Shades of Difference: five homes with prismatic palettes for sale

Why, in a country renowned for being fifty shades of grey most of the time, haven’t we all smothered our walls with the colours we rejoice at? There are lessons to be learned, we feel, from these five homes on the market, illuminated from within by their brilliant colour choices that bring joy all year round.

Hiham Green, Winchelsea, East Sussex

Situated on a peaceful lane within the Winchelsea Conservation Area in East Sussex is this three-bedroom house, which sports a spectrum of uplifting colours and accents. Our favourite detail might just be the pastel-pink walls that lift the living area, a room whose character is further enhance by its weathered floorboards, exposed timber beans and original pine joinery. The cast-iron fireplace in here is framed by floral-motif tiles, which also get our approval – as does one of the bedrooms, painted in a zingy yellow that pairs brilliantly with the royal blue and turquoise of the bathroom.

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Bushey Hill Road II, London SE5

This four-bedroom house sits on the border of Camberwell and Peckham. As its name suggests, there’s no shortage of greenery on the street – and the same goes for the grounds, which feature an established climbing jasmine, a tidy lawn and mature shrubs. Conscious of their colour wheel, the current owners have complemented their lush exterior views with pink carpets and other colourful details (spot the translucent orange lampshade) in their living and dining areas, radiant in the light that pours in through the dual-aspect windows at both the front and rear. Upstairs, meanwhile, burnt-orange flooring means this house feels warm even on the gloomiest of winter days.

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Dockyard Terrace, Sheerness, Kent

This exceptional Grade II*-listed Georgian house can be found in the Heritage Quarter of Sheerness Dockyard on the Isle of Sheppey. Celebrated colour specialist Patrick Baty of Papers and Paints (consultant to many of the country’s most important historic homes) informed the internal colour scheme, which features pistachio green, sunny yellow, dusty pink and – our favourite – steel blue, all of which are complemented by an abundance of natural light: a glass roof lantern is set above the interior porch, and a set wedding doors below a decorative roundhead fanlight open to the main hallway that runs through the middle of the plan.

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Westgate Bay Avenue, Westgate-on-Sea, Kent

The living spaces of this gorgeous five-bedroom house within the Westgate-on-Sea Conservation Area have been decorated with a joyful palette of elevating blues and greens that draw from local farmland and the nearby Blue Flag beaches at St Mildred’s Bay and Minnis Bay. In the dining room, for instance, the walls, moulded cornicing and picture rail are painted in Farrow & Ball ‘Parma Gray’ (confusingly, very much a blue), while in the adjacent living room, an original fireplace complete with carved jambs and a corniced overmantel is painted in the company’s ‘Pea Green’. It’s the perfect shade to complement to the bottle-coloured tiled hearth and ‘Invisible Green’ walls (this time, an Edward Bulmer number). A canted bay window allows light to filter through and soak the space in a wonderful watery light. And all that before you’ve seen the far-from-mellow yellow kitchen…

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Underhill Road, London SE22

This handsome semi-detached house, set back from Dulwich’s wonderfully green Underhill Road, is an exquisite example of how rich, more dramatic colours can be just as spirit-lifting as brighter ones. The hall, painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Picture Gallery Red’, set off by original cornicing overhead and stained flooring underfoot, stands as case in point.

Darkness is at its best when balanced with light, however, as the double reception rooms here prove: the deep green and terracotta finishes are offset wonderfully by the natural light let in by the vast bay window at the front. Again, in the kitchen, where bespoke cabinetry is finished in inky black and fitted with glossy quartz countertops, two broad French doors, skylights and pale-pink walls overhead keep the room feeling light and welcoming.

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