Pop of Colour

Emma and Martin transformed a dated, ‘80s-style bathroom into a colourful family sanctuary

- By Ellen Finch. Photographs by Katie Lee

BOLD IDEAS

‘We took on a few other rooms before the bathroom, so we’d fallen into a good system by that point and I felt really sure about what I was after. I’d never really gone “out there” with colour before, but since this is our forever home, I felt I could be a bit braver. Instagram gave me loads of inspiration. I wanted it to be a bright and bold room – it’s small, so why not go for it? We don’t spend all day in here anyway, so I felt it could take a more confident design.’

BEFORE

Set in the Derbyshire countryside, this Georgian farmhouse had been way out of Emma and Martin’s budget when they were planning a move from London up north. But when the price dropped and it popped up in their search, six months after they sold their old house and set up nearby, it felt like fate. ‘We viewed it with my father-in-law, who was telling us about all sorts of things we could do,’ says Emma. ‘He came up with the idea of renovating and renting out the outhouses.’

The bathroom was in a sorry state. ‘There were layers of tiles and wallpaper on top of each other in this room and it was carpeted,’ says Emma. ‘The property used to be a B&B back in the 1980s and the bathroom and toilet were in separate rooms. We were downstairs getting a drink when we noticed water coming through the ceiling into the kitchen, where the fuse board is. It went through the sidewall into our son’s bedroom, too, which we’d just had plastered and painted. The entire house was a bit of a disaster!’