When I started The Pink House last February, I had no idea how passionate people could be about pink. Yes, pink is my favourite colour, but when I chose and trademarked the name The Pink House, ‘pink’ was meant as shorthand for colour – for a love of colour – in general.
Turns out people really do give a massive shit about pink, though. Given that it’s basically just red with some white chucked in, pink’s impact is extraordinary.
To pay homage to this most polarising of colours, I asked four pink-passionate, super-inspiring people to tell me what this incredible colour means to them.
Read on to find out what Zoe Anderson (owner of hot new Shoreditch interiors boutique W.A.Green); Julie Taylor (the pinkspiration and camera behind hit Instagram feed @londonispink); and Jordan and Russell, (2LG Studio's genius interior designers), have to say about my favourite colour – be prepared for a few surprises and a whole load of fabulous pink-related decor ideas…
ZOE ANDERSON, W.A.GREEN
Zoe Anderson is the owner of Shoreditch’s hottest new lifestyle boutique W.A.Green, which is painted...you guessed it...PINK!
Zoe in front of her pink bathroom rose mosaic
Green is my favourite colour – my store is called W.A.Green after all - but it wouldn’t work nearly so well without pink.
Pink is one of those colours that always makes me feel happy: the store’s tagline ‘Dopamine for the home’ is about a little hit of happiness. I wanted to present our products in a fresh, boutique-like environment and show how a little colour can enhance your mood.
Inside the W.A.Green Shoreditch store, with its walls painted in Angie by Little Greene
It took a while to settle on the exact shade of pink to paint the shop. We chose Little Greene’s Angie in the end and have lost count of the number of times people have admired it and asked for details.
Little Greene has a great selection of pinks to choose from – they have the brightness lacking in other paint schemes.
Our current shop window is all about the power of pink, featuring only pink-painted surfaces and a great selection of our pink products. Using different shades of pink allows you create depth and warmth.
Pink on pink in W.A.Green
Pink-on-pink looks so good I now want to do something similar to my new bathroom and have been trying to source a pink basin to style with pink floors and wall tiles.
Pink is fun, pink is playful and pink is also the perfect antidote to grey, which has dominated home colour schemes for so long now.
I painted my first ever kitchen hot pink – it was a tiny space but the pink walls made it instantly cheery and I loved it.
When we originally decorated our house back in 2003, pink featured quite heavily, especially contrasted with dark colours.
The flower mosaic in Zoe's bathroom
We’re just about to redecorate. However my bathroom, which features a pink flower mosaic on black across an entire wall, is something I still love so it won’t be coming down.
I’ve always mixed pink with different colours rather than adopting it as whole colour palette. My Moroccan kitchen tiles feature rusty pinks with blues, greens and monochrome.
Zoe's bedroom
Adding pink is such an easy way to make a look feel fresh and relevant. An old candlestick looks considered and important with fluorescent pink candles for example.
My husband Gavin has never had a problem with pink in the home or in his wardrobe. One Christmas he got loads of stick from his family for wearing a pink sweater. We were so surprised they’d reacted like that.
I’ve never bought into the pink for girls thing; it’s something I actively sought to avoid when my daughter was small.
We have a little boy now whose favourite colour is pink and we’re his favourite shop in the world. He visits us most Saturdays in his pink sunglasses or t-shirt and counts all the pink things he can see – pink just makes him happy.
My favourite pink products in the store are some really fun flamingo candlestick holders. We also have the best pink peace finger cushions and the most incredible Pulpo pink ceramic side tables.
JULIE TAYLOR, @londonispink
Pink shows no signs of waning in popularity on Instagram, and @londonispink is no exception, with more than 16,000 people following American Julie’s pics of London at its rose-tinted best.
Julie's photo of a pink London front door and some #wisteriahysteria
I never liked pink before I moved to London four years ago. I never wore it (apart from lipstick) or owned anything pink.
When I first moved to London from Washington DC, the grey skies really affected my mood and I felt like a stranger in this new city.
But every time I saw a pink house, it was like a bit of euphoria passed through me. Pink is such a cheerful and cheeky colour, I suppose it made me feel that way, too.
I began taking pictures just for my personal Instagram, but then I decided to start the @londonispink feed dedicated to the pink places I found. I never thought it would grow the way it has, but I’m very happy to share the pink I find with my community!
Who lives in a London house like this?/Photo: @londonispink
Pink is a bold statement. Whenever I see a bright fuchsia door or a soothing pink pastel house, I try to imagine what kind of homeowner would live there.
I love all shades of pink, but I probably lean towards candy. I’m also fully obsessed with the 2016 Pantone colour of the year, Rose Quartz.
Don’t tell anyone, but mustard yellow has been my favourite colour for years, so much so that my husband refers to it as “Julie yellow”.
The colours that go best with pink are mustard yellow, dark green, navy and more pink.
My husband doesn’t own anything pink, but he doesn’t mind my obsession either.
The pastel pink Holland Park corner house is my favourite pink London building. Close runner-ups are the pink mews houses in Notting Hill and Kensington. I have such a huge crush on both of these houses!
Julie's favourite pink corner house in Holland Park/Photo: @londonispink
A bright pink vintage Mini Cooper is my dream car. I’ve asked for one for my next birthday, but I guess that means I finally have to bite the bullet and get a UK driver’s license.
Sometimes I find a pink door that really lifts the whole look of a house, but I’d usually take a pink exterior over a pink front door.
Our actual house is boring white and brick. We’re renting right now, so I don’t have much say. But if you look in my Google search history you will find lots of tutorials on how to paint a front door pink, so time will tell…
The amazing Made.com blush pink Frame chair is definitely on my redecorating wishlist.
Made.com blush pink Frame armchair
My five-year-old son loves pink, so I feel I’m doing my small part to influence the other half of the world. Pink is so fun and carefree – it’s a colour for everyone!
Pink is definitely having a moment right now but I don’t think its power to make a statement is going anywhere.
JORDAN & RUSSELL, 2LG STUDIO
These style-savvy guys are my new SE London neighbours, so I can confirm first-hand that their delicious house does indeed have a pink front door decorated with a golden dachshund. What’s the secret to making living lovely? Clue: it’s not blue…
Jordan and Russell from 2LG giving it proper pink/Photo: Megan Taylor
We've been using pink in our interiors for years. Our last house had a pale pink sitting room, a stripy pink guest room and pink Douglas fir flooring in our loft bedroom.
Pink is part of the reason we fell in love with our new property in the first place; all the hallway walls were pink. We've given it our 2LG treatment with a fresh re-design, but the pink soul remains.
Jordan and Russell's hallway has had the full 2LG treatment from top to bottom/Photo: Megan Taylor
We are seeing pink being used much more as a neutral in interiors. It's such a wonderful colour to live with.
Pink can be a hard sell (for some bizarre reason) but when our clients get on board they really get on board.
Mylands Rose Theatre is such a lovely, complex colour. Sometimes it looks pink, sometimes grey-lilac. It's a beauty and anyone who comes to our house asks about the colour.
We love pink with blue and emerald green, but we really want to experiment further and have cooked up a scheme using pink with brown and mustard/ochre. Sounds odd but you wait - it will be dreamy!
Our new pink bathroom was planned the day we brought the house two years ago. It's taken that long to find the perfect shade tile and to save up the funds. We literally looked at hundreds of samples!
The boys' pink bathroom of dreams/Photo: Megan Taylor
More pink bathroom amazingness with Victorian quarry tiles/Photo: Megan Taylor
The pink bathroom tiles are authentic Victorian quarry tiles, more typically used on pathways up to front doors. But they work perfectly in a bathroom and have a matt texture that feels so nice. They are also surprisingly inexpensive - you can get them from Tile Giant. We've matched the pink tiles with a sculptural bath, the Amiata, from Victoria + Albert Baths. It has an 80s Italian vibe that we love.
The pink paneling in our sitting room is our most liked image on Instagram. But for now our favourite room we’ve designed using pink is our bathroom because we’ve waited so long to install it and it feels like such a luxury everyday.
The pink panelling in Jordan and Russell's living room nearly broke Instagram/Photo: Megan Taylor
We love the shot of pink in our Forest Hill wallpaper collection we did with CUSTHOM: it's subtle but the design wouldn't be the same without it.
Fragments wallpaper - part of 2LG Studio's Forest Hill wallpaper collection with CUSTHOM
David Hockney uses colour, including pink, in such a beautiful way. His recent exhibition at the Tate was so inspiring.
The Gotham apartment belonging to Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns is retro pink heaven. Plus her performance is epic.
We were at the Met in New York in May and took so many pictures in this one room that was a nougaty buff pink colour...If anyone knows what it is please do tell!
We share lots of clothes and have an amazing pink scarf by Acne. It's the best scarf in the world and never fails to make us feel good. We also have lots of pink trainers.
The whole notion of the colour pink having a gender and men not being able to wear it is bullshit. Look back through history and pink was a classic masculine colour. We should all be able to wear what we love regardless of gender.
Buckley, our sausage dog, loves pink; he looks great in red, which of course looks great with pink!
