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Ruth shares 5 schemes with our new Intelligent Paints…

Ruth shares 5 schemes with our new Intelligent Paints…

June 5th, 2024
Little Greene

By combining primer and topcoat in a single tin of paint, our upgraded Intelligent Paint formulations offer countless new ways to embrace colour in your home. Whether you bring all-over colour to an open-plan kitchen, or add beauty and durability to your family bathroom, you can confidently use these finishes without a separate primer to decorate every part of your home.

Be inspired as our Creative Director, Ruth, shares five unique ways you can transform your interiors with our Intelligent Paint finishes…

Monk’s seat: Obsidian Green in Intelligent Eggshell, Wall & upper Architrave: Split Pink in Intelligent Matt Emulsion, Tongue & Groove, lower architrave & radiator: Harley Green in Intelligent Matt Emulsion, Skirting and bottom of radiator: Livid in Intelligent Satin, Ceiling & cornice: Slaked Lime - Mid in Intelligent Matt Emulsion

1. Create a captivating colour combination in your boot room

Ruth writes: “Colour is a wonderful way to highlight or incorporate architectural details into your design schemes. Woodwork, skirting, dado, picture rails and furniture are all fantastic hosts for colour, be that contrasting highlight colours or tonal shades to create a more harmonious feel.

Consider elements that would traditionally be painted in a gloss or white out of habit. Radiators work beautifully in a contemporary matt finish, or with a playful two-tone colour scheme that takes the skirting colour onto the radiator too.”

Often leading out onto the outdoors, your boot room is a great place to use natural greens that will create a sense of transition. Choose a palette of deep greens like Harley Green and Livid, as well as the dark off-black, Obsidian Green. Introduce our earthy Split Pink on the upper walls to add beautiful, peachy warmth to the scheme. 

Walls: Mochi in Intelligent Matt Emulsion, Shelf: Mochi in Intelligent Satin, Tiles: Mochi in Intelligent Satin, Lower units: Attic II in Intelligent Satin, Cupboard unit: Attic II in Intelligent Gloss, Ceiling: Slaked Lime in Intelligent Matt Emulsion

2. Embrace colour on every surface in your kitchen

Ruth writes: “Kitchens can often feel quite functional, so consider inviting colour combinations that will add warmth and personality into the space. The beauty of our multi-surface Intelligent finishes means you can add colour to virtually every surface in a kitchen to create a cohesive scheme.  

For a harmonious finish, take your wall colour down across the shelving, upper cupboards and tiles, contrasting with a deeper shade on lower units and doors. Our sophisticated pink, Mochi, is a fantastic choice to bring a touch of elegance to a kitchen, pairing with the earthy dark neutral, Attic II, on lower units to really ground the scheme.”  

Our reformulated Intelligent Satin finish is the perfect choice for your kitchen refresh. With its elegant satin sheen of 30-35%, it can be used to paint tiles, cabinetry and woodwork. The Intelligent finishes are up to 15 times tougher than ordinary household paints, specially designed to withstand all the general wear and tear of a busy family kitchen!

Explore Intelligent Satin

Wall: Etruria in Intelligent Matt Emulsion. Splashback: Etruria in Intelligent Gloss, Vanity unit & french doors: Etruria in Intelligent Eggshell, Skirting: Etruria in Intelligent Satin, Floor: Bronze Red in Intelligent Floor Paint

3. Get creative with finish sheen levels in your bathroom

Ruth writes: “Contrasting finishes are a fantastic way of zoning areas such as kitchen or bathroom splashbacks. A high sheen finish such as Intelligent Gloss combined with the low sheen Intelligent Matt will create a design statement, as well as being a durable and practical solution.  

Our new Intelligent finishes stick to virtually any substrate – including wood, plaster, melamine, Formica, tiles, glass, uPVC, metals and plastics. So bathrooms can be transformed from top to bottom, uniting multiple surfaces in a cohesive and beautiful design scheme with ease.” 

Using a combination of different finishes is a fantastic way to bring an element of textural contrast to a colour-drenched scheme. Paint your bathroom walls, woodwork, window frames and units in the characterful warm blue, Etruria, to create a luxurious, cocooning effect. For an unexpected colour highlight, consider painting your floor in Bronze Red with Intelligent Floor Paint, suitable for interior wood, concrete and primed metal floors. 

Walls LHS: Portland Stone in Intelligent Matt Emulsion & Intelligent Gloss, Panelling RHS: Portland Stone - Dark in Intelligent Eggshell, Ceiling: Pompeian Ash in Intelligent Matt Emulsion, Floor: Portland Stone - Light in Intelligent Floor Paint, Door: Portland Stone - Pale in Intelligent Eggshell

4. Transform your hallway with enduring colour

Ruth writes: “Hallways can be a challenging room to decorate as they are one of the busiest areas of the home and need to withstand the knocks and bumps of busy family life. Our Intelligent Matt Emulsion is designed to be robust, resisting the daily wear of modern life, so it’s perfect for hallways and high-traffic areas.  

The upgraded Intelligent Paints provide a hardwearing, durable finish on any surface, letting creativity rather than paint finish take the lead. With many hallways being narrow and lacking natural light, using Intelligent Gloss here will not only create a durable and practical finish, but with its highly reflective sheen, it will also bounce light around the space too.” 

As well as the durability of your paint finish, it’s important to consider paint colours that will stand the test of time when decorating your hallway. Natural stone colours like our much-loved Portland Stone Colour Scales are a smart choice, providing a warm welcome from the outdoors. These versatile shades will effortlessly complement both neutrals and stronger colours seen in adjacent rooms, creating a beautiful sense of flow throughout your entire home.

Browse our palette of neutrals

Back wall, skirting and tongue and groove beneath bed: Canton & Intelligent Matt Emulsion, Side wall, skirting, bed & bottom shelf: Garden in Intelligent Eggshell, Rear of bed & top shelf: Mazarine in Intelligent Eggshell, Middle shelf: Carmine in Intelligent Eggshell Toy box: Canton in Intelligent Satin, Floor: Slaked Lime - Mid in Intelligent Floor Paint, Ceiling: Slaked Lime in Intelligent Matt Emulsion, Cornice: Stock in Intelligent Matt Emulsion

5. Bring inspiring all-over colour to your child’s bedroom

Ruth writes: “Vibrant, bold colours are the perfect choice for playrooms, creating an inspiring, energised atmosphere for little ones. Where previously the different surfaces in a room – from skirting and walls to woodwork and toys – meant a range of different primers and finishes, our new formulations mean the only decision to make is selecting a colour!  

You can now let your imagination take the lead and simply paint wood, plaster, plastic, tiles, glass and uPVC in one of our self-priming, multi-surface Intelligent finishes.” 

Your child’s bedroom or playroom is the perfect place to really experiment with colour. Consider painting alcoves and shelving to create a punchy colour highlight, or juxtapose contrasting colours on adjacent walls for a contemporary colour block effect. 

Order a complimentary colour card to explore the palette in full

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