Thursday 21 November 2013

Eating Room Red


I have been getting it in the neck for my choice of colour for the woodwork in the ongoing restoration of the historic coaching inn, with one person describing it as 'the colour of an old whore's knickers'. I would have thought that they would have wanted this inside information to remain secret, but obviously not.

For the last 20 years, the woodwork has been a particularly ugly shade of shitty green, and quite a few people have tried to insist that it should stay like that, and just be freshened up a bit. There was no logic to in this choice of green, other than that it matched the colour of the letterhead of a local brewery, and one of it's draymen said that it was the colour which should be used.

Most people don't like change, but in this case I had to be issued a sheriff's badge to give me the authority to override the wishes of a few hundred others by insisting that the colour choice could only be made by one person, and that person was me. So there. (Sticks tongue out)

At a public meeting a few weeks afterwards, I justified this choice not only aesthetically, but also by saying that the paint was based precisely on an old Victorian recipe, so was historically correct - if that meant anything to anyone.

The day before yesterday, I was loitering outside smoking a fag, when I noticed a strip of paintwork, partially hidden by a down-pipe, which - for some reason - I never had before. Bugger me, it was EXACTLY the same shade of Victorian red as the one which has been applied just now. Not just a bit like it, but exactly like it.

About 150 years ago, the entire front was painted in this colour, so the objectors should consider themselves lucky!


26 comments:

  1. Excellent. You get the Frank and Joe Hardy award.

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    1. Of course not. They are intrepid young men who spot clews (that's for budgerigars!) and solve problems. To be totally fair, there is no problem as Tom is in charge. However, the 150 year old paint is a lovely clew to the historical accuracy of your restoration. Now I'm leaving the scene.

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    2. You have shingles to take care of, don't you? Ever have chicken-pox as a kid?

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    3. Yea, Vermont black. Have a peek...

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  2. That colour is known here as 'Sang de Boeuf' which is exactly that. When the great cathedrals were built, everyone gave what they could. The butchers gave bull's blood which was mixed with lime and used to paint just about everything. I can imagine the pong!

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    1. Yes, it's called ox-blood here too, but not this particular hue.

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  3. I have no idea what colour old whore's knickers are or were Tom, but all I can say is that when I first came to your site today I thought that photograph was a stick of thubarb!

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  4. I painted my bathroom that colour in a 1920's flat in London but they had changed the name to a more acceptable 'Dragon's Blood'. I'm the paint colour fascist in this house and I'm nodding with an air of smugness at your last sentence. I'm always right too in the world of decoration.

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  5. It just goes to show that smoking isn't all bad !!!! It is good to see that your not going for the ' Lichen ', ' French Gray ', ' Vert de Terre ' look that most do around Bath and The Cotswolds although, I succumbed to ' Bone ' this year when we had the outside of our house painted. Then again, pubs are a different kettle of fish. If I remember rightly, your pub is still a traditional hostelry so, ' Eating Room Red ' is a good choice, especially after your discovery. XXXX

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    1. I believe there is one tint called 'Elephant's Fart', but I may be mistaken.

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    2. You know darn well it's Elephants Breath !!! There's also Moles Breath if that takes your fancy ! I'd just LOVE the job of naming paint colours ! XXXX

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    3. Wimpsy Brown is the colour of a mouses fart.

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    4. I believe that Farrow and Ball do a colour called 'Skid Mark', but I may be confusing them with Fried Earth.

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    5. There's a small cake here called Nun's Farts.

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    6. Yes, I have eaten some (not breathed some).

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    7. How come John is not joining this discussion of farts … eh …. colors?

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    8. I wondered that, but he just commented that I commented on his without reply to the question in the comment. You work it out.

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  6. would we call it Ox blood now?

    I am a cream and white type of gal. I like it as a plain back ground for our objet d'art, that we have collect on our travels.

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  7. It's a lovely shade of red, both inside and out. As you've smoked countless fags outside, could you have perhaps noticed it on a subconscious level, so that swayed you?

    I do hope you post photos when all the interior painting is done, so we may oohhh and aaahhh.

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    1. I am not involved with the interior, just the outside. I will give you plenty to look at for that though. It is a good red, but there are factors (that I am not at liberty to explain right now) which prevented me from noticing this colour, and it wasn't just being pissed. Honest.

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  8. Want to see The Bell in the new colour - I love that red!
    As to colours: our house in Hildesheim is under monument protection, and when we wanted to renovate the facade, the monument conservator insisted on 'bottle green' for the timber framing. I said: "No, I want a certain red-brown". He: "No - I like green better." I told him it is not a question of like - either it is historic conservating or taste - and if it is taste, the one who pays decides. He went up and scratched the colours of - the ancient colour was: brown-red, as I thought. Haha - so he had to allow it.

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