Stylist and event designer Laura Sawyer shows how to create a new kind of calm with a pigmented paint refresh that is feminine and cohesively layers colour.
Pics: Beth Davis
It’s time to banish the darkness.
The global mood is dark enough. At home, we want to bring in light.
The era of needing a miner’s lamp to find your way around your moody interiors is over.
Winter has ended. It’s time to lighten up.
The South London home of creative consultant, stylist and event designer Laura Sawyer, of The South Wing, a stylist, creative consultant and events designer, illustrates how to capture the new mood.
The walls ceiling and shelving have been painted in Pediment No.73
She lives in a double-fronted Victorian home that is used as a location property for shoots, so it has to be refreshed regularly.
She worked with the richly pigmented paint company, the London-made Mylands, to develop a palette that creates a sense of flow through the property and helps to bounce light around.
Before you apply new lighter colours, apply a coat or two of undercoat first.
It helps with the transition to a paler colourscape when painting onto dark surfaces.
Each colour was selected not only for its visual effect but also for the way it interacts with light, creating dynamic moods throughout the day.
In the kitchen, for example, Pediment No.73 covers the walls and ceiling. This is a subtle blush-pink tone hinting at grey, that warms a neutral room.
Overhead, there are dark timber beams that highlight the ceiling height.
The floral-patterned tabletop, ebonised bentwood chairs with woven cane seating, and freestanding display cabinet all help to provide contrast.
Painting the skirting and in Honest John No.58 helps to bridge the gap between the floor and the walls.
The same colour is on the shelving.
An arch leads through to the principal bedroom.
The bespoke colour on the wall is a muddy pink that she selected and that Mylands’ consultant helped create.
It is a soft tone that is very livable with and contrasts with the door and skirting, which is Pale Lilac No.246, the same shade that crowns the ceiling in the sleeping quarters.
In the guest bedroom that mood changes again.
The room is drenched in a calming natural colour, Myrtle Green No.168, which covers both walls and ceiling.
Reintroduced from archive colour books, it has a vintage quality to the hue that works well with the floral print bedhead and the linen bedding.
The flow switches again in the bathroom, where a black and white marble floor and white sanitaryware are softened by Holbein Chamber No.07, a versatile off-white with a hint of pink.
The high pigmentation of Mylands paints was essential to achieving this layered effect. Colours respond to the changing light to give each space depth, presence, and a cinematic quality.
The result is a home that feels alive, changing subtly with the time of day, and providing an environment where atmosphere and function are intertwined.
It helps that she likes a tidy, uncluttered space, which she wrote about on Instagram.
“Everyone’s talking about the move towards less polished content as a backlash to AI.
"More ‘real’, more behind the scenes, more messy. Which I completely get and agree with. Conceptually.
"In practice, I like things tidy. I like order. I like my house to make sense. I don’t find chaos charming. I find it stressful. My version of 'messy' is usually a cushion in the wrong place or a mug left out overnight.
"So yes, I’m going to try and share more of the behind-the-scenes. Just know that if it still looks suspiciously calm, that is me being vulnerable. This is me pushing myself. Soft launch of mess. Please be kind.”
Mylands is available through Stillorgan Decor
