Life and Colour

I grew up knowing that I felt differently in different spaces.

I have spent most of my adult life working to understand the aspects of my experience of space; physically, emotionally and metaphorically.

Life choices and curveballs have landed me in spaces for periods of time (children, covid, ill-health) but it wasn’t until interiors became an actual hindrance in my life that understanding colour, light and design went from something nice to something necessary. And it’s how I see and work with them today.

My husband has a genetic condition. A year hasn’t gone by without a health or surgical intervention, and our lives and home has to adapt each time. Our home is our sanctuary and we’ve had to get clear about what we need, when and where, within budget.

I didn’t know much about cataracts until my husband was diagnosed with it just after we had our first child. We hadn’t anticipated the change in our life after the cataracts surgery but it became apparent to us, quickly, that what things looked like wasn’t the issue. His new lenses now experienced light and colour differently, which effected his sensory experience and that profoundly effected how he felt in a space, and subsequently how we all felt and familied.

Many post-surgery, cataract’s patients experience light differently after surgery; for some it’s short lived and for some its not. The sight that we had take for granted became a source of dysregulation for my husband, particularly when unnatural light was in contrast to dark (at night, in a dark painted room) and the recalibration that some experience in the weeks after, my husband has experienced the years since.

Public spaces can be a feast for the senses and are notoriously tricky for people with sensory difference or change. Some people will walk in to a room of bright colours and feel energised, and some feel scared. Even if we love feeling energised, it can have a negative impact in a bedroom or place we want to relax in.

We all understand the benefits of changes to diet, exercise, stress, sleep, fresh air, spending time with loved ones…but until 6 years ago, I hadn’t seriously considered how much we’d all benefit from understanding colour and light in our home, and how it affected us all differently. When I got clear on it, it wasn’t just my husband who was benefitting from it.

When I met my husband we were decorating our first property together before we hit our one year anniversary and we’ve not stopped since. Between us, we’ve many years experience in property and development and we’re a good team. Our idea of a good date is a DIY project and we’re happiest when things just work and feel as they should, we both struggle to rest in a space if they don’t.

So when we have to make changes to our home and everyday life, we can find it quite fun. It started as something we had to address and has since become second nature, to understand how a space feels; spaces are dynamic, but the backdrop is static and it plays a huge part.

I’d see interiors inspo on social media and understand that I was coming at it with a different lens (literally). I wasn’t trying to recreate looks, I was trying to figure out what worked for the space with the goal of how we wanted to feel in it. This is how every designer works - but this conversation gets lost in the pictures we see in the media and when we talk about ‘the look’.

Our lives are an ever-changing dynamic and our homes are constantly evolving to support it. Deciding interiors can feel like a minefield to get right for the required investment of time and or money. And that’s why I do what I do.

I am continually reminded that trying to replicate something that we see, doesn’t often feel how we thought it would in our own homes and lives. But starting with something we like is the ideal way to hep find the nuance of what it is we’re trying to achieve.

My husband and I love our home but the reality is it has it’s limits. When we found our ‘cosy’, east-to-west facing, 2-up-2-down cottage, I was relieved to find it had normal ceiling heights (my husbands over 6ft). Painting the already cosy sized living room the deep, cocooning shade of Farrow and Ball’s Inchyra Blue nailed it for me. But of course, not long after my husbands cataracts surgery it became apparent that my cocoon was a near nightmare (for him).

Having the ‘main lights’ on was not an option for me; growing up, ‘the main light’ was saved for emergencies and passive aggressive communication, ‘mood lighting’ was my mainstay and a cottages right. So lighting became the next research project.

It might seem obvious to most people that moving house would the best option but for someone who likes a challenge, operation light and airy, but cosy cottage, with a less than light an airy box to play with commenced continues today.

We have had a plan for the last 5 years to increase the light in our own home and to extend it to help. It requires many ducks in a row and I have ached over every inch of the design of the house to understand the best combination that will work for us with the restrictions (conservation, green belt etc). Where we are restricted on light. decoration and design does the rest. We’ve learned more intuitively about the needs of a home. We have literally felt our way through it. It’s how I naturally operate now and what felt like an annoying shift to have to make, I am now aware of how grateful I am for the skill it has given me.