, Calme et Volupté
80
Lofty Heights
Dark Looks
28
Round Midnight
90
Neutral Territory
164
In the Mix
32
Dark and Stormy
102
The New Black
174
Let There Be Light
36
The Concrete and the Clay
112
The Dark Room
46
Perfectly Balanced
122
Sources
186
Credits
188
Index
190
Acknowledgments
192
© Ryland Peters & Small 2015
Grey Matters Welcome to the middle ground. The uninitiated might accuse the grey interior of a tendency to blandness, of being as dull as the proverbial dishwater, neither one thing nor the other, a cop-out for the undecided or those that prefer to play safe. But as every Farrow & Ball paint chart aficionado can testify, there is much more to grey than a politician’s conservative flannel suit. Fashionably complex greys with names like Pigeon, Down Pipe or Plummett are far from a basic mix of black and white. The most successful execution of a grey-on-grey scheme combines several paint shades (with green, blue, brown or violet undertones) and naturally grey materials such as slate, zinc, steel or wood weathered to a shade of silver. The éminence grise delights in it for its mutability; grey may be warm or cool, it plays nicely with other colours, tones down brighter shades and illuminates softer ones. It is calming and restful and, when used judiciously, far from boring. Dutch master colourist Axel Vervoordt uses the most sophisticated range of greys in the soothing interiors he designs: shades that veer towards green or brown, letting light, texture and scale operate as the decorative elements completing his sober colour schemes. In Sweden, 18thcentury Gustavian interiors employed a pale blue-grey as both the backdrop and the shade used for painted furniture popular at the time, a device which produced some pared-down but atmospheric interiors that made the most of the available light.
OPPOSITE
Naturally grey materials like
PAGES 20–21
A stormy sky depicted in
PAGES 22–23
The sophisticated use of greys
weathered wood, patinated metal and
a vintage painting is a starting point for
combined in a graphic pattern demonstrates
bare branches bring textural interest to a room.
decorating alchemy. Greys with warm brown
how effectively closely related shades combine.
A painter’s canvas tarp marked with spills from
undertones mixed with creams the colour of
An interior that employs the same device —
many palettes breaks the rigid cube of
ironstone plates evoke a monochrome scheme
tonal variations of one colour brought together
the console table, bringing some chaos to
that teams with rustic, raw materials like
in one space — cannot help but have a soothing
temper all the right angles.
bleached wood, tweed, corduroy, natural linens,
effect on the eye. Take inspiration from
horn, pewter, rusted metal, patinated copper,
modulations found in nature: rock, sea and
weathered cedar, rattan and seagrass.
sky are perfect references.
© Ryland Peters & Small 2015
The upper floor of Annaleena’s home combines her work station, office and storage for her metalwork designs with an open-plan sitting area next to a balcony with views over the fields.
© Ryland Peters & Small 2015
BELOW
According to Annaleena,
RIGHT
Set at an angle to the wall,
glossy painted white floors require
Annaleena’s shelves conceal or reveal
no more maintenance than any
depending on the angle from which
other kind of finish. The
they are viewed. Like many of her
wraparound white makes the ideal
styling tricks, they make an abstract
blank canvas for her brand of
geometric statement.
monochrome minimalism, which she achieves by mixing simple Ikea staples with her own designs.
Shades of Pale Annaleena Leino Karlsson might live in a bucolic setting, lush with electric green grass and yellow cornfields, but she makes no sartorial concessions to country living. ‘Am I monochrome?’ asks the ashblonde Finn dressed head to foot in city black as she flings open the door to the white interior of the cottage she is renting while building her ‘dream house’ in countryside outside Stockholm. In Annaleena’s universe, living in black and white is a deeply embedded reflex, as natural as breathing. This 1950s farmhouse may be a temporary abode for Annaleena, her husband and their five children, but the interiors stylist and blogger would not consider even the briefest period of compromise or entertain another palette. A superficial makeover was required to smarten up the rental property. Annaleena’s budget-friendly scheme involved laying plywood over the floors and applying lashings of white paint, disguising grotty tiles in the kitchen with panels of ‘gold’ sheet metal and updating the fitted cabinets with pale dove grey paint.
Shades of Pale
59
INTERIORS
A celebration of the stylish simplicity of the perenially popular monochromatic home – elegant interiors in black, white and all the shades of grey in between.
www.rylandpeters.com UK £25.00/ US $35.00/ Priced higher in Canada I S B N 978-1-84975-613-6
9
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Printed in China
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