Shopping on Saturday
by allthebest • 9 Feb ’08 • paint, shopping • 17 Comments
Sorry for not posting yesterday, but I was out buying paint pots to sample in our hallway and lounge. After 10+ samples I think I have finally narrowed it down to my top three choices. This is the first time that I have used Farrow and Ball and I am very pleased with the colors and quality. The Company was founded in the 1930s in Dorset, on the south coast of England, by chemists John Farrow & Richard Ball. Over the past ten years, Farrow & Ball showrooms have opened in select locations in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Milan.
I also learned a very valuable lesson yesterday—latex has nothing to do with paint in the UK. When I asked the man at the paint shop if the paint was latex he got a strange look on his face and started laughing. After thinking about the situation for a moment I commented, “Let me guess—latex means something entirely different than to what I am referring.”
Of course I started laughing and told him that I was less than amused the first time my eight-year-old son came home from school, shortly after moving here, and told me that he needed rubbers. In the America rubbers have NOTHING to do with pencil erasers!
Serendipity? Cute story.
That’s too funny! Thanks for sharing!
So what are your top three colors? I love Farrow and Ball paints.
What are your top 3 colours?! I can’t tell you how many F&B paint pots I bought and sampled over the years…
Bwahahahahaha! Too funny! Can’t wait to see which colors you picked, I like F&B’s luminosity which comes from their better pigments. I think it might be safer to ask for water-based and oil-based, Ronda! Hahaha.
Don’t you love our language differences? I am a total convert to Farrow and Ball. The depth of color in a Farrow and Ball paint cannot be reproduced in our “rubber” paints. Farrow and Ball is a clay-based paint, no vinyl or latex binders in it. So it’s non-toxic but it is also beautiful. Goes on kind of thick, different from latex paints. Once you paint with it, it’s hard to go back.
You know what Oscar Wilde wrote: the Brits and the Americans have everything in common except the language. (In The Ghost of Canterville, a HILARIOUS short story that really explores the cultural gap between the UK and the US)
That paint looks just fabulous, I love the packaging…
Well, you can just imagine our dumbfounded silence when a friend described her Republican politician father as wearing suspenders…
Nevertheless, I adore Farrow and Ball and can’t wait to be a home-owner and let loose with their marvellous ranges – lucky you!
It takes balls when picking a paint color…
top 3 colors?
Had a good clean chuckle from this post.
Thanks everyone…it was pretty funny!
My top 3 are Shaded White, Elephants Breath, and Old White (all very pretty shades of gray). For the lounge I am going with Farrow Cream–it’s a very rich color.
So funny.
Elephant’s Breath! What a wonderful name for a colour!
What a cute story…I’ve managed to get myself in similar positions working with Americans…what we call ‘thongs’ in Australia are completely different to what you call thongs in the US. One of which is probably not appropriate to discuss in the workplace!
As the daughter of British parents, I can fully relate to the word confusion!
Funny story!
I had similar confusions when I (California-bred)lived in England.
Within weeks of moving there, I was helping out in local school. We were in the middle of an art project and found lacking in some supplies. I was sent to the store and there was confused sielnce and then lots of laughter when I brought home markers instad of tacks.
I ws asked to get drawing pins.
I’m enjoying your blog very much. The 3 colors “sound” like lovely ones.
Thanks Susan! Cute story!!
LOL! Can’t wait to see the color you choose!