Inside-Out Garden Design

On Saturday morning a little book arrived in the post: 101 Essential Tips Planning a Small Garden, with John Brookes as contributing editor. I ordered a used copy from here for not a lot of money. One feature that many will appreciate is that it is quite short; you can read it cover to cover in an hour or so. I got through the first 4 tips this morning before inspiration prompted me to drastic action.

Tip 1, can't remember... Tip 2 tickled me as it suggests you disguise your 'ugly views' (my fences! how did Brookes know?). Tip 3 counsels plan plan plan. Tip 4, Eureka! Subtitled 'Inside-Out Gardening', Brookes advises you analyse your interior design and interpret that style outdoors, harmonising the colour in your house and garden. So, in the name of 'Inside-Out Gardening', I decided to paint my bathtub matt black.

Brookes suggests that on some subconscious level this should 'extend the link' between my indoor and outdoor spaces. I hadn't really noticed before but there are plenty of black bits in my home, including the front door and the Edwardian tile path that leads from gate into house proper. Even my doll house has a black door.

This ties in well with February's edition of The English Garden, which explores three city gardens, including one in Muswell Hill. Having read their testimonials, its seems incumbent on anyone in possession of outside space in a city to consider it another room, and shame on you if you don't. Painting my bathtub may not seem like the first step towards achieving the garden of my dreams, but certainly worth while committing to something small before purchasing gallons of paint for the fences.

And I think it works. Here's what I did: I painted the bathtub with some left over Farrow & Ball dead flat pitch black oil paint, and then, because the walls were looking drab, gave them a lift with a coat of Farrow & Ball's Clunch (col. 2009) in a flat emulsion - it is quite possibly a fad, but for now I feel the same way about shiny paint surfaces as I do glossy leaves. I used a sponge to apply paint to tub and shall shortly be investing in some antiqued mirrors to pick up the theme.

On the subject of F&B paints, I am quite sad that they have discontinued their oil based range, but still like that their colours are all historically rooted. Sometimes, if I am stuck between a few, the history bit can sway my choice (I always did love a good story). Having said that, the story of Clunch isn't quite so riveting. It goes like this: 'Neutral. As in the chalk stone buildings used in East Anglia. A very versatile off-white'.

Even though all their paints are now water-based, Farrow & Ball make it very clear on their website that their new generation paints can be applied to surfaces painted previously in oil based paint, providing they have been dry for at least two weeks.Bravo F&B. Bravo.