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Our expert Celia Rufey answers
your interior design questions
and decorating dilemmas

profile Celia Rufey has been
the Homes & Gardens decorating
expert for more than 30 years.
She has a wealth of interiors
knowledge and has also designed
her own range of fabrics.

WHAT SORT OF UNDERLAY WILL
KEEP DHURRIES IN PLACE? I’ve
previously laid wool pile rugs on my
oak foor, but have seen a pair of
geometric dhurries that I like. They
are thinner and I don’t want to have
to constantly reposition them. Which
type of underlay will ensure they
don’t move? MT, Glasgow.

Foxi Super Plus will make sure your dhurries
stay put. This 5mm thick underlay is slightly
sticky on both sides and was described to me
as being like a Post-it note, sticking where it’s
placed without leaving a residue on the foor or
rug when it’s moved. One side of the underlay
is polyester and the other is a thin foam. When
using it under a rug on a wood, stone or tiled
foor, position with the printed foam side face
down. On carpet, do the reverse and lay with
the printed side up. Foxi Super Plus comes
in four widths up to 185cm wide and pieces
can be laid side by side under a larger rug to WHICH PAINT COLOURS LOOK BEST ON THE WALLS
match its dimensions. Manufactured in France, OF A NORTH-FACING ROOM? The sitting room and main
it costs around £12sq m and is distributed bedroom in my Victorian terraced house are north facing.
in the UK by P&R Ratcliffe, 01282 421026, I’m drawn to greys, blues and blue-greens for walls. Will the
foxirugtamer.co.uk, which will quote stockists. rooms seem cold if painted in these shades? TW, London N2.

Warm greys will have umber or ochre pigment in them and though the
tints may seem close to taupe on a shade card, when refecting a cool
northerly light they will read as grey on the walls. This is the case with
InsIder’s tIp Elephant’s Breath, says Joa Studholme at Farrow & Ball, 01202 876141,
farrow-ball.com, and also with Slate IV, says Louisa Mahony at Paint
“In contemporary rooms, picture & Paper Library, 020 7823 7755, paint-library.co.uk. Zoffany, 0844 543
4748, zofany.com, includes a clutch of greys in its paint collection and
hanging is currently about scale and Zoffany’s Peter Gomez points to Silver, Half Silver and Quarter Silver
(above) as options with the requisite warmth. You could also try Little Owl,
statement. Choosing metre-square a new tint from Fired Earth, 0845 366 0400, fredearth.com. Steer clear
prints makes a big impact.” of pure blues that lack warmth, but try those in which blue is warmed with
ochre taking them towards green. These include Pale Powder by Farrow
Martin trowbridge, 020 7371 8733, trowbridgegallery.com. & Ball, Blanket from Paint & Paper Library and Half La Seine at Zoffany. e

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