Tacina Smith is the paint whisperer.
Snicker at this title all you may, but the truth is she’s damn near a fairy godmother when it comes to waving a wand and giving your home a whole new look without doing a whole lot – other than a few licks of paint…
After Tacina: Farrow & Ball's Borrowed Light
A wall-colour alchemist: that too may sound bold, but trust us, this local paint purveyor’s genius lies in inspiring you to choose the right Farrow & Ball paint colour.
Believe me, as someone who has, thanks to Tacina’s services, just transformed a very blah beige house (below, right) into one that has a pretty pale-blue Borrowed Light-coloured hallway (left), we feel as though our house has had a whole new refurb. For the cost of a few pots of paint.
‘People really worry about colour choice and getting it wrong can be expensive,’ says Tacina. ‘Always use a colour chart and buy tester pots – and make sure you coat a decent-sized area, not just a little patch of wall.’
Before Tacina: dodgy duo-toned brown
Pop down to Courtyard Studios at the Saga Centre and chat to Tacina in person. Plunder her paint nous and hey presto! you’re sure to have a happier home faster than you can say ‘Ooh, it’s almost dry!’
Meanwhile, here are Tacina’s top new colours for Spring to inspire you…
Oxford Stone ‘As in – yes, an Oxfordshire village – great for a warm, homely interior.’
Charlotte’s Lock ‘The most dramatic new colour very contemporary though inspired by the 1950s mix it up with Downpipe.
Manor House Gray ‘This one has 18th-century origins – fab with Cinders Rose or any red-toned scheme.’
Mizzle ‘Think West Country evening mist – a fantastic one to bounce the light around a room.’
Dovetale ‘A brilliantly versatile colour perfect for a loft or an English country drawing room.’
Calluna ‘The splendour of Scottish heather but whiter.’
Cabbage White ‘A deliciously feminine white with greeny-blue undertones.’
Brassica ‘Without a doubt my favourite. A proper purple – as in red cabbage.’
Plummett ‘A high-drama Gothic colour. Very feminine and counterintuitively grey is the most cheerful colour to paint your walls.
Tacina’s interior design trends for Spring:
- Team white skirting boards and coloured walls with darker skirting boards and lighter walls – or everything the same colour including woodwork.
- Create light and space by painting the largest wall or the one opposite the source of light a paler shade.
Tacina offers a great out-of-the-box service. She can measure-up the rooms you want painting; transforming a child’s room into a teen’s. Plus you can just start by painting a wall and then take it in stages. The paint whisperer herself will also be on hand at Kensal Flea on Saturday 19 March (right), armed with colour charts and ready to answer any colour-choosing queries you can conjure up.
Eulabee‘s Liza Campbell is another fan of this beloved former proprietor of Smith’s in Kensal Rise, which you may recall from its fab children’s gifts, original art and vintage clothes next to the Island pub.
‘When Farrow & Ball granted her a concession to stock their paint, she moved across the road to Eulabee, which became an incredibly popular destination shop that had room to sell vintage china, jewellery and young designer clothes and it featured in Vogue, Evening Standard and The Telegraph and celebrities like Alan Carr and Billy Piper found their way there. Tacina is now concentrating her prodigious energies on showing how to make their houses feel completely new on a shoe-string. Smith moved her shop moved into a more hands-on atelier space,’ says Liz.
‘Customers call her the paint whisperer, waving her magic wand in the form of design hints and a paintbrush. She is an unstoppably generous person who dispenses far more helpful advice than she ever charges for and happily sharing her contacts.’
As Tacina puts it:
‘There are no hard and fast rules,’ says Smith, ‘wallpaper the ceiling if you want to. My business is to come round and see how problem areas can be reinvented, or at least made to recede and how the individual merits of each can be brought to the fore and made to gleam.’
Tacina Smith, Courtyard Studios at the Saga Centre 326 Kensal Road, London W10 5 BZ; (07941 225059; Facebook: Tacina Smith.
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