Rooms in warm, autumnal colours to inspire you as the season turns
As evenings get darker earlier and the leaves start to turn, there is something so satisfying about drawing the curtains, lighting the lamps and tucking yourself away in a cosy room. Even better if that room is painted in a colour reminiscent of those outside – rich browns, muddy greens and of course that autumnal red that touches the leaves. A dark room on a cold evening – provided it's well lit – is the ultimate comfort and these rooms below are examples of how to achieve it.
Christopher Horwood1/44The walls in the utility room of this charming thatched cottage are painted in Farrow & Ball's archive colour ‘Minster Green’, which envelopes the large space.
Mark Anthony Fox2/44Interior designer Lucy Cunningham's living room is a warm space, with a biscuit tone on the wall that looks equally good basking in the sunshine as it does by the light of the fire at night. ‘Cane’ from Farrow & Ball is a similar colour.
Christopher Horwood3/44“I really loved a dark green room with a blue sofa,” says Cassandra Ellis, “so I thought, why not make the entrance hall a special place where I'd want to spend time and not just wasted space?” This room is now where Cassandra spends much of her time: “If I was at home on my own, I would always sit there because it had so many of my favourite things.” The paint colour is ‘Tirzah’ from Atelier Ellis.
Mark Anthony Fox4/44This bedroom in a Veere Grenney London project is a particularly warm room and it isn't paint that makes it so; the walls are upholstered in VGA Prima Alpaca and the texture and colour work together to create a truly cosy cocooning space.
Mark Anthony Fox5/44Similarly in the downstairs loo, a number of wallpapers and borders from Paolo Moschino's ‘San Patrignano’ collection have been combined to create this striking and warm scheme. The papers were designed by the great Renzo Mongiardino 30-odd years ago and are now produced by the San Patrignano community which supports those recovering from substance abuse issues.
Simon Brown / De Rosee Sa6/44Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Caddie’ creates a cosy home office in this luxurious London townhouse designed by De Rosee Sa.
Rachel Whiting7/44House & Garden's Gabby Deeming painted her living room in 'Caddie' by Paint and Paper Library. This is what pulled everything in her Bloomsbury rental flat together. It was the perfect backdrop for everything in the room, working well with the brighter colours and giving sophistication to the natural textures that before had looked a bit grungy.
Ben Pentreath8/44Ben Pentreath saturated every room in this Hampshire Regency villa with colour. In the library, the walls are lined with a dark caramel velvet by Lelièvre. Secret doors lead through the bookcase to the drawing room.
Michael Sinclair9/44Maddux Creative created a vibrant and textured scheme for this Grade II Primrose Hill house, with a main bedroom that features earthy and rich tones.
A mirror from Knowles & Christou hangs on a wall in Stereo’s ‘Java 2274’ woven grass covering above a Robert Langford headboard covered in a Donghia fabric. The bedcover is in ‘Il Ricamo’ by Etro.
Alexander James10/44Interior designer John McCall used a soft terracotta wash on these walls by decorative paint artist Hughie Turner to bring out the specially mixed green and dark red on the cabinets.
Above the oak table, which was made by I & JL Brown, is an oak-leaf chandelier from Richard Taylor Designs. The dining chairs are covered in Bennison Fabrics’ ‘Frondage’ and the Edwardian wingback chair is upholstered in Claremont’s ‘Kilim Stripe’ fabric.
Simon Brown / De Rosee Sa11/44Teal gloss walls bring out the mix of patterned fabrics in the home of Net-A-Porter’s Alison Loehnis.
Paul Massey12/44The subtle glamour of the 1940s was Joanna Plant's inspiration for the brown panelling in the dining room of this Victorian house in west London. The paint colour is ‘Georgetown’ by Paint & Paper Library.
Paul Massey13/44Florist Paul Hawkins has created a comfortable country cottage in town at his Chelsea house. In the dining area, panelling is painted in Farrow & Ball's ‘Yeabridge Green.’ A painting by Rupert Aker hangs over the table, which was found at Lots Road Auctions. Paul came across the pendant lights in the sundries shop at Covent Garden Flower Market.
Paul Massey14/44Our new Interior Designer of the Year, Maddux Creative, chose this dramatic blue backdrop for a gothic house in north London. A wall hanging sourced from a vintage textile dealer is the backdrop for a sofa in Holland & Sherry’s ‘Primo’ velvet in calypso. The scroll-armed sofa is in ‘Montepulciano’ chenille in argento from Watts 1874. Maddux Creative designed the corner cabinets, which were made by Wardour Workshops with verre églomisé peacock panels by Studio Peascod.
Paul Massey15/44In the Cotswolds home of Vogue contributing editor Robin Muir, interior designer Caroline Holdaway used a palette that is sombre yet rich. The paint colours feel historic but do not scream National Trust, and Caroline mixes them with textures and fabrics, like the Lewis & Wood matelassé cotton on the sofas.
Ben Pentreath16/44Morris & Co’s ‘Compton’ wallpaper in brown/orange lines the walls of this Regency villa in Hampshire.
James McDonald17/44Having found and bought this 17th-century Cotswold cottage in the space of a week, former Sotheby’s specialist James Mackie has created a charming art-filled home that reflects the interior-design skills he is now capitalising on. In the book room, panelling in Edward Bulmer Natural Paint’s ‘Mummy’ is the backdrop for antiques, including a 1750s mahogany bureau.
Simon Brown / De Rosee Sa18/44The guest bathroom is painted in Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Grenache’ - it makes everything else pop. Explore more of this luxurious London townhouse designed by De Rosee Sa.
Paul Massey19/44Ben Pentreath decorated this Georgian house in London in his layered signature style, choosing Emente’s ‘Cassel’ to create a rich backdrop for the dining area.
An ‘Old School Rise & Fall Light’ from The French House hangs above a bespoke oak table by Robert Lynch, with Fifties ‘Carimate’ chairs by Magistretti for Cassina.
Chris Tubbs20/44Walls and woodwork in 'Murrey Red' from Papers & Paints has been used by designer and antiques dealer Adam Bray in this room in an east London house. The red is so warming in the room, helped by the gold trim on the fireplace and dark flooring. A light gloss finish bounces the light around, while the nineteenth-century alabaster light was chosen to impart a grown up mood.
Owen Gale21/44The cabinets in this Cornish kitchen are painted in Little Greene's 'Invisible Green', a perennial favourite that looks cosy in winter and vibrant in summer.
Simon Upton22/44The exquisite, hand glazed wallpaper in Douglas Mackie's Marylebone flat resembles flattened out tobacco leaves and exudes warmth into the room. An early-twentieth-century Berber panel and a Thirties portrait by Spanish-Cuban artist José Segura Ezquerro hang from it, the colours of the former complementing the walls perfectly and add more layers of russet, leafy tones to the space.
Christopher Horwood23/44This laundry room by Natasha Howard is painted in Paint & Paper Library's 'Rouge II', a moody pink that pops on the tongue and groove panelling. Checkerboard lino lines the floor, while a frilly pendant from Retrouvius provides a pretty finishing touch.
Rachel Whiting24/44This vibrant office has been painted in a sunny yellow 'O8D02', from Little Greene. Cressida Bell has adorned a 'Stockholm' pedestal table from Scumble Goosie with her signature Bloomsbury patterns.
Dean Hearne25/44A chandelier decorated with branches brings an autumnal touch to this rich rust coloured room in Penpont, Wales. The blue runner and gloss paint on the columns add to the feeling.
Yuki Sugiura26/44The scullery in designer Matilda Goad's London home is painted in 'Bancha' by Farrow & Ball, with a curtain made from a ticking fabric by Ian Mankin.
Paul Massey27/44At the west London house of Jos and Annabel White, a corridor with panelling in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Rectory Red’ leads into the games room downstairs.
28/44Walls in ‘India Yellow’ paint by Farrow & Ball create a warm atmosphere in the dining room of an Oxfordshire house by Max Rollitt.
29/44The walls in interior designer Rachel Chudley's bedroom may be white but the velvet-covered headboard and rust throw add a rich, autumnal feel to the space. The headboard was designed by Rachel, who looked to the leaves on the sconce for inspiration, creating something akin to both foliage and fire.
Andrew Montgomery30/44In Glin Castle, the ancestral home of Catherine Fitzgerald, there are many big, airy rooms which can be hard to create a feeling of warmth in during the colder months. However, in the library – which was painted dark blue by Mariga Guinness in the Sixties – this has been achieved with an inky tone on the walls, complemented by the red fabrics used for the rug and upholstery.
Paul Massey31/44Ben Pentreath is a master at creating autumnal rooms in bold tones. Here, in a Georgian house in London, he has used ‘Bromine’ by Emente on the walls, adding window-seat cushions covered in Claremont’s ‘Damas Les Perroquets’ silk in jaune for a bright contrast. The Regency mahogany chairs are upholstered in ‘Paso’ horsehair in dark brass by John Boyd Textiles, another rich note.
Paul Massey32/44Another Ben Pentreath beauty, the greeny-brown grasscloth in this room is in the colour referred to by Ben as 'freshly laid cowpat'. To us, the colour is more reminscent of autumn landscapes and creates a cosseting effect to the bedroom. ‘I love the richness that grasscloth brings; it has so much more depth than a flat paint,’ he says.
Paul Massey33/44Textiles dealer Susan Deliss has a masterful way with colour, as shown in her own country house in rural France. The kitchen benefits from being flooded with light at parts of the day and this orange colour maximises on creating a warmth in the room at any time.
Michael Sinclair34/44A jute rug from Tim Page Carpets complements the warm tones of the ‘Islandia’ jute and woven paper wallcovering from Maya Romanoff in the vicarage belonging to the couple behind Porta Romana. It's another example of how muddy tones can feel so comforting on cold days.
35/44When it came to decorating her Georgian house, fashion stylist Louise Roe was lucky enough to have Edward Bulmer consult on the colours. For the drawing room, the grandest room in the house, the paint specialist's 'Brick' was chosen, which works beautifully with the blue velvet sofa from Sofa Workshop.
Davide Lovatti36/44The gunroom in Tom Helme's Carskiey Estate has a warm and earthy colour scheme, thanks to walls that are painted in Farrow & Ball's 'Picture Gallery Red'.
Paul Massey37/44In this Georgian house in London, Ben Pentreath contrasted moody walls (painted in ‘Bromine’ by Emente) with some Roman blinds in ‘Shutter Stripe’ linen in green by Nicky Haslam Design.
Luke White38/44Interior designer Mike Fisher turned the stables of his early 18th-century Grade I-listed manor house into a liveable guest space. The tongue-and-groove walls in the living room are painted in SC 233 by Papers and Paints.
The rug is Le Rocher by Pierre Frey. The coffee table is by Simon Orrell Designs in shagreen, and the two chairs facing the viewer are a bespoke Studio Indigo design made by Ridge Interiors. On the wall is a print of the Palace of Westminster. Beside the wall is a French antique chest of drawers from Matthew Upham Antiques.
Paul Massey39/44The sitting room of florist Paul Hawkins' Chelsea house is painted in Farrow & Ball's ‘Oval Room Blue’. Over the fireplace is a painting of Battersea Power Station by John Knapp-Fisher.
Michael Sinclair40/44Three different colours of tadelakt plaster were applied to the walls, floor and vanities in this en-suite bathroom. The upper portion of one wall is clad in swirling Portuguese tiles, which extend up to a chocolate-brown painted cornice.
See more of this Grade II Primrose Hill house by Maddux Creative.
Paul Massey41/44‘I had the idea of a glamorous Forties feeling in my head for the house,’ Joanna Plant says of this Victorian house in west London. As you enter, there is a wide opening to the kitchen/dining room on the right, with a whole wall of what appears to be dark gloss reddish-brown panelling. Joanna chose the strong colour to counterbalance the existing orange-hued floorboards.
The paint colour is ‘Georgetown’ by Paint & Paper Library.
Paul Massey42/44A cast-iron Aston Matthews ‘Epoca’ bath, its sides painted in Emente’s ‘Orpiment’, provides a colourful contrast with Robert Kime’s ‘Grille Sage’ wallpaper and muted panelling. Explore the rest of this Georgian house in London by Ben Pentreath.
Paul Massey43/44The main living area of this delightful Cotswolds home is painted in ‘Truffle’ by Paint & Paper Library, which tones with a grey striped curtain in a Claremont fabric. The central ottoman is upholstered in Vanderhurd’s ‘Flower Cut Out’ linen. To the right of the chimneypiece is an oil painting by the mid-century British artist Daphne Fedarb.
Alexander James44/44‘Chatsworth’ wallcovering by de Gournay is the backdrop for a Philip Naviasky portrait, which hangs above the ‘Russborough’ chimneypiece from Jamb.
The George IV-style glazed bookcases were a Christie’s find. Two Howard & Sons armchairs, one in Jane Churchill’s ‘Asta’ in hot pink and the other in Zoffany’s ‘Curzon’ velvet in duck egg, face each other across a coffee table with a 19th-century specimen marble top.
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