The Book Club | Colour by Abigail Ahern

If someone had told me 20 years ago there was no right or wrong with colour, it just came down to personal choice - I would have stopped the search. This book makes you want to unleash colour in your home, wardrobe, and even your lips (why do I reserve red for confident days?).

Abigail Ahern is a British heroine. A storeowner, stylist and bestselling author, she is also admired for her courageous product design, including those iconic ceramic dog lamps. The Times called her ‘the coolest decorator on the planet’ and she has been described as an ‘influential tastemaker’. And in this book she showcases her cleverness with colour – lucky us.

Ahern starts with bold openers like, “banish beige, boost colour, transform your home” which hooked me in right away. Among the pages are tantalising colour combos and wisdom on how to stop procrastinating about colour.  

With bite-sized learnings, we’re taken through different rooms and encouraged to give our gut-instinct more faith than we might normally. Basically, just ignore the ‘what’s hot / what’s not’ colour trap.

Colour is transformative, yet it can be truly feared. This book gives you a great sense of freedom and if you’re limited on time, head straight to the list of 10-ways to colour confidence. Fired-up now? 

The chapter on ‘Up the saturation level’ is very cool, but if you’re more of an easy-on-the-eye neutral fan, there’s a section dedicated to you too. Expect layers of patterns, contrast and texture to ramp-up the reined in colour palette.

Finally, I’ll hint at the best ever formula for celebrating colour: 60, 30,10. Got that figured? You might have to add to cart to find out more…