close

10 Beautiful Rooms

Hello and Happy Monday (or whatever day you are reading this). Are you ready for a tour of 10 Beautiful Rooms. I wanted to start with this gorgeous pale pink room by the rug designer Wendy Morrison as I have recently found the perfect shade of pink and am currently enjoying all things this shade.

image by wendy morrison
image by wendy morrison 

But I loved how these two images went together. The one above is restful and pale and calming and below it’s not a dissimilar colour scheme but it’s like the saturation has been dialled up to eleven. I love them both and while I have no idea of the layout of Wendy’s house I love the idea of having two rooms linked together and doing a similar thing with the decor so that they were linked but each had their own distinct look.

image by wendy morrison 
image by wendy morrison  

Moving away from the colour to a more restful space by Hilary Marconetto, who is part of the Interior Design Collective, which I have mentioned on these pages before. It’s hard to tell the exact colour of the walls from this image but that’s not really the point – it’s about inversion of the norm. Instead of using a colour on the walls and leaving the ceiling and radiator white, she has turned it round so the walls are neutral and the ceiling, radiator and mirror frame are dark and striking. It’s a simple trick, one that doesn’t require you to use bold colours if don’t want to and instantly creates more of an impact than the traditional way of decorating.

image by Hilary Marconetto, a member of the Interior Design Collective
image by Hilary Marconetto, a member of the Interior Design Collective

Staying with the work of the IDC and if you need a designer, this is an excellent place to start as they have members all over the country, is this gorgeous quite space by Joan Home.

image by joan home part of the interior design collective
image by joan home part of the interior design collective

The furniture is vintage G plan but look at what she has done with the pendant lights to make real feature of them. We have spoken before about draping lights from one part of the ceiling to another but by hanging them high on the wall rather than the ceiling, even the cables become part of the feature. It may not something that you wish to replicate but the point is that every detail has been thought about in this dining room and that even something which might, at first, appear to be an insignificant detail has been turned into something that has earned its place in this scheme.

And sticking with a monochrome colour palette that is warmed by elements of natural wood is the kitchen belonging to Kyla Magrath. Scroll down to see how a similiar scheme has been used to great effect in a few bathrooms.

kitchen by kyla magrath interiors
kitchen by kyla magrath interiors

Now I wanted to show you this bathroom, which belongs to Jo of Love Frankie, for the simple reason that it’s rented and while I know that rental houses can be tricky, Jo has really warmed up this black and white scheme by adding a couple of wonderful large – and crucially wooden – mirrors and a great picture on the wall.

I appreciate that as rental bathrooms go this isn’t a bad start but I shall take the opportunity to also tell you that not only is episode four of the podcast out on Thursday but that two weeks after that – in the fifth episode – Sophie and I will be discussing tips and tricks for rental homes, so make you are are subscribed so you don’t miss it.

black, white and wooden bathroom by@lovefrankie
black, white and wooden bathroom by @lovefrankie

Sticking with a similiar monochrome theme is this Ramsgate bathroom belonging to Wendy of Homeplaceonline and the key point to note here, aside from the glorious brass and marble, is the wooden cabinet for the basin. It warms up the whole room – both of these bathrooms are similar in colour if not in style – and brings character to the space. You are then free to add any colour towels you want and they will never clash.

bathroom by homeplaceonline
bathroom by Wendy of @homeplaceonline

This bathroom belongs to Pearl Lowe and is the complete opposite of the two above but is still basically a black and white scheme. Which just goes to show how you can interpret it in so many ways. This is also the same colour scheme as my downstairs loo, which is another reason I like it. It’s the lotus wallpaper from Farrow & Ball with Railings paint on the panelling below. This dramatic scheme is lightened by the white floorboards and ceiling  – both of which you could paint dark for dramatic impact -and, once again, you could add any towels you wish. I think burnt orange or pink would look great in here.

bathroom by pearl lowe

Finally, in this impromptu bathroom section is this from Vickie Nickolls, of Interior Therapy, a member of the Interior Design Collective. We have white floorboards in our bathroom and I was desperate to this coming out from the corner shower but The Mad Husband, felt he couldn’t cope with hexagonal tiles so we had square and created a much more conventional edge. But I still love this and one day, when I feel strong enough to do the bathroom again (never) I will show him this and he will agree with me. In the meantime, I shall just look and admire.

image by Vickie Nickolls, of Interior Therapy, a member of the Interior Design Collective

Last image of the day, and once again we end up with a bedroom for the late night scrollers – or the early Monday Morningers, who wish they were still in theirs – and this belongs to Malcom of Design Sixty Nine. Once again the floor mirrors the ceiling (as in Pearl’s bathroom above) which means that both choices looks deliberate and considered.

This was originally Malcolm’s spare room which he decorated as part of the one room challenge and then liked it so much he moved in. An entirely sensible decision I feel. And with that I shall leave you – until tomorrow when we shall be looking at alternative to the ubiquitous leopard print trend, which is so screamingly fashionable at the moment that even the diehard fans are having a wobble.

bedroom by Malcolm @Designsixtynine
Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

7 Comments

  1. Did I miss the “perfect shade of pink” reveal? Please share as I too would love to dabble in a bit of pink.

    1. In a south-facing room threadneedle by Mylands is very good as it’s slightly blue/grey and the warm yellow light warms it up. A more yellow pink would be completely peach in that light so you have to take that into account.

  2. The blue, warm-toned bedroom is beautiful – unfortunately I don’t think my husband would agree on this colour scheme.
    I adore the Lovefrankie bathroom especially the wooden mirrors please tell me where Jo bought them from?

  3. I love Malcolm’s bedroom, wanted to climb right in his bed. We Canadians would probably ditch the chest and wall sconces in favour of a simple bedside table with lamp, but the colours are perfect.

Comments are closed.