BLANK WALLS ARE AN OPEN INVITATION TO SHOW OFF YOUR CREATIVE SMARTS AND IN OUR BOOK, IT’S ONE OF THE MOST FUN PARTS ABOUT STYLING A ROOM.
You can really let your hair down and go wild with metres of statement wallpaper or just a sliver to highlight a piece of furniture or vintage pedestal basin. Highly textured wall hangings create an instant warmth to a room and can sit happily beside an imposing free-standing mirror or a collection of more delicate mirrors, clustered together to create a delightful piece of reflective art.
Other options? Posters of all sorts, tiny cameo oil paintings and other treasures collected from your global travels, or that you’ve found digging through second hand shops closer to home, will do the job beautifully. (Tip: Byron Bay and the eclectic villages in the Hinterland are a treasure trove of interesting stuff). And now could be the time to admit to our obsession with our own finds of vintage horse-head paintings. Yes it’s our thing!
At BBA you can pretty much count on the fact that our walls will be a white of some sort. Our go-to at the moment is Byron White, a custom colour we developed with Porters Paints to use in our latest new builds – The Lodge and The Cabin. We start with that as a blank canvas then start putting the soul in to the room with what we put on the walls.
In the Bower Barn we’ve used botanical posters to create a vignette behind the fabulous MCM House Joe Slipper Chairs (from HK Living) and in Bower House an oversized black and white tropical screen print suspended from a length of timber dowel creates instant impact. We love too the intricate, hand-woven mandala wall hanging in Bower House, which adds a beautiful light textural touch to the room. It’s from The Dharma Door, home to so many of the fabulous rugs and wall hangings you’ll find throughout our BBA properties. They add a touch of raw luxury to the spaces, and knowing they’re made by fair trade artisans is important to us too.
Mirrors are a fabulous styling option – you just need to keep in mind what they’re reflecting. Group vintage and antique finds together like in The Chapel, or make a feature of a statement free-standing mirror framed in recycled timber like in Bower Cottage. Or opt for something a bit unusual like the sunburst shapes made from cane or timber in The Chalet bedroom.
An oversized bedhead, covered in a textured fabric and finished with interesting detail will fill a bedroom wall in its own right. The one we used in The Cabin is a bespoke Ralph Lauren bedhead and is the perfect fit with the mountain cabin meets unbridled sophisticated luxury aesthetic we’ve used throughout.
And there’s nothing better than a blank wall to create a showcase for your collections, whether it’s your hats on interesting hooks, artisan string bags, old fishing reels, throws, objet d’art placed on a beautiful shelf made from recycled timber, or a brass rack with a potted plant, its trails of greenery spilling over the edge. And speaking of greenery, why not train a vine to weave in and around mirrors or wall art like we’ve done in The Chapel. Bringing the outside in is a constant in the BBA aesthetic. We love the look and it gives us a genuine sense of well-being too.
Once you get past the notion that the only things that can live on walls are framed pieces of art, the options are only limited by your imagination. For us it’s about creating an interesting textured, layered aesthetic that’s both sophisticated and welcoming. Over to you!
