How a roll of wallpaper can add personality to a room and update a multifunctional space

Written by Catherine Seagrave

In the gloominess of this second lockdown, we all need to bring a bit of joy to our home - and with so much time now spent at home, every inch of space has to earn its keep.

I first painted my kitchen about six years ago in Farrow and Ball Manor House Grey - a beautiful soft dark grey that at the time was considered a pretty brave and daring colour choice, and I loved it! Since then we have all become so much more accustomed to using grey in our homes - so much so that we now tend to consider it the new neutral.

But I think this year, having spent a great deal of time staring at these grey walls, it seemed to have taken on a more sombre tone. This end of the kitchen became a bit of a dull spot (aside from the kids artwork!).

It’s certainly an area that has had to work hard over lockdown - suddenly having to juggle being the home school, office, venue for birthday parties and everything else that's been celebrated and commiserated together in these four walls.

I felt that this end grey wall needed something extra to reflect all that now happened here, something to reflect the joy, highs, lows and general chaos of family life.

I've had this Matthew Williamson wallpaper for some time and hadn’t quite decided what to do with it - but with it’s bold personality it felt like the right time to use it. It’s certainly loud, and eccentric with it’s monkeys and moths in teal, lime green and pink, and brings life to this end of the kitchen. It only took one roll of wallpaper and an afternoon of spontaneous DIY to bring about a huge change. I’d recommend a bit more planning to minimise the disruption of running to football practice, shooing the cat away from the paste and endless moans of ‘we’re hungry, when’s tea?’!!

But I’m really happy with the results. Next I want to add a large round mirror, and of course plants - in macrame hangers. So if you have an area in your home, that isn’t quite giving as much as it could, consider a bold wallpaper for an instant transformation. You don’t have to use a lot - find a small wall, or even a small room, like the downstairs loo, and unleash your inner creativity and bring a little happiness into your lockdown home.

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