What do you think of when you think of winter? Cold, wet, grey, bleak. Snow – perhaps for some. Or, more positively, low sun, crisp frosts, wearing the winter woollies and drinking hot chocolate. As I write this, the rain is lashing down, there’s a strong wind and my feet are cold. But, I have enjoyed some of the better winter days we’ve had over the last month. Having to squint because the sun is so strong and low in my eyes, walking in the countryside where my boots crunch over the frozen ground, and hearing the squeals of joy as my children were pulled on a sledge up and down our road. Back in October, I introduced the idea of seasonal personalities – kicking off with the autumn personality, and how this can then feed in to the way we decorate and style our homes. With all the seasonal personalities, they claim many of their characteristics from nature, and hopefully you will be able to see how nature, personality and home décor all connect. People who have a winter personality might be described as being confident, ambitious, driven, unsentimental, and sophisticated. They like luxury items and aren’t afraid to show them off. They’re drawn to modern architecture and statement pieces. How does this link to home décor? Well, think firstly of a typical winter landscape. Rolling hills blanketed in crisp white snow. Trees and hedges, shed of all their leaves, silhouetted against that backdrop. Pops of green and red with evergreens and berries. It is a time of minimal colour, and strong contrasts. That image lends itself to the striking, minimalist style that winter personalities would want to create. Their style might be minimalistic, but they want to create drama by using striking contrasts in colour, textures and patterns. Think black and white, perhaps with some pops of very vivid, saturated colour. Stainless steel and polished chrome, glass and concrete. Sharp patterns and geometric shapes. Granite and marble. No clutter, and instead a few, high end, statement pieces. Does this resonate with you? If it does, then it probably means you have some of the winter personality in you! If not, roll on the spring!

White. What comes to mind when you think of white? Fresh, crisp, hotel bedding? Brand new socks at the start of the school year? Snow covered fields? A beautiful wedding dress? A pavlova with perfect peaks? That delicious dessert lends its name to a white paint colour for one brand! Other names of white paint include snowflake, moon shimmer, cliff walk, salt, blank canvas, frosted dawn. The imagery is strong! But you can’t pick a paint colour just because you like the name or the imagery behind it. When it comes to choosing white paint, you really are spoilt for choice. But that choice may seem overwhelming, and according to Farrow & Ball, “White is never just white.” So how can we make informed choices when we want to use white paint in our homes. Well there are two important things to consider. The first is the lighting within the room, and the second is the undertone in the paint. These two factors need to be weighed up together. Let me give you some examples. If your room is south facing, it will have a lot of warm, natural light coming through the window. If you want to achieve a pure white on your walls, you should choose a white paint which has cool, blue undertones, because the cool paint, paired with the warm light, gives you a happy equilibrium. If you were to take that same paint and use it in a north facing room, it will feel cold and err towards blue, because the blue undertone plus cool, northern light will only ever give you a cold feel. That doesn’t mean you can’t use white in a north facing room, just choose a white paint with warm, yellow undertones – that way it will balance out the northern light, and give you a fresh, clean look, without feeling too cold. If your room faces east or west, the lighting changes throughout the day, so think about when in the day you are most using that room and apply the same principles. “How do I look for the undertone?!” Good question! It really isn’t as complicated as you might think. The best thing to do is compare your paint sample to a simple piece of white A4 paper. If it looks blue compared to the paper, you know if has blue undertones. If the paint looks like it’s heading towards pink, it has red undertones. And if it is looking creamy, then the undertone is yellow. Allow me for one moment to get scientific. There’s actually no such thing as just white. White is all colours. White is simply the lightest shade of a colour. So the very very lightest pink will appear ‘white’, but so will the lightest grey, the lightest yellow and the lightest blue. You get the point. But this is actually really helpful to bear in mind when you’re choosing your ‘white’ paint!

Ah Christmas decorations! What are your Christmas decorations like? Are you someone who likes traditional combinations of gold and red, or gold and silver? Maybe you favour the Scandi style of decorations: raw wood and felt, and lots of white with red and green. Or are you one for total full on kitsch with an eclectic mix of bright and bold colours and humorous baubles. When Nick and I were first married we had new sets of Christmas tree decorations, different shapes and styles, but all gold and red. It was a classic look and very sophisticated. 17 Christmases later, we still have those original decorations, and use them each year, but our collection has grown and I have inflicted my more eclectic colour scheme on my family. I say colour scheme, but really there is no colour scheme! Each year the collection has grown as the children have made things and we’ve been gifted decorations. I also love scouring the charity shops in December to find second hand baubles. And then there’s the tradition of buying one new decoration each year….As you can imagine, we now have rather a lot of Christmas tree decorations and far from being sophisticated, our tree is a happy, eclectic mix of all sorts! I love it! Then there’s the lights. Cool white? Warm white? Coloured lights? Blue? (No thanks.) When I was growing up it was always warm white lights on the tree and coloured lights elsewhere in the house – round a doorway or going up the stairs. And we have maintained that tradition. The warm glow of Christmas lights brings cheer doesn’t it? Whether you’re inside cosying up with a film, or walking along the dark streets enjoying the lights in windows and on the outsides of houses. It makes us feel good. Whatever your style of Christmas décor – minimal or all out maximal, or somewhere in between, I hope you enjoy this opportunity to bring some colour joy into your home! Happy Christmas!

“Why are you so interested in paint colours? What’s so bad about just having white or grey everywhere?” This is the question that was recently put to me. And it’s a good question! Why all the obsession with choosing the right colours for our home interiors – what’s wrong with the neutrals? Well, the short answer is nothing! Nothing’s wrong with choosing whites or greys – if you like them and they really work for you in your home. But for many, we reach for those paint tins because of habit, or we don’t know where else to begin with choosing a different colour. I want to challenge that thinking. There is a whole world of colour out there! But it’s far from simple. I can’t just give you a magic formula and say that green works best in dining rooms, yellow in kitchens and blue in bedrooms. That’s because we all respond to colours in different ways. It is such a personal thing. So I might see a particular shade of green as cosy and relaxing, but someone else might find it much too dark and draining. That’s where really exploring your own personality and style comes in to play. I’m sure many will have heard of colour consultants who will advise you on the colours to wear to bring out the best of your skin tone, eye colour and hair colouring. Well, a similar principle applies when we think about using colour in our homes. Get it wrong and your home could leave you feeling flat, unmotivated and unable to relax, but get it right, and your home will support your personality and be a place where you can relax and feel cosy, or feel energised and motivated, depending on the room and its function.    So to go back to the original question, ‘Why use colour?’ The answer is because using colour makes us feel good! Picking different colours for different rooms and using them carefully and with consideration will make our homes feel  wonderful.