Hello lovely,
I hope you are having a gorgeous, relaxed weekend.
If you are thinking about decorating your home and making it feel more ‘you’, then keep reading to discover how a few simple paint choices can quietly transform the way your home feels.
If you already have my book, you might have spotted that I talk a lot about using colour to edit a space, almost like tailoring a favourite coat so it fits just right. Rather than fighting a room’s quirks, we can use paint to balance them, soften them or celebrate them. Once you start to see colour as a tool for gently guiding the eye, all sorts of spaces that felt “awkward” suddenly become full of possibility.
This is one of the many reasons I love working with colour.
Here are a few of my favourite ways to do that, with helpful tips and illustrations taken from my book.
1. Visually nudge the proportions
Feature walls have picked up a bit of a bad reputation over the years, and I completely understand why. For a long time people would choose one very strong colour, leave everything else as brilliant white and not repeat that colour anywhere else, so the room felt flat and a little unsure of itself.
The truth is, when you use colour thoughtfully, a “feature” wall can be a really clever way to fix odd proportions. Our brains are wired to feel calm in spaces that have balance and symmetry, so long, narrow rooms or almost-square but not-quite-square spaces can leave us quietly on edge. Instead of ripping everything out, I love using paint to gently reshape and redraw the room so it feels more soothing and intentional.
If you have a long room, try painting the far end wall in a deeper shade than the others to pull it toward you and make the space feel less like a corridor. In a wider room, paint the two longer walls in a stronger colour and keep the shorter ones lighter, so the whole room reads as more balanced and cosy. Awkward bedrooms are brilliant for this too. Painting built‑in wardrobes in a richer or glossier shade will pull that wall forward and create a snug, enveloping feel, especially if you echo the colour in the blinds or bedlinen, like in the example below.
It helps to know how different tones behave. Warm colours such as yellows, pinks, reds and oranges naturally advance towards you, while pale greens and blues tend to retreat. Darker shades absorb more light and can appear to come forward too, which is perfect when you want to visually shorten or anchor a space.
In the kids’ room example below, painting one wall a bright, joyful yellow turns a potentially awkward layout into a balanced, happy space. In the home office below, deep forest green cabinets pull one side of a long room in, while a softer green on the ceiling and artwork ties everything together. Nothing feels random, just a calm, cohesive room that has been gently shaped by colour.
2. Create a feature without a fireplace
Not every room is blessed with a chimney breast or original cornicing, but colour can happily step in and become the star. I love using paint to carve out a feature area, a place your eye can gently rest, so the room feels throughout rather than plain.
This is where I see a lot of clients who love colour but feel nervous about full-on colour drenching really start to play. A 50/50 wall, with a stronger shade on the lower half and a lighter colour above, is such a good way in. You get that wonderful burst of colour in a dining room, bedroom or hallway, but because the upper part of the wall stays lighter, the space still feels open and airy. It is that lovely balance between fresh and bright, and grounded and cosy.
In open-plan rooms, you can also use this idea to create zones. Try wrapping a deeper colour around a TV unit or bookcase. Instantly, it reads as its own little area, whether that is a reading corner, a dining nook or a media wall, and a saturated tone is such a wonderful thing to draw your eye to.
3. Play with your ceiling
Ceilings are often left bright white by default, but that can make them shout louder than everything else in the room. When the ceiling is the lightest thing, your eye rushes up there, and the rest of your lovely scheme can get lost.
In a room with tall ceilings, painting the ceiling a slightly darker or warmer tone can make it feel more inviting and less echoey, without making it genuinely dark.
If you’re nervous about colour, choose a soft, complementary shade for the ceiling instead of a stark white. It creates a gentle “cocoon” effect and makes the transition between the wall and the ceiling feel much calmer.
If you are thinking about painting your ceiling, look to soft blues. They are incredibly calming and can be very soothing at the end of the day. I especially love them in bedrooms, because that subtle wash of blue helps quieten the mind and ease you into a more restful, sleep-ready state.
4. Hide or highlight your woodwork
Skirting boards, doors, and window frames are often treated as afterthoughts, but they have a big impact on how busy or serene a room feels. A tiny shift in tone here can completely change the mood.
For a relaxed, seamless look, paint your skirting boards and doors the same colour as your walls. It removes visual chop and can make the room feel taller and more contemporary.
If you want a bit more personality, go stronger on the woodwork and keep the walls lighter. This adds a smart, tailored edge and is brilliant for hallways, where you want a sense of structure and intention.
I also love using woodwork to add a little spark of joy to a space. A surprise hit of colour on a door or window frame feels playful but still elegant. You could paint the door that leads out to the garden in a deep olive green to connect with the greenery outside, or choose a bright yellow for a child’s window frame to bring some joy.
When you treat your woodwork this way, the room instantly feels more designed, as if someone has really thought about every line. It is such a simple way to bring in your own personality, whether that is an acid yellow on a tiny window, a rich berry red on a front door or a deep inky blue on the skirting boards, and it gives you that extra ten per cent of wow factor that makes you smile every time you walk in.
5. Try a little colour drenching
Colour drenching is one of my favourite paint techniques, and I have a full, in-depth guide to it in an earlier post here. It sounds dramatic, but it is really very simple, you take one colour across the walls, woodwork and ceiling, so all the edges blur, and the room feels beautifully wrapped.
If you are drawn to neutrals, I would always encourage you to colour drench. Drenching a room in a single soft beige, stone or taupe instantly makes it feel grounded and calm.
It is especially lovely in naturally darker rooms. Instead of fighting the lack of light, choose a gorgeous mid-tone and take it all the way round. This absorbs those murky grey shadows and turns a small, gloomy room into something rich and cocooning.
For bedrooms, colour drenching is wonderfully restful. When the walls, woodwork and ceiling are all in one tone, your eye doesn’t stop at different lines, so the space feels soothing and your furnishings and artwork become the gentle focal points.
If you are tempted to try it, pick a shade you truly love in all lights, then nudge it a touch deeper than you normally would once everything is back in place, the room will feel enveloping, not overpowering.
I hope this has given you a few ideas to sit with over the weekend. You definitely do not need to do everything at once; even painting a single wall, a window frame, or a door can quietly change how a room feels.
Thanks for reading and for bringing me into your home plans. I love knowing these emails are helping you shape a space that feels like you.
With love,
Tash x
(all photos from Pinterest)