Becs Baker's decision to be bold with her colour palette has really paid off, creating a vibrant and stylish home.
Feature Dilly Orme Photos David Parmiter
A bit about me
I’m Becs Baker, head of talent for a branding design agency, and I live here with my husband Graham, our children, Arthur, 12, and Molly, nine, and our crested gecko, Strikey.
Where I live
A four-bedroom Edwardian semi-detached house in Twickenham, Middlesex. I share my home story on my Instagram account @becs_bakers_abode.
My best bargain
My vintage sideboard from eBay, which cost £250, including delivery.
For inspiration
I follow a lot of interiors accounts on Instagram. My dad is a retired art teacher, so I have always been encouraged to traipse around art galleries for ideas, too, and as I now work in a design agency I am always surrounded by creativity.
My favourite room
The dining room – I see it as my creative outlet.
In her previous home, Becs had played it safe with a neutral palette, adding colour with accessories and soft furnishings. ‘We’d only intended to live there for five years and ended up staying for 10,’ she says. ‘At the start of lockdown, though, it became apparent that we really needed more space with us both working from home and the children being home-schooled. It was a narrow Victorian terrace, with an open-plan living room-diner and no separate space to retreat to.’
This house was one of the first that Becs and Graham saw when they started their search, but it didn’t grab them initially. Then, unexpectedly, their house went under offer, so they came back to look at this one and realised that it ticked all the boxes.
‘The house was in good decorative order throughout, with easy-to-live-with grey walls and neutral flooring,’ says Becs. ‘So, we could settle in and start living there before beginning to make it our own. In our previous house, when we did the loft extension, I painted our new bedroom in Farrow & Ball’s Oval Room Blue, and I loved the sensation of being cocooned in colour. So, I wanted to use the move as an opportunity to experiment with a bolder use of colour in a way I hadn’t done before.’
A priority for Becs when they moved in was to paint the fireplaces, which were orange pine. ‘Graham didn’t agree on my colour choices, so I waited until he was away! I am quite impulsive, so I simply went to Homebase and bought Farrow & Ball’s Down Pipe, which I had thought was greyer than it was – it’s actually quite blue, but I think I prefer it,’ says Becs. ‘Thankfully, when Graham saw the colour in situ, he liked it too, and this was the start of his opening up to more use of colour throughout the house.’
As Becs’s confidence with colour grew, she brought it into the dining room too, first with a deep-green wall painted in Angelica by Craig & Rose, and then by experimenting with a mural – at which point Graham was much more on board. ‘I knew I wanted a mural behind the table and investigated wallpaper options, but when I realised my chosen one would cost around £450, I decided to experiment with blocks of colour using tester pots.
'Once I got going, I really enjoyed the creative process. I have repainted some parts of it in a softer colourway, and now I’m really happy with the results.’
Melamine makeover
When it came to the kitchen, Becs tried a different decorative approach. ‘The kitchen was one of the things about the house which first put me off. I knew it was high-end, but the top cupboards were beige, which I felt looked dated. I really tried to embrace it, but every day it felt like a disappointment.
'If the units had been wooden, I would have painted them straightaway, but the melamine finish seemed more of a challenge. Then I thought about wrapping them in vinyl. I chose a vinyl with a brushed metallic finish to avoid finger marks and reflect the light a little more. I also removed the handles and added push catches for a more streamlined finish.’
Becs tried her hand at wallpapering for the first time in Molly’s bedroom, as she wanted Molly to feel like the space was hers to help her settle into their new home. ‘There were a lot to choose from, so I curated a shortlist for her and let her have the final say,’ says Becs. ‘Then I tackled putting it up myself. There were really clear instructions. It’s all measured out for you to cut, then you simply paste the wall and put it in position. So, it was a lot more manageable than I originally thought.’
She then got the paintbrushes out again for a colour-block paint effect in Arthur’s room to give it personality and zone the space. ‘I chose the paint colours and knew that I wanted the colour-blocking to wrap around the corner, so used Frog Tape to mark off the sections and then just painted them in,’ she says. ‘I’m thrilled with the end result – and it only took me a few hours.’
The main bedroom turned out to be a more involved project, as Becs decided to install panelling to add detail to the room. ‘I got Cut My Plastic to supply the sections to size for me, then I started off just using a glue gun, but soon realised the walls weren’t at all straight, so I had to use panel pins,’ explains Becs.
She painted the panelling in Farrow & Ball’s Inchyra Blue – again without trying out a sample pot, but luckily she loved the finished look. Then, she used leftover Oval Room Blue from her previous attic bedroom to update the existing fitted cupboards and an IKEA chest of drawers in between, for a co-ordinated finish.
Confidence boost
As time’s gone on, Becs has experimented with different DIY techniques around the house, her most recent project being wallpapering the front room over a weekend. Not only has she gained confidence in using colour, but taking the plunge and learning new DIY skills has enabled her to give the house creative touches that really reflect her style.
‘Looking back, I can’t believe I used to hire a handyman to help me hang frames, and now I’m able to put up my own panelling and wallpaper,’ she says. ‘I am loving the process of making my home my own, whatever the challenges may be!’
Look around Becs' home
Kitchen
The original kitchen, with beige wall cabinets, was one of the parts of the house that deterred Becs during the first viewing. ‘I knew it was a good-quality kitchen, so I found a solution,’ she says.
Becs chose to wrap the cabinets in metallic-effect vinyl and gave them a more streamlined finish by replacing the wall cabinet handles with push catches from Amazon.
Dining room
The mural was hand-painted with tester pots from Farrow & Ball and Craig & Rose. It makes a great feature wall above the table, which Becs likes to dress for special occasions. ‘I love to faff with flowers,’ she says.
‘I really enjoy creating tablescapes when entertaining. It’s a great opportunity to have a good play and get creative.’
‘I was thrilled to find this vintage sideboard on eBay for just £250, including delivery,’ says Becs. ‘We use it as a home bar alongside the dining table, which is great when we have friends and family over.’
Living room
‘Our old L-shaped sofa bed was the wrong configuration for the living room, but luckily it fits perfectly in the loft, which acts as our guest bedroom and office,’ says Becs.
The couple were both drawn to this sofa for its vibrant colour and shape. ‘It’s super comfortable, too. I often end up falling asleep on it,’ says Becs. ‘After that, the green became a neutral for the house and I chose the leafy feathered design of the wallpaper to soften the living room and make it a relaxing space.’
Main bedroom
‘Our bedroom had no character, but I had a vision, which I created on a moodboard,’ says Becs. ‘I added panelling with the help of Cut My Plastic, who cut the pieces to size.’ Originally Becs had a four-poster in mind, but this iron bed suits her scheme perfectly.
Cloakroom
‘My biggest mistake was painting the WC pink!’ says Becs. ‘The colour looked lovely in the images I’d seen, but it was much murkier in real life. It’s all changed now!’ She used wallpaper to create a botanical look, teamed with panelling in Sap Green by Farrow & Ball.
The panelling was from Facebook Marketplace, so Becs just worked out the layout based on what was available and added a trim. Luckily, this meant she only needed one roll of wallpaper.
Landing
Becs made the most of the roomy landing, adding a chest for storage, which they brought from their previous home – it’s made in two pieces so that it can be taken up and down narrow stairs. She created a gallery wall, framing all the artworks in black to hold the collection together, and to tie in with the border on the wall.
Arthur’s bedroom
To add personality to Arthur’s bedroom, Becs spontaneously tried her hand at a colour-block paint effect, which only took a couple of hours to do.
Molly’s bedroom
This multi-functional cabin bed with an adjustable desk and room for a chest below – a happy hand-me-down – helps make the most of the space.
