Monday Inspiration: When the blues don’t make you blue

And welcome February – let’s hope by the end of this (short) month that things are looking up. Vaccination is proceeding and numbers are dropping and, what’s more, by the time the 28th rolls round those who have had their jabs should be on the way to being immune. So there are reasons to be cheerful. Which is why I was perplexed when I looked at the photos I had saved on Instagram this week.

design by Nicholas Obeid photo by Gieves Anderson found via Louisa Falkenberg of @whylessisnotmore

Now I don’t really do blue as some of you may have noticed. Green yes, pink and all variants thereof yes. Coming round to yellow. But blue? The only blue in this house is in the loft and that was because having found the perfect sofa bed – in Italy – and paying to ship it over and it only coming in grey or navy the colour for the loft was dictated. So the bathroom up there is painted in Hague Blue gloss with blue and bone tiles. And I do love it. But that is a separate space and it’s completely different from the rest of the house. It’s as if the red thread stopped at the bottom of the stairs on the way up. So you can imagine my perplexion (is that a word? It is now) when I realised that the last five images I saved on Instagram had a definite blue tint to them.

The bathroom at @yarn.home Photo by @cwphotographyuk found via @imperfectinteriors 

And I’m liking it. What about you? Of course we always worry that blue will be cold and yes it can be, but there are many ways to prevent that not least picking the right shade in the first place. We will be discussing the importance of knowing which way your rooms face and the effect that can have on the colours you pick on the next episode of the podcast (out on 11 February so do subscribe if you want to catch that).

Home of design duo @spencerandwedekind Photo @lucasallenphoto via @yarn.home

Certainly these blues are all of a similar chalky sort of shade with a dollop of grey thrown in so they aren’t too bright but you can see from the images how this particular version mixes well with a variety of other colours and how it particularly loves a bit of vintage wood.

In the image above the fish wallpaper wraps the room and if you have a corner bed then just look at that headboard for a good idea as a cosy reading corner at night. Below the paper is vibrant and full of different colours and the palest blue has been chosen for the woodwork and to link to the bathroom next door. This would have worked with the darker blue and also the oranges and red. In fact, the cream would been the least striking, most traditional option.

The Fife Arms in Braemar in the Scottish Highlands, designed by @russellsagestudio via @yarn.home

Finally, to the classic navy in this bathoom by SoJoJo Designs and there’s a bit of tongue and groove panelling (who saw last week’s post) some fabulous wallpaper (Fornasetti Frutto Proibito by Cole & Son) and, in a belt and braces approach to splashing some tiles too. And if you look at the marble-topped basin stand you can see that has been painted to match as well.

All of these rooms are warm and cosy and while they might be in various shades of blue they’re not giving me the blues. What about you? Am I late to the blues party?

bathroom design by suffolk-based design studio @sojojo.co photo by rufus owen