In This Blogger’s Lively Pastel London Victorian, Gallery Walls Work Double Time
In This Blogger’s Lively Pastel London Victorian, Gallery Walls Work Double Time
Name: Geraldine, Trevor, Jojo, and Michael
Location: North London, UK
Size: 2700 square feet
Type of Home: Victorian terrace house
Years Lived In: 15 years, owned
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If you’ve been on Instagram for awhile, you’ve probably heard of Little Big Bell. The face behind those pastel-colored squares? That’s Dr. Geraldine Tan, a medical doctor by day and an interior and lifestyle blogger by night. Geraldine originally started blogging 10 years ago as a creative outlet to balance her stressful job working in the accident and emergency department, and it’s become so successful over the years that she’s worked with different brands creating content for them while making a beautiful home for her family.
“My home is like my decor studio. I love to style and change things around regularly to photograph them for social media,” Geraldine explains. She regularly changes artwork on the wall, or switches sofas around to make it interesting for her family and her followers. Geraldine has such a big collection of art prints and frames, she’s created her own great art hack: She uses a hallway gallery wall as art storage AND decoration. “I’m running out of space to store them, so I store them on my hallway as gallery walls. I interchange the art prints in my rooms by selecting from my hallway gallery.”
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: Transitional style with a mix of modern and period. Embracing colors.
Inspiration: Hockney and Damien Hirst
Favorite Element: My new Howdens kitchen and son’s pastel bedroom featuring color-matched furniture from Aspace.
Biggest Challenge: Trying to get light into the basement family room. It’s still rather dark despite the overhead floor window and skylight from the kitchen’s lateral extension.
Proudest DIY: A gallery wall along my stairway to store and rotate my artwork.
Biggest Indulgence: The kitchen lateral extension.
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? My home is like my decor studio. I love to style and change things around regularly to photograph them for social media.
What are your favorite products you have bought for your home and why? Pappelina rugs because they are so hardwearing, but soft to walk on. Their color pigments are amazing. My rugs from 10 years ago still look new. Bold and colorful wallpaper from Lust Home. And pastel furniture from Aspace in my son’s bedroom.
Please describe any helpful, inspiring, brilliant, or just plain useful small space maximizing and/or organizing tips you have: I have lots of art prints and frames. I’m running out of space to store them, so I store them on my hallway as gallery walls. I interchange the art prints in my rooms by selecting from my hallway gallery.
What most people get wrong about using color in their home: I feel people could go wrong by avoiding certain colors because of the fear of clash. I feel there’s no such thing as color clash. It’s about the quantities of those colors that you use together. It’s best to use them as small pops of accent colors, and harmonizing them together by making sure they are cohesively present in your line of vision as you scan the room set.
What are the biggest tricks/secrets to using color in decor? Don’t be afraid of using colors. Every time you style with color, make sure you step back to see the room as a whole, and fine tune the colors by moving items around until it feels right. Repeat the standing back and viewing regularly.
What’s your favorite wall paint color of all time: I have so many favorites, but “Chinoiserie,” a calming blue by Graham and Brown, in my dining room at the moment makes me happy.
What’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? If all goes wrong, just add some flowers. The beauty of nature trumps all.
Resources
PAINT & COLORS
- Living room — Graham and Brown “Posie”
- Dining room — Graham and Brown “Chinoiserie” and fireplace in “Penelope”
- Main bedroom — Walls in Graham and Brown “Island Shimmer” and wood panels in “Penelope”
- Hallway stairs —Graham and Brown “Barker Grey”
- Hallway walls — Graham and Brown “Dee”
- Main Bathroom — Bathtub is in Benjamin Moore “Antique Coral,” the walls in Benjamin Moore “Irish Mint Aura” and “Orange Sorbet.”
ENTRY
- Hallway wallpaper — Daisy Chain Wallpaper in Cobalt Blue and Pink from Lust Home
- Hallway stairs runner — Bowloom Halton 3 in pink
LIVING ROOM
- Bay quilt wall hanging from — Excell quilt co
- Cushions on sofa — Vivmakes shop and Oyoy Living design
- Coffee table — Venezia recycled plastic coffee table by Tiptoe Design
- Large art — Hooray Creative for minted.com
- Large yellow vase — Raawi Design
DINING ROOM
- Dining table — Zurich Fenix and oak extending table from Adventures in Furniture
- Wall light — Planet lamp from Please wait to be seated
- Blue Bridge drawers — Bisley Belong
WORKSPACE
- Pink AHM chair — Please wait to be seated
- Art prints — Tropical scandinavia
KITCHEN
- Chilcomb paintable kitchen — Howdens
- Kitchen lights — Hudson Valley Lighting
BEDROOM
- Bed — Designer’s Guild
- Shelving unit — Tylko
SON’S BEDROOM
- Bedroom furniture — All from Aspace, custom colour matched paint, charterhouse range
BATHROOM
- Ripples bathroom
- Brass handle — Buster and Punch
- Arla basin — Kast Concrete
- Floor tiles
- Bath tub
- Vanity unit brass legs
- Wall tiles
Thanks Geraldine!
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
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