NEW ‘Vintage’ Crown paints

Today, Crown has launched a new paint range called Vintage, in association with Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway. It’s a collection of 30 matt emulsions and will be sold in Homebase later this month (for £22.99 per 2.5l) coinciding neatly with the upcoming Vintage at Goodwood (well, actually it’s now at Southbank, London, cough) festival and the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. The colours are ‘inspired by music, fashion, film, art and design from the 1940s to the 1980s’ – I like their retro, groovy names such as ‘Chelsea Girl’ and ‘Free Love’, maan.

Here’s the 1970s-inspired ‘Bell Bottoms’ orange shade…and the 80s-tastic ‘Shoulder Pad Purple’ colour:

And, just for fun, here are Gerardine and Wayne (holding daffodils, of course) in what appears to be Paddington Bear’s house. – Ellie

Fired Earth: Mid-Century Colours

A positively positive paint palette – these optimistic new colours are inspired by the 1951 Festival of Britain and have been launched by Kevin McCloud at Fired Earth just in time for the 60th anniversary of that event (this May)…

This chic ‘Mid-Century Colours’ range contains colours such as ‘South Bank’, ‘Festival Orange’ and ‘Skylon Grey’ – it’s a jolly retro palette with a very post-war British feel. I like ‘Race Yellow’ best. Check out the May issue of Ideal Home (out in April) for more Festival of Britain buys, including wallpaper from Mini Moderns and silk cushions from RE. – Ellie