The Art of Design Issue 37 2019 | Page 38

38 Blues are the most calming of colours so it is a great choice for a bedroom where you want people's state to be relaxed. The only thing to guard against is making the room too cold, as blues are cool tones, so warm counterparts should be used. In this huge first floor master bedroom, I added oversized white ceramic lamps with large-scale yellow lampshades. These tie in with the vibrant yellow in the fireplace painting. Yellow and blue are a wonderful colour mix, reminiscent of sky and sun. Yellow warms the blue and provides a burst of energy. It is an infectiously happy colour. Colour psychology says that yellow can make some people edgy or even aggressive. Personally I have never seen this and can scarcely imagine it when it buoys up my mood so instantly, but it is something to be aware of, and should perhaps be used with caution in a nursery! Other than the yellow though this is the most monochrome room in the house. There are soft accent colours too but on the whole the room plays around a relaxing interaction of various layered blues. The master bedroom, like many of my designs is quite pattern heavy. My way with pattern, as in fact with colour, is gut instinct. I don’t follow any specific rules but using different scales of pattern helps. Although the pattern on the wallpaper and rug is different, they both loosely mimic shapes in the ceiling plasterwork, and actually the sculpted silhouette of the headboard is a pretty close match too.