As previously mentioned, it has taken SO LONG to build our house that I have already got bored of my original ideas for our bedroom decor and have moved onto something new. Decorating a home is an organic process that keeps on evolving, and I think it’s OK to change your mind if something doesn’t look right (as long it’s not the flooring or the kitchen work top in our case lol!)
I think designing a space is just like doing a jigsaw puzzle. You build up a picture, and to help you do this you need to find the ‘corner pieces’. There will usually be the things you can’t change in a room, or that will be there for ever such as the flooring. You may also have pieces of furniture you wish to include, or a painting that you love. These items can offer clues for the direction of colour you might take. Another way to find the ‘corner piece’ is to work from the colours of the fabric you will be using on curtains, wallpaper, or any pattern in the room.. You can then pick your colour scheme from these. The other thing to bear in mind is that proportions of colour play a huge part. There is the 60/30/10 principle. I have actually only just come across this rule! But I think it is something that you may do instinctively – so you use the main colour for 60%, a complementary shade for 30% and then a pop for 10%.
It was niggling me that as the house is pretty small the colours need to flow through all the rooms, and in my previous scheme the blue & yellow, however lovely, was introducing something completely new.
In the main room I have painted the walls with this plaster pink Bauerwerk textured paint, and I have my amazing end grain flooring in a neutral wood and my mad tiles in the bathroom, which although heavily patterned are mainly quite neutral colours. So these all formed my jigsaw ‘corners’. I took the colours from all of these and have recoloured my Serendipity mural with this palette, but kept them very soft so the bedroom remains calm.
The Serendipity mural in my new palette - an unusual choice for me!
I am trying various shades of pale yellowish greens for the fitted cupboard doors (the decorator on the site is not happy about all of these changes). On seeing new colour patches on the doors, he made me laugh as he genuinely asked why I didn’t just use up some of the left over random paint we have knocking around.. I mean AS IF?! Does he not know me at all by now?
I think I have decided to embrace the madness and paper all three walls – yikes.
Rue Jacquard in Shell, £38 p/m
I haven’t quite decided which fabric I will use in the window but this shell pink Rue jacquard is one of my favourite fabrics in the collection and is certainly a contender. I would quite like a kimono made out of it as well for a truly eccentric match your outfit to your blinds look.
Get the look
Clockwise: Serendipity bed linen set in Stone, from £65. Wild Chervil fabric in Terracotta, £38 p/m. Summer Border wallpaper in Shell, £80/roll. Serendipity cotton cushion in Clay, £50.
