Here comes the sun (little darlin')

Well hello! We look like we're back into the swing of things here at Willowbrook after a prolonged period of sporadic blogs. If you're a returning viewer thanks for sticking with us over the past 6 months. If you're new to the blog then please enjoy the vast back catalog of posts.

This week's blog is brought to you by the letters VCP and the colour Marigold yellow!

Inspired by the advent of spring and the cheerful yellow colour which has become almost synonymous with Veuve Cliquot over the last few decades, we have decided to create a sensationally sunny summer relaxation space on the cocktail lawn. Guests will be able to relax outside, and take in the warm summer sun (and a restorative glass of champagne).

Conscious of the long term consequences of too much sun, we also wanted to provide sun umbrellas to protect those guests who didn't want to soak up too much UV. Hence these jolly yellow numbers...

We've purchased eight luxury sun loungers with cream mattresses and matching side tables...

and four large yellow umbrellas. This number of loungers happens to neatly space out between the buxus topiaries on the cocktail lawn...

They should arrived next month, which is fine as we usually experience spring showers before it truly becomes lounging weather. We have also sourced some lovely chic yellow trellis pattern cushions to pair with each lounger...

The end effect will look something like this...

We were somewhat inspired by the yellow of the veuve cliquot brand...

Fun in the sun, or fun in the snow!

Ironically, VCP is not our house champagne, but rather Pol. But I don't think they have copyrighted the colour yellow just yet (unlike Cadbury's and the colour purple).

Once we have the pool and pool house built the loungers may shift. Here are some inspirational pictures to get you in the mood for summer ...

The Gold Drawing Room...

Welcome back to the tour. Day 10 continues with The Gold Drawing room. This is one of the 3 rooms which has silk upholstered walls. We are very pleased with this room, and can't wait to start to use it for publicity shots. We have a friend who has put us in touch with an advertising agency who are always on the look out for new and unique venues for photoshoots. I'm sure Willowbrook fits the bill.

Below: Vases of Stock and Delphinium flank the marble fireplace. In front of the fireplace sits a vintage fireguard. I plan to have it reupholstered in the same silk as the walls soon.

On one wall is a large Chippendale styled cabinet.

On the other wall a bay window overlooking the front courtyard, with a console and large bust of Apollo.

Two smaller cabinets to match the larger one will arrive soon and will go on the walls on either side of this alcove.

Between the French doors on the western wall hangs an oil painting after Claude Lorraine. Below it is a small mantel clock, a gift from Peter when I was 22. It has a lovely sonorous Westminster chime.

Please tune in again tomorrow when we retreat into that most masculine of rooms, the Billiard Room.

All that glisters....

"All that glisters is not gold,

Often have you heard that told"

How true, for had I my own Duchy or were I a Russian oligarch I probably wouldn't give a second thought to splashing 24 carat gold across the walls and ceiling like it were paint (forgetting that when it comes to gilding, less is more). However, the challenge with pulling off the project of WBP (and quite a fun challenge really) is to achieve the look on a budget. So often people who attempt to do this end up with plasticy imitations, tacky eyesores to behold (one does not merely grab a can of dazzle spray paint off the shelf at the hardware store and glitz up the coffee table in one's drawing room).

Above: Alchemist trying to create gold.

There must be, I thought to myself, an acceptable solution somewhere in the world of high end paints, metallic oxides that gave a very close approximation of gilding without the crippling cost. Luckily I did not have to resort to the dark art of alchemy.

I came across 'Dutch Gold', also known as schlagemetal. This is gold coloured metal alloy. Most golds are a combination of Zinc and Copper (Brass). Some are a mixture of Copper and Tin (Bronze). Others are a mixture of three or more metals. The more zinc the yellower the gold. Compositions usually range from 88% Cu/12% Zn to 84% Cu/ 16% Zn. 

Above: Raw Copper (Cu).

Below: Raw Zinc (Zn).

 Below: Tin (Sn).

Many paints use suspensions of these compounds to recreated a gilding look. The are several companies that include a metallic range. Some we found were:

Porter's Paints

Peter Fell Paint

Ralph Lauren 

(as Peter said "Is there anything Ralph Lauren doesn't do")

& Modern Masters

We are having family bring over some samples of the Modern Masters paints over from the US in March when they visit. The one we think may be suitable is Pharaoh Gold, closely followed by two others:

Pharaoh Gold 

Rich Gold

Olympic Gold

Between these we should be able to choose one which works. And they come in gallon pots, not just 30ml bottles like Martha Stewart's gold paint.

Here are two examples of how we wish to gild the Ballroom and The Music Room. We may also use a little in the gold drawing room. The rest of the house will be left alone.

 

Update 1 April 2015

We have now painted a sample of each of the paints and are very happy with the one on the left, which is Pharaoh's Gold. So, we will be going ahead with this paint in the Ballroom, Music Room, Gold Drawing Room, and perhaps the Dining Room...

Field of the Cloth of Gold...

Possibly not as grand as the 1520 summit between Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France (shown above), known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold (as Henry had spent millions of pounds in today's equivalent of fine gold cloth for marquees and tents and clothing), but none the less this is what I was reminded of when we were unraveling our precious wall upholstery in the middle of a farm paddock to ensure the carpet we have chosen worked with the wall fabric...

Above and Below: The gold silk for the drawing room, with "Golden Buff" coloured carpet...

Alas, the previous carpet we chose is no longer in production, so we decided we would lay more marble down in the common areas instead, but we still needed carpet for the private areas such as drawing rooms and bedrooms. We wanted to choose a colour that we could use in multiple spaces. The golden buff didn't really work with the gold silk (too much brown and gold in one room)...

But it did work with the curtains for the Brideshead suite...

And surprisingly worked very well with the Berry and Gold velvet damask for the Chatsworth suite...

Much better than the originally chosen red carpets would have...

It also worked well with the two-tone gold velvet damask for the master suite...

Other choices we had entertained were Honey (top left), Delta Sunset (top right), and Casting Rod (bottom right). These are shown below on a based unpolished marble.... 

We decided we needed a lighter colour to go with the gold, but one which was not too white (it had to look warm, not cold). We settled on "Blondie" ...

Below: Blondie (centre), Pearl (left - too white) and Golden Buff (right - too dark)...

A Goldielocks moment, this colour was "just right"...