Bright and beautiful: seven colourful homes to while away the winter days
As daylight dwindles, we turn to the inside of our homes for brightness. Gathered here are seven enveloping homes drenched in confident colours that will carry you through the shift in seasons. Some reflect the all-too-brief autumn displays that are edging into view, others cling on to the greens of seasons past. All are guaranteed to lift the spirits as dusk draws ever closer ...
- Writer
- Sophie Sims
Highshore Road, London SE15
Near enough the full colour spectrum spreads through this special two-bedroom apartment in Peckham’s Holly Grove Conservation Area: a forest green gate and windows on the frontage guide towards the powder blue-painted front door, which in turn gives way to the yellows, blues and pinks that feature in a series of sequentially arranged living and sleeping spaces. Verdure returns in the south-facing shared courtyard garden, which, accessed via second fittingly forest-painted door from the kitchen, has plenty of room for the green-thumbed to conveniently place pots of cooking herbs.
Mare Street, London E8
The ‘pop of colour’ in action, this early 19th-century townhouse in Hackney has used colour at brilliantly opportune moments: a green ceiling here, or a stroke of mustard there has brought a contemporary spin to its hearty, historic bones. On the ground floor, the dining room has been drenched in cherry red to create a sumptuous and bold space that perhaps even the primmest of Georgians might have found a little delight in.
Slade Hooton Hall, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
While in keeping with the Grade II*-listed house’s proud 17th-century origins, colour here is, we’d argue, an essential part of the house’s overarching experience. There is a sensory appeal to the ornamental paper-covered and/or sage-painted walls, one that only enhances its grand, stately atmosphere. But while there is a certain distinction to the house’s use of refined colour, there is also a playful edge: think, cherry red Aga and aquamarine-tiled indoor pool.
Brixton Road, London SW9
Colour is deftly woven through Brixton Road, a brilliant Georgian villa set behind a symmetrical front garden. The greens that greet on arrival are pulled through to its interior: pine pops travel across the dining room into the kitchen, while a teal study is a spot ripe for peaceful home-working. A contrasting yellow stroke snakes up the staircases, amplifying the orange and blue of the original stained-glass window that draws in coloured shafts light part the way up its ascent.
Vale Square II, Ramsgate, Kent
A sage green profile sets Vale Square II aside from its brick neighbours. Its love of colour is immediately apparent on entry, with each of its rooms the subject of a clever, often subtle, painterly hand. In fact, it achieves almost every shade of an admittedly more muted rendition of the rainbow across its four storeys: an aptly soothing and gentle palette that harmonises perfectly with its serene coastal light.
Harmas, Cucklington, Somerset
Colour has been used in a quintessentially cottagey way in Harmas, an early 19th-century home close to the edge of the undulating Cranborne Chase National Landscape. Autumnal tones envelope the interiors: warming rust in the cosy living room; egg-yolk yellow in the upstairs bathroom. The hues that adorn the house seem to be taken directly from the expansive surrounding garden which, even in the rainier weather, can be enjoyed from almost every window.
Pant y Ffynon, Llanfynydd, Carmarthenshire
There are few houses that use colour as confidently or completely as Pant Y Ffynon, whose current owner, designer Hilton Marlton, has dressed the house in a riotous roster of rich colours, from duck egg blue to Granny Smith green and to that iconic sunshine ochre used to wash the house’s textured façade. We’d hedge a bet that, whatever the season, this house wouldn’t fail to brighten any mood.
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