This is How Our Editor Approaches Colour in Her Home

By Georgie Abay Published Feb 13 2018

I still remember the front door of our first home. The house we brought our firstborn home to. The first home we renovated. The first home we shared together. It was painted a bright, sunny Dulux yellow and it made me feel happy every time I walked past it...

We used to get people knocking on the door asking us what colour the door was (you can see inside our old home on vogue.com.au here). The rest of the house was grey and white. When we moved down the road, it was the front door that I missed the most. Not for long – I love changing the interior of a home (I get it from my mum – she’s been an interior decorator for over 25 years). My friends will know that I love to procrastinate by moving furniture around a room – you should see how many times I’ve redone the office only to move the desks exactly back to where they were. In our new home, we came up with a new colour scheme that was similar to the last one (lots of grey again – greys are the perfect neutral and an ideal background for accent colours – you can get more inspiration from Dulux here), but perhaps a little more traditional. If you were to wander through our home you’d find a mix of blues, pinks, yellows, greys, duck egg blue, white – it’s a very calming home. While grey tones are my favourite base, there will always be colour in our home. Quite simply, because it makes me happy. When I first started working at VOGUE magazine when I was in my mid-20s, everyone wore head-to-toe black. The fashion editor loved colour, but she was the only one. I’d come from sunny Dubai at a time when DVF’s bold wrap dress was all anyone (myself included) wanted to wear. I couldn’t understand this obsession with black. For me, whether it’s fashion or interiors, colour makes me smile. Our new home is much like our last – very classic but filled with pops of colour and print. When we first moved in, we actually painted the door black for something different. It looked smart, but I missed the colourful entrance. So recently, we decided to paint our door a bright shade of Dulux ‘Silk Jewel’ (I originally wanted the Dulux colour ‘Hugo’ but understandably, my husband didn’t really fancy a pink door). The house is girly enough – I don’t think he could handle more pink. The rest of the home is grey and white and upstairs, we injected some very soft blue (Dulux ‘Elusive Blue’) and a very soft shade called Ghost Town Quarter’ in the children’s room (it almost looks a little lilac). I love calming, neutral tones and then I’ll add artwork or cushions to brighten up a room. In our sitting room, we’ve used a darker grey to create a more formal, luxurious mood. If I was ever to repaint this room, I’d go for Dulux ‘Goyder Green’ – how divine is this colour?! Downstairs is Dulux ‘Lexicon Half’ and it’s more informal and fun. Ready for a tour of some of my favourite spaces in my home? Photography: Grace Alyssa Kyo | In association with Dulux | You can see Dulux’s summer colour trends here