10 Beautiful Rooms

Can’t beat a bit of understand monochrome for a restful starting point which you can jazz up or calm down with your accent colours:

This weeks’ 10 Beautiful Rooms celebrate the understated. They are all location houses so if you’re a small (or large business) in need of a place for a photoshoot then the link under each image will take you to the property in question and, in the case of the room above and a little further down, a photographer who owns it and will shoot if for you.

These rooms are, for the most part a mix of light and dark. This is a great basis for any space as it’s easy to add in any colour you fancy. Imagine an orange velvet chair in the room above instead of the understated grey. Or just some coloured cushions.

Two navy blue kitchens here both of which I love. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that while green is a deeply fashionable colour and one that I also like, navy blue/black might be the longer lasting choice in a kitchen. It’s classic and enduring and I worry that a green one might feel in fashion and then out of fashion. Which is not to say we care about such things but it might it might date faster.

Mind you, given that white kitchens are perennially the most popular I’m not sure it matter two hoots what I think. Also I must declare an interest – my kitchen is blue/black – depending on the light – and I am currently bringing in plants in the form of lots of herbs. And let’s not forget – if you have wooden cupboards you can always repaint or spray them in the colour of your choice in a couple of years time.

Mind you, white is a classic for all that and it looks great as long as you bring in lots of texture to stop it looking bland and characterless. This vintage round table is perfect and books will always finish off a room perfectly. Didn’t someone once say a room without books is like a house without windows?

Here’s a white kitchen and the splashes of pale green are a case in point. As are the dark window frames which punctuate the space. Now this might be a little rustic for your style but take the key points and work those into whatever is your own look – so a dash of black, a splash of colour, lots of different textures and materials and some truly personal possessions whether it’s mugs or vases or vintage cupboard.

This room seems to be a perfect mix of black and white. After all, if you have a light room then embrace that and keep it light but the dark twisty mirror (great piece that), antique furniture and black lampshades really define it and give it character. Again, easy to change up – add curtains, or a rug, or some bright pink peonies to the table. It’s the perfect backdrop for whatever you want it to be.

And finally a kitchen that is a mix of rustic and industrial. The cladding has been place horizontally rather than vertically and there are lots of personal touches from the pictures on the walls to the vintage weighing scales and collections of pots on the shelves. Mind you, they had a great room to work with – look at that cornicing in the dining end.

And this is the hall. That’s quite a splendid staircase isn’t it. Great idea to paint it dark and make a real feature of it. These rooms speak for themselves in many ways but if there is a point to today’s rooms it is that if you aren’t sure what colours to go for then start with a monochrome palette and work from there adding in colour as you feel comfortable. And no, white doesn’t have to be your base colour, dark neutrals work just as well.

I hope you liked these rooms. I’ll see you tomorrow.