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Designer
Cathryn Royer
is still surprised by how chill she was when her client told her she wanted to paint her entire Vancouver apartment pink. “I didn’t hesitate at all, which was maybe unusual, because I feel like I’ve just begun to really dip my toe into big splashes of color,” says Royer. Her client, a friend’s mom who had bought a condo in the city to be closer to her daughter and granddaughter, wanted her space to be a joyful escape for her family. She tasked Royer with finding the shades that would tick that box while also feeling sophisticated. There were two paint colors that played a key role in that. “I would have contractors come in and be like, ‘It’s funny, I don’t like pink, but I like
this
,’” says the designer. Ahead, the pro reveals how she got the loud hue to play the role of a neutral.
Find the Perfect Paint Duo
Royer had spotted
Benjamin Moore’s Amaryllis
on an accent wall in the past, so it was the first swatch to come to mind for her client’s space. While looking at the fan deck, she noticed another shade called
Rose Lace
that also had some of the earthy undertones she was looking for (no bubblegum allowed). “I wanted to drench the space, including the ceiling, so I loved the idea of pulling two hues from the same color palette,” shares Royer.
Benjamin Moore
Amaryllis
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Benjamin Moore
Rose Lace
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On the walls and door casings, she went with Rose Lace, using an eggshell finish on the walls and semi-gloss on the trim. “There will be little kids in the condo, so we didn’t want too many fingerprints,” she points out. For the ceiling, Amaryllis (in eggshell) provided a darker launch point for introducing hits of maroon and baby blue. “I know many people will paint a ceiling white to make a space seem bigger and more open, but in this case the goal was to make it feel cozy and warm,” she says.
Royer’s seasoned painter took some creative liberty and covered the drop ceiling over the dining area in Rose Lace rather than Amaryllis to make the contrast between the two planes slightly more noticeable.
Commit to Your Palette
In a lot of ways, Royer’s furniture hunt was made easier by her client’s clear direction. “When I would go to a brand or showroom’s website, I’d automatically type in ‘pink’ and see what it brought me,” she says. Her focus was on bringing in different textures:
wood stools
in the kitchen,
soft velvet chairs
around the dining table, a
matte chandelier
. The only risky part was that Royer is based in Calgary, a ten-hour drive away, and wasn’t always able to color match pieces in person. “There were a few items I took a chance on but they turned out great because all of these pinks have so much dimension to them,” she says.
A pink trundle bed for her client’s granddaughter was the most challenging find. Royer assumed she’d have to go custom or find a piece and have it reupholstered, so she was shocked when she eventually found the perfect piece hiding out on Wayfair (sadly, it’s now discontinued). Another genius Wayfair find? The slipper chair in the living room. “That one was sight unseen and it turned out to be perfect,” she says.
She learned quickly that white and blue were great complementary hues, so she scooped up a throw blanket from
Clr Shop
and hung it on the wall like a tapestry and brought
West Elm’s Laurent sectional
into the formal living area.
Wayfair
Delfina 1-Light Single Pendant
$1,270
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Wayfair
Birch Lane Callie Barrel Chair
$1,650
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Find Little Ways to Bring in Big Character
Another trick for making the apartment seem more neutral and less
Barbie
was by choosing designs that look old, like the bed quilt from U.K.-based shop
Projektityyny
. “I needed to bring in something from afar, something that didn’t seem so
new,
” says Royer. The final word? When it comes to going all in on pink, there should be no tip-toeing involved. “You go big or go home,” she adds.
Projektityyny
Chocolate Gingham Patchwork Quilt
$562
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