Bring colour and pattern into the bathroom says designer Lucy Barlow

Lucy Barlow set up Barlow & Barlow, the Holland Park interior design practice in September 2013 with her brother, Max, the studio’s in-house lighting designer.

Lucy designs her schemes with a fearless and luxurious sense of print, pattern and colour.

The duo quickly gained a reputation for creating spaces that are both youthful and exuberant, playfully reinventing the traditional English interior for a young and dynamic clientele.

Find out more about Lucy Barlow of Barlow & Barlow.

Why are bathrooms such a great place to experiment with colour and pattern?

Secondary rooms such as guest bathrooms and cloakrooms are not used as regularly, making them great places to experiment with bolder colour and pattern choices. You can be really brave and choose brighter colour palettes and/or fabulous pattern that you may not feel confident to use elsewhere in the home.

How would you inject colour and pattern into bathrooms?

Companies such as Water Monopoly have fantastic bathroom suites in various colours - it's a really fun way to incorporate colour. We love using decorative ceramic sinks in our bathrooms - the London Basin Company have some incredibly beautiful styles which introduce colour and pattern through display china.

See these beautiful counter-top basins.

In addition, for your walls look to the brighter end of the paint chart, opt for ceramic tiles with colourful patterns such as Spanish/ Mediterranean designs or choose bold wallpapers.

What kind of colours work well and how should you combine them?

Colours that work well are blushes and pastels for a more country chic colour palette, or if you fancy something more tropical we love the boldness of our signature pink and green scheme.

Read Lucy Barlow's ten key points to successful interior design in the home.

Jacky Parker is a London-based freelance journalist and content creator, specialising in interiors, travel and food. From buying guides and real home case studies to shopping and news pages, she produces a wide range of features for national magazines and SEO content for websites


A long-time contributor to Livingetc, as a member of the team, she regularly reports on the latest trends, speaking to experts and discovering the latest tips. Jacky has also written  for other publications such as Homes and Gardens, Ideal Home, Red, Grand Designs, Sunday Times Style and AD, Country Homes and Interiors and ELLE Decoration.