Daring to be different with ‘Dayroom’

When it came to decorating my lounge I had a clear image in my mind – one that I often found myself daydreaming over. I knew exactly what the room needed – light.

With this came imagery of a light and airy space, one which created a stage for my collection of quirky interiors. However, the decision on a colour was proving to be a stumbling block. My apartment has an open plan kitchen and lounge area, meaning that I needed to give careful consideration to a colour that would compliment both a lounge and a kitchen (Of course my preferred option would be to have a new kitchen but given the cost of this, it will have to stay on hold for a little longer and be added to my list of future projects!).

In my search for the perfect colour I looked at lots of different colour palettes including sage greens, pastel blues and greys, but finally opted for a soft, but fresh, yellow. After hours of research and lots of scrolling through pinterest (which, I highly recommend as a great place to view colours in real life), I was able to narrow it down to a shortlist of three.

To help me make a final decision I grabbed some testers and set about painting sections of my shortlisted colours on each wall (I find that it helps to access the lighting from different points of the room) before eventually opting for Farrow & Ball – ‘Dayroom Yellow’ as my new lounge colour –

“Dayroom Yellow is a typical Soanian or Regency colour which really does make your room feel full of sunlight especially when contrasted with All White. It is probably the most refreshing in feel of all Farrow & Ball colours, perfect for use in spaces deprived of light or for those of a sunny disposition!”

Of course, yellow isn’t your typical choice of lounge décor and so I wasn’t too surprised that upon announcing to friends my plan to plump for Yellow I was met with some scepticism and concern that I may regret the choice! One friend even went as far as dubbing the colour ‘quite 80’s’ haha.

With my decision a little rocked I contemplated returning to the mountain of colour charts that I had pawed through whilst chain drinking tea. However as I sat there on the floor surrounded by a sea of colour cards I couldn’t shift that image in my head of a light airy yellow lounge that I had previously daydreamed of. It was then I told myself ‘Jack! Just do it! It is only paint!’. With that I picked up my keys and wallet and headed to Homebase – 5L of F&B Estate Emulsion were now mine!

Painting isn’t the most glamorous or interesting of tasks and so it took me several days to take the plunge, but eventually, having armed myself with a pot of tea, I began the painstaking chore of covering furniture and masking the edges up before taking a brush to the currently cream wall and embarking on my Dayroom Daydream! One coat of paint, a pot of earl grey and 2 hours later I had my first glimpse of that light and airy space that I’d visualised.

It’s now been six months since I decorated and I can honestly say that I am still in love with the colour – although within that time there has been 3 months of furniture shuffling, picture swapping, décor shifting and cushion hunting to make the room feel complete (all of which have tested my partners’ patience haha!).

Since I took the plunge yellow has made a big comeback in home interiors – From features in Ideal Home to the H&M home catalogue printing a two page endorsement for the colour, it’s fair to say that yellow has re-emerged. Talking of H&M home, it’s from there that I purchased my cushions (as shown on the image) and if you haven’t checked it out before I’d strongly recommend it – it’s certainly one of my guilty pleasures for amazing value home accessories.

So where am I going with this? Well, if like me you dream of a bold colour change but are unsure on whether it will work in your home, my sentiment would definitely be that if makes you happy, just do it!

Getting the look:

I can spend hours sat at my laptop, drinking tea and browsing for inspiration on items for my home, battling with a constant internal conflict of the love of achieving a high end look yet at the same time “being Yorkshire” and wanting to get a bargain! To get you started here is a little selection of accessories that I have used to dress my yellow vista: