Wall Around the World: Dark & Gold in the U.K.

Welcome to the Wall Around the World series, where we go inside the homes of some amazing gallery wall stylists and get the inside scoop on how they choose their art and decor. Check back next week for the latest virtual tour!

Today’s dark & gold gallery walls come from Leicester in the U.K., where Nadia lives with her family.

Here, Nadia shares the secrets to her home style, including how she arranges her gallery wall art in a mosaic fashion.

On where she lives

I live in a village just outside Leicester which is in the East Midlands in the U.K. But I am originally from Essex and am hoping to go back in the near future.

I’ve always been arty and loved to draw and be creative from as long as I can remember.

I did graphic design at University in Leicester, where I met my husband and now live, and have had many creative jobs from an employed graphic designer to a self-employed scenic artist working in theatres around the country. 

My home was built in 1919. We have lived here for nine years.

It was originally built as a two-bed but over the years with previous owners and ourselves adding extensions it has evolved into a four-bedroomed house.

We have a large 350-ft garden and long drive, so we’re very lucky to have good outside space round the property.

We live close to the village church and enjoy the church bells every Sunday.

The property is a good size, above average but because it was originally built as a two-bed most of the rooms are not that big. We extended the kitchen when we moved in, doubling the size to 35 ft. A great entertaining space, especially at Christmas.

My current home is our third, and we are hoping to move house next year. Through posting a photo of my dark painted living room on Instagram three years ago, to my surprise people really liked it and I gained a following quite quickly. And my Insta journey began.

This is now turned into a job where I show my decorating tips and hacks and style products for companies, and I’m lucky enough to get paid.

This works brilliantly for me, being at home, working from an office in my garden allows me to look after my eldest son who is autistic and at college part time at the same time.

Fantasy house guest: I would invite all my favourite housewives from “The Real Housewives” franchise, including Andy Cohen. We would get very drunk and dance on my kitchen table. 

On her home decor style

It wasn’t until I started posting on Instagram that I realised I had a “style” because people told me!

I’ve always loved the colour gold from a kid and incorporated it into my first home in 1997, a two-bed terraced. Gold wasn’t as trendy as it is now so it was a case of spraying all my homewares!

In 2010 we moved into this home, and carrying on with my gold theme I teamed it with black then a couple of years later teamed it with navy blue.

At the time I’d never seen these colours in homes being used and I suppose that’s what I’m known for — dark interiors with gold metallic accents. Which is a lot more popular now, I don’t need to spray anything gold anymore.

On making decor decisions

When we moved in, the living room had the most awful wallpaper, and I needed to paint it out fast while I decided what to do with the decoration of the room.

I went to my local paint store and had mixed up the darkest colour I could find, which was a very dark brown called Rum Caramel. I painted over the wallpaper and instantly fell in love. It still remains after nine years, not so temporary after all.

My second dark wall was another happy accident a couple of years later. I bought a black paint from Farrow and Ball for the new fascia outside, but as soon as it went on I realised it was more navy than black so stopped.

I don’t like to waste anything so one day just painted the dark navy in my bedroom, hung my gold picture frames and it was instant love again! After that, painting dark rooms never stopped.

I love Pinterest and Instagram but I just tend to have my own ideas. Not on purpose, it’s just the way it seems to evolve.

I pretty much wing everything I do. I don’t plan or do mood boards, I have ideas in my head and just do them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some interiors genius — this hasn’t always worked out, like the time I painted my whole hall and landing gold!

Pop culture influences: Moulin Rouge, Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, I love musicals and theatre. I also enjoy real-life documentary films, I find real-life stories fascinating. My favourite band, and always has been since a teen, is Depeche Mode. I do actually listen to them when painting the house or doing anything creative. Most of the time, though, I listen to ambient or chilled-out music.

Favorite shops: Homesense mainly as you can find unique pieces for the home. I love local antique places and reclamation yards, and charity shops can be good, too. I like things that are a bit different but I like to shop supermarket homewares, too.

On the gallery wall process

My love of interiors has always been there, starting when i had my own bedroom as a teen. This was the first time I did gallery walls, without realising they were “gallery walls.”

I used to take cuttings from magazines and to the horror of my mum, stick the pictures to my bedroom wallpaper with pritt stick.

Still in the same style I do now — except I use art, frames and command strips! 

I start with art I like. I’m not into colourful, I prefer monochrome and of course, gold.

I then lay everything out on the floor and arrange. I like my pictures to “slot” into one another, almost mosaic like. I don’t like gaps!

Once the arrangement is what I like, I take a photo from above then start copying it onto my wall. I usually find with gallery walls they have a habit of growing.

To emulate Nadia’s style: Don’t be afraid of dark colours, and to give it that added glamour go for gold!

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You can find Nadia posting her awesome interiors on Instagram: @artynads.

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P.S. Read previous Wall Around the World posts.

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