The bright side of life

WHY LIMIT THINGS TO BLACK OR WHITE OR GREY? THESE WOMEN LIVE THEIR LIVES IN FULL COLOUR – AND BELIEVE THAT THERE’S JOY TO BE FOUND IN EVEN THE TINIEST DAB OF A VIBRANT TONE

• In the garden

“Even if you’ve only got a tiny space next to your front door, you’ve got room for a sweet pea”

As a cut flower gardener, Gemma Cutler creates splashes of invigorating colour in spaces of all shapes and sizes

Whether it’s a tiny patch of bluebells on a woodland walk or a sweeping bed of sunshine yellow tulips in a neighbour’s front garden, nature’s glorious palette has the power to lift our spirits.

And you don’t need a vast patch of land or double-fronted greenhouse to create a splash of colour of your very own, insists Gemma Cutler: “Even if you’ve only got a tiny space next to your front door, you’ve got room for a sweet pea.”

Always drawn to bright tones, dyeing her hair pillar box red and dressing in vibrant fabrics, Gemma found an outlet for her passion for colour when she became a cut flower gardener: “Colour evokes joy and everybody has a connection to it. We should all try to bring it into our world and make it a more joyful place,” she believes.

She is spending spring creating a portable cutting garden in crates on the long, thin lawn of her Victorian terrace from plants that were, until recently, grown on a patch of land she had borrowed from a nearby garden centre. There, Gemma created a huge ‘pizza-like’ bed, divided into slices and each allocated a different colour of blooms. From this “painter’s palette”, she would select combinations to create gorgeous bouquets for the customers of her cut flower business.

“I love that you get a little piece of the garden inside your home, which is just joyful, but also I care about the sustainability side of things. So many plants and flowers are imported and dunked in chemicals and wrapped in plastic, and often supermarkets sell them for a loss,” she says. “It seems so bonkers when we’ve got so many wonderful, seasonal British flowers to celebrate.”

Hardy annuals are a great option for beginners because they are so easy to grow – simply scatter their seeds on a patch of earth. For three seasons of value, choose godetia with bright pink trumpets in the summer and autumnal red seed pods, giving way to seed heads in the winter. Nigella and calendula both self-sow, giving you flowers year after year with little work, and they come in a wide range of hues.

Gemma recommends “taking time to consider what makes you happy. What colours do you have in your home? Get some paint swatches from your local

DIY store and start putting them together and just see what makes your heart sing.” @colourwheelgarden

• At home

Thanks to her unusual perception of colour, Laura Hall helps others to transform their homes into personality-filled spaces

Numbers and words look different to interior designer Laura Hall’s brain. When she thinks of the digit three, her mind is filled with a browny, pinky red. Seven is green, nine is midnight blue. Zero is a barely-there silver, almost translucent.

“It’s the source of my powers,” she says of her synesthesia, a phenomenon where the brain crosses your senses so that you might experience sounds as a temperature change or, in Laura’s case, see colours when certain words are spoken or read.

It is this different way of interpreting the world that she credits for her ability to place colours together by instinct. While many of us might want to study a colour wheel or read up on colour theory while considering what shades to use in our home, she just steps inside a room and her mind fills with exactly what tone to use where.

“The world is brighter and happier in

colour,” says Laura, whose favourites are pink and green. “Psychologically it has such a profound effect on us and how we experience the world. I think the main reason people don’t want to use it in their homes is because they don’t know how or they’re scared. I hope that I do something to counteract that.”

Every room in Laura’s own home – a renovated 1930s ex-council house built in a quirky hexagonal shape – is decorated in a different palette. Huge scarlet blooms burst out of their buds on a verdant floral freeze engulfing a wall of the family living room. In the kitchen, soft pink tiles glow in the spring morning light against the dark blue units, and a mid-century dresser, a second-hand find that Laura painted in citrus green with neon pink handles, is a treasure box of vintage curios she discovered in charity shops and at car boot sales.

While not everyone has Laura’s natural knack for colour, there are simple ways to introduce a wider range of shades into our homes. She recommends starting small, with accessories: “Take some cushions or picture frames or some little vases or candles and use them in a space to get a sense of which colours you like,” she advises. “I love painting my woodwork different colours, skirting boards or the edge of interior doors, little things that make a different but aren’t obtrusive.

“You have to find what works for you and not worry about what other people think. If you walk into your home and it sparks joy in your heart, that is all that matters.” @thehexagonalhouse

“You have to find out what works for you and not worry about what other people think”

“If it makes me smile then that’s pretty much it. If you like it, just get it and put it on!”

• In the wardrobe

Vintage clothing collector Sally Ayres believes everyone would benefit from the moodboosting benefits of wearing colourful clothing

“You can’t be unhappy if you’re wearing a rainbow dress,” is Sally Ayres’ philosophy. “No matter how you’re feeling, if you open your wardrobe and it’s full of colour it can really turn your mood around.”

She first fell for colour as a little girl, transfixed by the sight of a rainbow against a crisp, blue sky, and decided to start selling vintage clothes 14 years ago when browsing a second-hand market with her mum, who told her: “You could do this.”

With its pink and purple frontage, her Liverpool boutique, Freida Mo’s, is as colourful on the outside as it is within, where rails of vintage dresses, tops and jackets shimmer on their hangers. Sally’s life is like “a big treasure hunt” as she searches for unique buys in charity shops and flea markets, also picking up garments on holidays abroad to squeeze into her three wardrobes at home or the shipping containers owned by her business.

How does she know what to look for?

“If it makes me smile, that’s pretty much it. Everyone’s got their own style so I think if you like it, just get it and put it on.”

Her own favourites shades to wear are blue and pink, but she also loves paler tones that were popular in the early-20th century, among them a “really exquisite mustard and a light sort of dusty tangerine”.

“I like how colours inspire different moods. If you’re having a particularly stressful day and you see shades of blue light or look at the sky, it’s easy to sort of drift away and dream. Sometimes I wear a colour to put me in a particular mood or if I’m wearing a certain colour it can change my mood without me even attempting to.”

While switching a wardrobe from navy and black into vivid pink or teal may seem daunting, Sally suggests adding touches of colour like a headband or coat over a neutral outfit, maybe finding something secondhand or dyeing one yourself.

“Everyone can wear every colour, it’s just finding the right shade. I’ve got blonde hair, quite pale skin and blue eyes so I suit a bold spectrum of colours. But other people with darker hair might prefer pastels or jewel colours like an emerald or deep cerise pink.

“Everyone is beautiful in their own right so they should be bold and express that they know they belong in this world.” @freidamos