COLOUR YOUR WORLD
It seems fitting to me that we’re putting the finishing touches on our Colour Issue in the midst of yet another atmospheric river here in Vancouver. The view outside my home office window may be a little bit grey and bleak, but the homes we’re featuring in this issue are anything but. And on a day like today, the boost I’m getting from taking my final look through the magazine’s pages is proof positive of the uplifting effect of colour.
“A colourful space is the most amazing gift you can give yourself,” says designer Paul Lavoie (“Fun House,” page 37). “There are very few things in life that give you energy, and in a room that has the gift of colour, there’s always energy.” The home he designed features no less than a formerly traditional but now electric-blue office desk in one room, and gorgeous purple drapes in another. And he’s right: it’s absolutely energizing.
I think many of us experience some hesitancy in making a decision on colour in our own home spaces: Do I have to go all-in? Will the effect be distracting? But as Lavoie notes, smart use of bold colour means being able to have some quiet moments, too. “Doing colour properly also means having a space where you can get away from it,” he says.
If the view out your window is as muted and wintery as mine, I hope these pages give you some lift—and maybe even some inspiration to push past your doubts and amp up the colour. As Ben Leavitt of Plaidfox Studio notes in this issue (“Blue Crush,” page 33): “I always say, once you live with colour, you realize you can’t live without it. It just gives you so much happiness to live in a space that’s colourful.”
As my own cozy, colourful walls can attest, I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I’m already dreaming of all the bright colours I could update my bathroom with in 2022—atmospheric river be damned.