Colour in action - the canal bedroom

Colours in Action - the Canal Bedroom

This little bedroom was decorated most recently, and I decided to go a little braver with the colour scheme.

• It's a small bedroom that is only used in the evenings and early mornings, so it doesn't need to be an especially light and bright space. In these instances, I prefer to lean into a room's cosiness and create a cocooning feel.
• It is up in the eaves, with no clear difference between the walls and the ceiling.
• My starting points were a slate fireplace and the existing cotton flatweave carpet by Roger Oates.
• Using the colour wheel, I opted for a yellow of a similar weight to the blue stripe in the carpet for a complementary contrast.
• The yellow I chose (Persian Yellow) is quite strong, but because there's only one window for natural light, the colour saturates beautifully. It also disappears quietly within shadows in parts of the room, while shining a sunny yellow when the light hits in other areas.
• The room looks onto a mill pond, so it felt right to introduce a print by one of my fabric designers Fanny Shorter that is in fact called 'Mill Pond'. The window is relatively small, so as well as introducing the fabric in a little curtain, I also used it across a statement headboard to bring the pattern more dominantly into the room.
• The green colourway works because there is an undertone of blue within it. The print also contains a small element of red, which inspired me to create a dialogue in the room with a pinky hued rug and red flowers on the lampshades.
• Antique mahogany furniture helps to bring a grown up edge to the colour scheme, as well as convey the history of the house.
• Often when I'm decorating, I am simply reorganising pieces and giving them a new lease of life in a different room, or with fresh upholstery.
• Don't be afraid to bring touches of other colour into your room through accessories and ornaments - this will make your scheme much more interesting and dynamic.