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How it reads
Borrowed Light No. 235 is, in Farrow & Ball's words, a wonderfully pale blue evoking the colour of summer skies, named after the delicate light that cascades through small windows and fanlights.
Farrow & Ball says it works as well in a room deprived of light as in an airy sunroom, and suggests it for children's bedrooms, contrasted with Stiffkey Blue on furniture or woodwork. Its complementary white is Wevet.
What Borrowed Light is
Borrowed Light is a pale blue that Farrow & Ball says evokes the colour of summer skies. It is named after the delicate light that cascades through small windows and fanlights.
Designer Meg Lonergan, in Homes & Gardens, puts it neatly: it is a pale blue but not a baby blue. Laura Stephens, in the same piece, notes a slightly chalky, almost silvery quality.
How it behaves in light
Farrow & Ball says it works as well in a room deprived of light as it does in an airy sunroom. Phoebe Hollond of Studio Hollond, in Homes & Gardens, says its tone shifts beautifully throughout the day.
Compared with Farrow & Ball Light Blue, colour writer Kaitlin Madden finds Borrowed Light much brighter and more of a true pale blue.
Where to use it
In the Studio Nauleau bedrooms on this page, photographed by Michael Clifford, it sits behind navy-and-white quilted bedding, roman blinds and built-in bookshelves.
Farrow & Ball suggests it for children's bedrooms, and Laura Stephens says it feels layered rather than too pretty or sugary, so it works for grown-up rooms too.
What it sits next to
Farrow & Ball names Wevet No. 273 as its complementary white and suggests contrasting it with Stiffkey Blue on furniture or woodwork. The brand specifies White & Light Tones primer.
On this site, compare it with Light Blue, a greyer, greener blue, and Kittiwake, a deeper mid blue.
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