Parham House

Parham is one of the country’s finest Elizabethan Houses. Originally owned by the Monastery of Westminster; the estate was granted to Robert Palmer by King Henry VIII in 1540. Parham was sold to Thomas Bishopp in 1601; his decedents residing on the estate for over 300 years, until 1922 when the estate was purchased by the Hon. Clive Pearson.

The Pearson family found the house in a dilapidated state of repair; employing the architect Victor Heal to carry out a major renovation and conservation of the building during the 1920s and 30s.

Campbell Smith & Co were commissioned to undertake consultancy and specialist redecoration of the Saloon, Green Room and Green Ante Room at Parham.

Remaining sensitive to traditional methods and materials, the Campbell Smith & Co specialist decorations team undertook redecoration to the Saloon using Little Greene flat oil eggshell to the walls and Rose of Jericho soft distemper to the ceiling; the joinery mouldings were oil-gilded using 23.5 ct gold leaf.

The Green room walls were redecorated with Rose of Jericho permeable matt emulsion and the ceiling in soft distemper; joinery including shutters and fireplace were undertaken in flat oil. The Green Ante room was redecorated in a three-tone green scheme.

Taking inspiration from the room’s previous colour palettes and painting technique, the final colour combined the vibrant green shown in a 19th century painting, which can be seen in the corridor outside the Green Room, with the eau-de-nil colour found underneath the ‘dragged’ finish used in the room’s 1980s refurbishment.