From dark lead to chalky white, grey has hogged our walls for years. Not any more. “I feel it’s had its day,” says architect and interior designer Sharon Toong. “I’m drawn to blue, especially the darker shades.” Indeed, moody blue paints – all similar but slightly different – are used throughout this two-bedroom flat: in the main bedroom, the study, an internal courtyard, her baby daughter’s room, and the kitchen cabinets. The hall is alive with blue banana leaves, vines and tropical palms, courtesy of design team House of Hackney.
This and the master bedroom are naturally dark spaces, so Toong decided to work that to her advantage. “There was no getting around the fact that the corridor was long and windowless, so I chose that bold, enveloping wallpaper,” she says. “It brings you out into the flat’s lighter, brighter areas, with glimpses of foliage in garden beyond. A deep blue shade on the walls and ceiling makes a room feel very cocooning.”
Blue is traditionally a cold shade, isn’t it? “I find it dramatic, rather than cool,” Toong says. “Dark blues combine really effectively with pastels, bright pops of colour and greenery, so I wanted to explore that.” In the study, the dark blue walls contrast with pale blue and green chairs, and a neon pink light. In the master bedroom, woodwork is a very pale pink. An ottoman in the living room, designed by Toong, is in burnt orange velvet.
When Toong bought the flat, it was dimly lit. Along with that “skinny, claustrophobic” hallway, the flat had two dark bedrooms, an unimaginative extension split into small spaces, and an unused space at its centre.
made.com table, a painted chair and art by
Kristjana S Williams. The walls are Dulux
50BG 10/175. Photograph: Anna Stathaki
The flat’s sociable areas – the kitchen, dining area and living room – were in that rear extension, but divided by walls. Those walls came down and Toong, who lives here with her husband Maciej Woroniecki and their daughter, Elise (we visited when Toong was 39 weeks pregnant), installed sliding doors on to the garden. There were already rooflights over the dining area, but Toong adjusted the angle of the ceiling. “Creating a slight slant means light now reaches further into the space,” she says. Another adjustment was at floor level, where Toong had Microcement laid throughout: “It’s made the spaces feel more united,” she says.
But the design masterstroke is at the core of this flat. Off the kitchen and between the two bedrooms is a space that she turned into an internal courtyard. “Before, it was just a slightly larger than average square of corridor, a space you only ever stepped through to get to one or other bedroom. But it had two small Velux windows above, which sparked the idea.” It now has built-in cupboards, painted deep blue, and is stacked with pot plants that flourish beneath a far larger rooflight that also brings light into the bedrooms on either side: these were refitted with glazed doors, with curtains to draw at bedtime.
House of Hackney’s Pampas. Photograph: Anna Stathaki
When Elise reaches toddler stage, the odd plant might have to move up out of reach, but everything else will stay as is. “I’ve designed the flat with longevity in mind,” she says, “and that includes the colour palette. Blue isn’t just the new grey – it’s got character and we’ll be happy to live with it for a long time.”
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