Every Wall’s White, But This Is Still a Colorful House

Name: Joanna Reeves, husband, two children
Location: Bath, England
Size: 2,800 square feet
Years lived in: 4 years, owned

I always wanted to live in a tall skinny house and luckily my husband is pretty laid back (or doesn’t like an argument), so he agreed. It was very much a fixer upper and in the first six weeks we had 16 new windows, a new staircase, and most rooms re-plastered. Oh and made the roof rainproof.

Every wall and ceiling is white, but it’s still a really colorful house. We bring warmth through the textiles, the accessories, and the flooring. I change my mind all the time, so it’s much more cost-effective and easy to change the details rather than the wall color.

It’s quite a busy house, for a small family. Often there is myself, my husband, our two small boys, and either friends or family just hanging out. My brother is often here having a quick bath, with his converted van (it’s amazing what you can fit in an Iveco Daily!) parked up outside. The same brother also bought my 2-year-old a drum kit for Christmas. I have mixed feelings! So sometimes it’s extremely noisy and quite chaotic, but actually most of the time it’s a relatively quiet and calm household.

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Distinctive, light, our safe place.

What is your favorite room and why? Our family room is an open plan space that includes our dining, kitchen, and sitting areas. We love that we can all be together but doing our own thing. It’s a really eclectic room, from random pieces of artwork that we love or have been given to us, to upcycled furniture like our coffee table and dining chairs.

I grew up in a house full of books, so I really wanted to have lots of shelving to have the same, but also to house plants and photo frames. Our family room is our safe space: where our children can just be after the exhaustion of school, where they can laugh and cry, play, and work.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? A beautiful blue Oliver Bonas vase. A gift from my closest friend. She knows me so well.

Any advice for creating a home you love? To collect a few objects you love and mood board around those objects. Sometimes Instagram and Pinterest can be overwhelming as a starting point, but if you start with a few objects you can then keep returning to them. But most of all you have to love it, so rather than following new trends, just go for what you like. After all it’s you that has to see it and live it every day. What other people think is just a bonus.

Thanks, Joanna!

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