Why she’s swapping bright hues for calming neutrals
Our columnist explains how the past year convinced her to swap her love of brights for something more serene
When I first decorated our London home, I went for quite a bold palette of colours. I wanted my living room to be dark green, having optimistic visions of myself sat snugly by the fire reading piles of books. The bedroom walls, meanwhile, were painted dark blue, inspired by a room in Ocean House, a beautiful hotel in Rhode Island that I once had a memorable stay in.
These lovely, cosy colours suited me for a while… and then along came lockdown. Now, after weeks and months of staring at the same four walls day after day, I’ve realised I actually want to be spending my time in lighter, brighter rooms. I can’t be the only person to have spent the past year, thinking, ‘Okay, what can I change?’
Top of my to-do list was a rethink of the sitting room. Dark green has been replaced by ‘Fawn’, a colour from Farrow & Ball’s extensive archive. The brand’s back catalogue is an amazing resource that anyone can access – you just have to email them and ask for the archive colour list. By choosing off-menu as it were, it now feels like I’ve got this secret vintage paint shade that isn’t readily available to anyone else. And, thanks to this delicate new facelift, it already feels a lot calmer in this room, which is exactly what is needed right now.
Not one to step entirely away from the bright side though, I’ve added a blue sofa from Loaf, which I absolutely love, and introduced more punch with cushions and throws – including two new colourblocked favourites from Victoria Beckham at Home. It’s an added benefit that toning down the walls means it’s now much easier to mix and match furniture. No longer concerned with fitting items around strong paint colours, I’m looking forward to playing with different coffee table books and accents.
In the bedroom, meanwhile, the blue I’d been inspired to use after a few nights in that hotel room had begun to feel a bit much. Wanting to spread some peacefulness in this space, too, I have replaced it with another Farrow & Ball colour – this time the pale taupe of ‘Dimity’. It’s a shade I’ve been fond of for a while (I almost used it in the kitchen), but I’m so glad I waited as this is the perfect place for it, offset by the darker ‘Tanner’s Brown’ on the window frames.
Overall, I’ve gone from wanting to be brave with my colour choices to realising that living with calmer tones is just much more serene. It’s really a case of discovering the difference between Instagram and reality. It’s one thing to fill your home with bold hues that look great on your grid – I adore everything the always-colourful Luke Edward Hall does, for instance – but actually living with that sort of palette can feel quite overpowering and, at times, overwhelming.
Perhaps it’s indicative of the emotionally fraught roller-coaster ride we’re all living through, but for now I’m very happy to save the brave colours for my mood boards and rekindle my relationship with neutrals. See Stockists page for details of all the stores mentioned
‘I’VE REALISED I WANT TO BE SPENDING MY TIME IN LIGHTER, BRIGHTER ROOMS’