Show your stripes - or checks

 

Fortunately, my home office isn’t quite as wretched as the “before” pic above, sent to me by Benjamin Moore Paints. But it’s almost as bad, and I KNOW I should bestir myself to get down to an office makeover. BM’s “after” pic is an ode to take-no-prisoners colour, and incorporates stripes, which I seemed to see all over the place on a recent trip to Europe. Checks were also big: I got a lovely set of cherry-pink checked sheets on sale at Zara Home in Portugal. I’m going to put them in a cottage bedroom that’s painted a pale, minty green in which I’ve dressed the tops of vintage night-tables with Marimekko’s Lumimarja wallpaper - hot pink and red berries on branch motifs set again a white background (see below). I got it through New Wall, which has some amazing papers.  So fresh and pretty. I love the bold use of colour in the after pic, but I’m not sure I could handle it day in and day out at the office. What about you? For your home office, would you prefer big, bold stripes or a single strong colour?