Themed rooms and crazy design choices are yours for the making!

Story time:

When I was growing up my mom, not the strictest parent by any measure, had just one rule when it came to our bedrooms. The outside of your bedroom door, and the walls, stayed plain. In fact she had a specific paint colour that this wall had to be – “iced coffee”…the colour of boredom. This was the blandest, most mundane and unexciting colour possible.

When I couldn’t sleep, I would simply stare at the walls, and in a matter of seconds my brain would switch off. Sleep was better than the blankness of that colour. If this was “iced coffee” it would be room temperature, unsweetened decaf with melted ice and too much milk.

Rebelling against the sleepy boredom

It is for this reason that I now live in a fairytale, rainbow coloured and maximalist house with walls painted colours like “Deep pool”, “Golden yellow” and “Marvelous mauve”, nearly 100 houseplants, an indoor tortoise terrarium, multiple hamsters and bowls of rocks and acorns that the kids keep on carrying into the house.

But as fun as my home is, there are people who go even further!

If you are fed up with your bland iced coffee walls and muted earth tones of super “tasteful” safe décor choices, why not find inspiration with one of our favourite way-out décor trends?

Barbiecore

You can’t escape the pink crusader! Whether you are a parent with a barbie crazed kid, a millennial reliving 90’s nostalgia or a new convert, thanks to the Barbie Movie, this iconic doll has taken over 2023. Do you want to go classic Barbie with the quintessential plastic pink perfection, or do you want to live your best life in your metro-manly Kendom? We found some of the most delightfully strange Barbie-based home inspirations out there:

A pink Barbie apartment and wardrobe

The Barbie Dreamhouse challenge.

Bring a bit of Barbiecore into your home

Monochromatic Magic

Another option to make your home your own is to embrace colour. But we are not just talking about a lick of paint and a few bright scatter cushions.

We are talking total immersion! These are our favourite Monochromatics (people who live in only one colour) and we kind of love what they have done to their homes and personas.

Elizabeth Sweetheart (The green lady of Brooklyn)

Sandra Ramos (The purple lady)

Kitten Kay Sera (The pink lady of Hollywood)

Ella Londen (LA Yellow)

Fun Fact: The pink lady and the yellow girl are actually best friends!

These Monochromatics all have different reasons for living a one-colour-life, but there is a common thread that they all share – they love that their eccentric choices bring joy to others. Wherever they go they bring a little magic along.

For us, this simple reason makes their unusual lifestyle choices worth celebrating.

If Barbie and bright colours alone doesn’t do it for you, we have found a couple of homes that deserve “honourable mentions”.

First up, the maximalist house of famous burlesque performer, Dita Von Teese. She has spent years transforming her LA home into a deliciously lux punk pin-up palace.

Next we have the antique French inspired interior of textile artist, and all round fashion muse Iris Apfel, in New York. Her over the top style often makes use of fabrics from her own design studio, Old World Weavers.

Also take a quick look at some of the craziest celebrity living spaces, from skate parks to monkey bars to giant Disney memorabilia…The other half just live differently…

The moral of the story?

Your home doesn’t have to fit someone else’s idea of “tasteful”. You have worked hard (and still do) to keep a roof over your and your loved one’s heads, so why not make it one you love, and a place that gives you a big fat smile every time you walk into it?

If home is where the heart is, your heart deserves to be happy!

Also read our article on the Barbie home in the Barbie Movie. Read here.  There is also a link in the article to take a tour of Barbie’s Dream home.