Our first is Jo Lee of Swedish Interior Design. Jo and Madeleine have the largest, most beautiful and best range of Swedish furniture both original and recreated that I have ever come across and their technical knowledge and understanding of this field is outstanding.
In conversation Jo and I were discussing the quality and properties of modern paints. We also discussed the "Greenwash" regarding some of the Eco Paint claims today and if you decide to go Green (not literally of course) it can be hard to find your way to a paint with really good Eco-credentials. However when I asked Jo if he could perhaps give us some background the paints they used to showcase painted furniture so beautifully in their showroom home near Brighton, he was able to give us a great report on a range of truly organic paints, the advantages of them and their application.
Swedish Interior Design – Going Organic
When planning a design project, one of the items you need to
consider very carefully is the paint you are going to use.
The rise of “designer” paints over the last 10-15 years have
given us access to an unprecedented array of colours and finishes so you can
have pretty much whatever you want. But this has come (certainly to my mind) as
a triumph of marketing often at the
expense of product quality and usability.
So you can have chalk paints, dead flat paints, milk paints,
iridescent paints, super chalky paints, organic paints, emulsions, acrylics and
much more. It’s great having such a choice but how easy is your chosen paint
for you to apply? How long will it last?
Is it good for you?
When we restored our glorious 1886 apartment that became the Swedish Interior Design
showroom, we had to consider a number of questions in choosing our paints.
Firstly, the apartment was full of complex original wall and
ceiling mouldings, elaborately hand carved door frames and architraves, double
original sash windows and flamed oak parquet flooring.
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| Stunning sea view from those 13 ft windows casts great light into this delightful room |
We wanted to restore this faded beauty to her former glory
and be faithful to the original design but at the same time put our own stamp
on it as our home. Our desire was to create a Swedish Gustavian look and feel using
our antique Swedish furniture, Mora Clocks
& bespoke Swedish furniture.
It would be a sanctuary from the outside world and also showcase our design
ethos and furniture. At the same time we also needed to highlight the
craftsmanship and extraordinary level of original detail evident in the
original interior.
Another consideration was that since we face onto the sea;
we have the most marvellous light bouncing through the 13’ high sash windows
and being ‘sea light’ it changes in intensity according to time of day, the
season and the prevailing weather.
We always concentrate on best use of light in our design
work and so we needed careful thought on using our paint choice as an
‘interactive’ medium rather than a flat surface.
Next we had to look at the health aspect – Madeleine Lee,
our creative director, has ME/CFS and so is very susceptible to paint fumes. You would be amazed if you look into
paint specifications in detail, just how many ‘nasties’ still reside in
different paints even with the recent and ongoing changes in paint formulation
due to environmental laws.
So many paints still ‘leech’ into the atmosphere for a
significant period after painting and will therefore affect anyone who is in
any way sensitive – This is a serious consideration when you think about
bedrooms, children's rooms, spaces with poor ventilation. There’s already too
much toxicity in the world outside our homes, in the air, the water supply and
so on. Why add to it in your own home? Don’t believe the sales hype and I would
urge you to investigate the health properties of your chosen paint before
buying to make sure you make the right choice for you.
So what about the finish? It needed to be in keeping with
the feel of the apartment and since we don’t have kids (or at least only
Norwegian forest cat furry ones) it didn’t need to be particularly strong,
washable or non marking. It was definitely more about texture for us than
anything else.
Never forget the next point on the checklist as it will hit
you directly in the pocket: application and coverage.
With all the changes in formulation due to environmental
rules, some well known major brand name designer paints have become really
difficult to use on a professional basis. The coverage is poor (and certainly
not what they claim) and the end result can be really streaky and patchy which
necessitates more coats than you should really need to provide the quality
finish that you would want.
At least if you are doing it yourself, its only extra time
spent and general frustration.
But where you are employing someone to decorate for you, the
added time and extra product required to achieve a top level finish can take
2-3 times as long to do which means significantly more cost to you. We now
refuse to use certain brands of paints for clients because of this.
Also be careful to choose the right paint for your woodwork
– especially in the level of ‘sheen’. Gloss, satin, matt and dead flat all have
their advantages and it depends on your interior and the look you want to
create but making the wrong choice can kill a design and look really out of
place. Do you want the woodwork to blend in and support the overall colour
scheme or work as accenting?
For example in our bedroom and living room we kept the
woodwork muted in a matt finish so it played second fiddle to the main wall
colour and trompe l’oeil but we used a stronger custom colour on the dado rail
and to pick out the wall mouldings to provide a visual accent.
So what did we choose?
For health reasons, it needed to be an organic non toxic
paint so that narrowed the field immediately. We wanted a super chalky finish
and one that would change color according to how the light hit it to make the
most of being by the sea. It needed to be go on well and not clog up the
delicate cornices and mouldings in the various rooms.
We chose a fantastic color called dawn mist from EcosOrganic Paints – it goes from off white through a touch of light blue to a violet according to the light and time of day so that
come evening time you have a wonderful relaxing tone to the walls which earlier
in the day had been more vibrant and full of light.
The super chalky texture (while not overly practical) looks
amazing with lots of grain and a 3D quality to it and in use, while drying it
smelled of oranges and had absolutely no side effects for Madeleine’s ME which
was great.
It took a little longer to go on than standard ‘trade’
emulsions but we budgeted for that, so it wasn’t an issue. Most
importantly it was neither gloopy nor
too watery so we could get exactly the right consistency to work with both wide
wall expanses and detailed mouldings.
Jo Lee is a director
of Swedish Interior Design.
Swedish Interior Design has Europe’s largest selection of Swedish antiques, over
60 antique mora clocks and a beautiful range of bespoke furniture which can be viewed at www.swedishinteriordesign.co.uk
or do follow the blog at www.swedishinteriordesign.co.uk/blog
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