It’s weird how tastes change. Even going back just a few years, my living room was a cacophony of various colours – pinks, yellows, blues, turquoise. And at the time, I really did love it. It made me very happy to have such a bright and joyful space. Then, something sort of shifted in me and I decided to remove the turquoise accents. And then I decided to change the wallpaper… and the curtains… and suddenly, the room transformed and I loved it even more. A few choice shades – in the case of my living room, it was greens and raspberry with a touch of pink – made it feel a bit more stately, a bit more grown up.

living room colour before and after comparison

I’ve seen the same effect in my dining room. It was bold blue (again, which I loved for a while) with bold accents of orange and pink and turquoise shades. A wild ride of bright bold hues and again, I loved it. But redecorating that room with a softer shade of grey and choosing only a couple of areas of where colour was added and allowed to shine has made me realise something. It seemed that despite my love of colour, I didn’t really need to have them all in the room all at the same time. Loving colour for me could just mean using colours with care. A touch here, a touch there.

dining room colour before and after comparison

In the kitchen, the plans are for a mostly black and white scheme. The bold colourful wallpaper behind the shelves is going and in it’s place will be another wallpaper but with a softer (but no less striking) palette of black, white, peach and grey.

wallpaper-before-and-after

And so then we come to the bedroom. I’ve had a really bright bold colour scheme in there for almost as long as we’ve lived here. And I know how many people have always loved it – and trust me, I do (did) too. But I feel like it’s time for the room to grow up a little, along with the rest of the house.

black bedroom with blue nightstand and yellow headboard

I imagine there are a few of you out there who are thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, woman, can’t you just leave a room alone?! Must you constantly be redecorating??’ but well, yeah, perhaps I do. I enjoy it, it makes me happy and allowing this house to evolve is always what I’ve been all about. My tastes change, they evolve, and I want my home to reflect that.

black bedroom with blue nightstand and yellow headboard

This is really more of a refresh rather than a total redesign. I’m on a fairly tight budget (the kitchen remodel has soaked up the bulk of my cash over the last few months and I’ve only just finished paying off the new wardrobes!) but I want a calmer, more grown up look in here for winter. There’s plenty in here that I really love and so I’m not looking to change everything by any means.

black bedroom with blue nightstand and yellow headboard

I took these pictures this weekend because well, not much has really changed in here for at least a year aside from the wardrobes and the new light fitting but I wanted a record of what it looked like before I begin some small changes which I’m hoping will make a nice shift in the look of the room.

vintage chest of drawers in black bedroom

I have always struggled with using anything except for white bedding in here and I’ve found it a real challenge trying to find new curtains (which I desperately need). With so much colour and pattern going on everywhere, trying to find another pattern or colour that blended nicely along with everything else has been incredibly difficult so I’m hoping that throwing in a few textural neutrals will go a long way to allow me to mix it up a bit and to be able to give me a little more flexibility.

black bedroom with blue nightstand and yellow headboard

If you’re wondering, the black walls, the yellow headboard, the vintage chest of drawers, the new overhead light fitting are all definitely staying. The bedside tables will be repainted, the lamps will get new shades, the artwork refreshed. It’s not about stripping all the colour out of the space but just choosing which colours will be the stars. The primary palette of red/yellow/blue will go although I’m not 100% sure of what will take it’s place! I’m working on it ;)

So ready for a little refresh? Are you disappointed or excited? I’ll be sharing some more of my plans soon! Stay tuned!


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