Maybe it’s the time of year, but I love peaches. Their strange orangey-yellowness (I love yellow) and their velvety softness (I love velvet too). But I also love peach as a colour in interiors. It’s been rather overshadowed by it’s brasher, showier brother – orange – in recent years, but I think it’s due a revival. You might think I’m mad – particularly if you lived through the 80s (and if I look back to photos of myself in my peach, puff-sleeved bridesmaid dress circa 1989 I’d be inclined to agree with you) but I think every colour deserves a second chance.


I accidentally stumbled on some peach velvet a while back on eBay. Admittedly, I was expecting what I ordered to be a neutral taupe-type hue, but when it arrived it was undeniably peach (the dangers of display-screen differences!). But then it struck me that this might just work on another project. I needed a lampshade for a huge 1970s lava-glaze lamp I’d purchased (also on eBay) and decided to give peach a chance (pardon the pun... so obvious, so irresistible). So I made myself a huge peach velvet lampshade, with the help of a lampshade kit, some very, very sticky tape and a lot of swearing! My lovely lamp and its peachy-crowning-glory now have pride of place in our living room. Combined with the otherwise fairly masculine decor (walls in Little Greene Rolling Fog Dark, heavy black leather armchair, kilim cushions and chestnut cowhide table), I love it. I’ve even added a peach cushion on the sofa! (Image above taken by Carole Poirot for the Hide & Seek Lookbook – a sneak peak of what's launching soon).

And so here’s a bit more peach inspiration... courtesy of my design-hero, Ilse Crawford, on the left, who always produces such amazing, understated, yet complex colour schemes. Peach velvet chairs, warm grey walls, shaggy sheepskin rug and a touch of metallic shininess – perfection!

Or this bright, airy space on the right – already very cool thanks to the gorgeous moroccan boucherouite and beni ourain rugs – but made even cooler with the peach abstract artwork.