Back to the house, I'm determined to bring in colour: and so transform the walls here from their current dull, battered, beige/magnolia existence:

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Susie Watson's deep, rich Ramsbury Red colours the walls of the adjacent room (I've mentioned it before here)  and with it in place, the hall colour had to follow. The random mix above includes someicy blues / stone-grey shades both from  Susie's paint chart (the column of neutrals on the left of the picture above) and Fired Earth, with the walls finally painted in Teresa's Green from Farrow & Ball.As the wonderful Ben Pentreath mused the other day, it's become fashionable in some circles to diss Farrow & Ball paints for their coverage, but their colours continue to be interesting, adaptable and versatile in both dimly lit and bright spaces…

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Next task: choosing curtain fabric to hang in front of the draughty stable-style back door and to bring some pattern and softness to the room (the black and white floor tiles, here and in the room beyond, were inherited with the house). With London Design Week in full swing (now open to the public; catch it till this Friday 22 March, at Chelsea Harbour) it's a great time to celebrate the best in fabric design from both British and International designers. I'm searching for an eclectic pattern in lively shades:

Interior designer Penny Morrison's luxurious fabrics include fabulous patterns and interesting colour mixes for a relaxed, country-living vibe; the designs start life in her studio on the Welsh borders:

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penny%20morrison%20kenil%20pin%20484 Pasha%20484 Sukriti%20BlueRed%20484 Karlstad%20Blue%20Red%20484 pennymorrison_arabella_repeat%20484 Ashok%20natural%20orange%20484 penny%20morrison%20luma%20gre_pet%20484 pennymorrison_mander

All swatch shots above: Penny Morrison

Another favourite is Rapture & Wright: Based in Gloucestershire, their motifs are contemporary and occasionally geometric in nature, and successfully designed to suit all sorts of interiors:

cocoa doves-husk sarafan-skye-8-linen charlbury-cloud-linen aurora-red-linen clouds-red mandalay-indigo cocoa-beach-butternut

clud bed

All images: Rapture & Wright

All the fabrics shown above come in many other colourways, and of course there are other patterns too; take a look and let me know what you think.