I’m slap bang in the middle of writing my next book on colour. Long intense days at the desk with neck ache, back ache, hand ache but no matter it is a subject I am obsessed about. Why? Well colour is the most transformative thing you can EVER do to your space and it happens to be the cheapest! Honestly, colours change your life.
Colour can inspire, tantalize, intrigue, soothe, heal and make us feel good. Which is why I am always so surprised by how many bland rooms there are out there. What is that about? I know it takes confidence but once you’ve actually done it you look back and can’t understand what all the dithering was about. No time like the present to inject some colour I say. Autumn is here, days are getting shorter and what better way to feel cosy than by applying some darker notes?
Here’s my low down of some of the coolest hues from my paint range. These are my personal faves – they’re all (obviously) inky, swampy and super sludgy, like the kind of hues you would find at the bottom of the lake. Pastel lovers need not read on!
RIVINGTON BLUE
Blue is a super relaxing hue, it soothes, calms and gently, quietly does it’s job without competing for attention. It casts a tranquil, gentle Zen-like glow in any room. It’s a hue that softly gathers you in and although it’s super popular everywhere, I would say it’s particularly perfect for bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms and bathrooms. Anywhere you want to unravel and chill a little.
MULBERRY RED
We can’t just have the cold hues, much as I love them. I need a bit of warmth in my pad’s colour palette, always. I’ve painted my hallway out in this bruised berry red-ish black-ish hue is my hallway (Mulberry Red) and I am obsessed with it. So obsessed that I found a faux pony skin to match it, and used it to cover a wall in my studio. I’m now thinking of painting the top floor out in it!
MADISON GREY
God, I love Madison! There is something so healing about this hue, it nourishes, clears your head and inspires. It’s one of those hues as odd as this sounds that makes me feel like I can do anything. Whether that is producing my own product range, writing a new book or simply pottering around the lower ground floor lighting fires and candles and prepping supper. I could swim in this hue. It’s a grey with a lot of green in it, so it works beautifully in our lower ground floor as the outside is such an integral part of the inside with double height glass doors. It’s like I brought nature back inside.
HUDSON BLACK
Black scares a lot of people I know but this is what it does for me. It makes my interiors look more glam and sophisticated, and it also gives them an edge. It’s a soft hue, and as odd as this may sound, it feels quite healing. I feel like sometimes we work too hard G and I and yet this is the room I want to come home too after a crazy day. I can sit in my wingback chair and rest . It has medicinal, calming qualities – it energizes and relaxes me at the same time, which is pretty clever considering.
The biggest tip I can give you about colour when you are trying to figure out what to choose is nail the mood or atmosphere you want to create first. Do that, and then figuring out your colour palette gets so much easier. At least that is what I do.