Hello my fellow colour lovers.  What a colourful month November turned out to be. Colourful travels visiting friends, colourful events including being interviewed live on radio in Australia, panel discussions, book events where I got to meet one of my colour heros, podcasts, playing colourful tourist, my book coming out in a further three languages, colour Christmas lights, all before jetting off to Australia! So come with me as I take you through my colourful month for November…    

Orange Pumpkin patch

I spotted this in the car whilst out with my friend Tamsin, and it was a ‘quick pull over’ moment. Halloween might be over but there’s still lots of pumpkins in all tones of orange to be found.

Hidden colour at the Barbican

When you walk into the Barbican, performing arts centre, you can’t help but notice the Brutalist style architecture with its pared back colour palette of raw concrete and glass. However it’s a very different story on the lower ground floor. Head down stairs and it’s like you’ve just walked into the sun – it’s awash with bright orange.

For the 15 minutes or so that I wait for the doors to open I sit and bask in the glow of my favourite colour.

What did I see? The Royal Shakespeare Company’s version of Taming of the Shrew which was an absolute comedic delight!

Inside Stylist – colourful chat

The Inside Stylist is a networking event hosted by two Emmas –  Emma Morton-Turner and Emma Merry who invited Marianne Shillingford and me to speak at their event about colour. It was a Q&A panel discussion where we shared lots of colourful insights and behind the scenes secrets. It was a sellout which always makes me happy as it shows that colour is making a comeback in the design world! Made our colourful hearts sing!! That was the first of four events Marianne and I are doing together this month… it’s an epic month of colour!

The venue was Hello Dolly which is part of the Old Vic theatre. If you get a chance it’s definitely worth a visit. It was like being Alice in Wonderland. I was going to post up photos of the amazing interior but I don’t want to spoil the surprise that awaits you. Also it’s a work in progress so you’ll probably find even more incredible colour & design delights.

In case you missed it, Emma Morton Turner invited me onto her podcast – if you would like to listen to it you can find it over here at Inside Stylist podcast – Really Getting to grips with colour with Karen Haller: episode 73.

Colourful interview with Home Milk

Emma Merry from Home Milk (so not to confuse you but this is a different Emma Merry – can you believe there are two of them in interior styling!) invited me to be part of her IGTV series of interviews. I went to her home which is very colourful indeed and we filmed four interviews that will be coming out as a series of episodes.

Scroll down to the end of this post to see links to Emma’s four posts. I’ll be posting them on my IG feed too so look out for the posts which you’ll be able to easily spot with us sitting in her Emerald green living room.

Country living fair

I popped down to the opening day of The Country Living Magazine Christmas Fair at the Business Design Centre Islington, London to take delivery of my books in preparation for my talk later in the week. Prue Leith (Great British Bake Off judge) who is known for her love of colour was there talking about her life and book signing. I thought this is the perfect opportunity to give her a signed copy of my book. And as you can see she very happily signed my own copy of my book too. What a treat! 

Then on the Friday I was back at The Country Living Magazine Christmas Fair to be on the stage myself in conversation with Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director Dulux UK discussing The Little Book of Colour. There was a book signing afterwards and of all the things to forget, I forgot to bring a pen… talk about a rookie error!

Colourful Notting Hill

My brother was over from Australia for work and I got to catch up with him before he flew back home so I took him on a tour of Notting Hill where I lived for almost 12 years. After having breakfast at fellow Aussie Granger & Co. we did the obligatory visit to the Notting Hill movie bookstore and blue door (which one owner had painted black, maybe they wanted to go incognito) and the colourful townhouses.

The Little Book of Colour comes out in a further three languages

The Little Book of Colour has come out in three more languages! It’s now available in Thai, Korean and Russian. As you can see Korea decided to go with a completely different cover design which they thought would appeal more to their target market of early twenty year olds.

This colourful little book is certainly finding its way to far flung corners of our colourful world!

Christmas Colour

I managed to squeeze in a couple of Christmas treats at the end of November. Even though I grew up with Christmas at the beach there is something special about Christmas and wintertime – cosy, snuggling up and I don’t mind at all that it gets dark early – it’s the only way you’re going to see Christmas lights in all their colourful glory!

Taking in the London lights with my brother (back over again, this time on holidays) and his wife, first we went to colourful Carnaby Street and then onto Regent Street in all her elegance.

I absolutely love Christmas Fairs. This year I visited Leeds Castle in Kent with two friends Tamsin and Lynn who are big kids like me with our love of colourful lights, rides, hot chocolate (and piping hot mulled wine for me) and delicious delights.

Interior Design Business podcast

It was the first time I’ve been to the Rocha Gallery at Imperial Wharf which was designed by the late Zaha Hadid. It felt like I was stepping into her mind. So if you’re a fan of her design then you’ll want to experience this.

Jeff Hayward (one half of Interior Design Business along with Susi Rumbold) and I had discussed doing a podcast on colour earlier in the year. He was planning to hold it end of November to coincide with their first year birthday celebrations and to record it in front of a live audience. This was something I didn’t want to miss so I decided to delayed my trip to Australia. It was such a fun experience. If you have ever been to the recording of a TV show it was similar to that.

And it was the first time a dog attend and front row no less. Rusty was adorable. He even waited ever so patiently for his mum Nicola Keenan of Boxx Creative to have her book signed. He definitely stole the show.

If you would like to listen to the recording here’s the link.

Colourful sunrise over Australia

On the 29^th November I flew to Australia for my annual trip back home to be with family. On the second leg out of Singapore I scored a window seat and after a good sleep I raised the shutter to see where we were. Talk about perfect timing – I was greeted with the most wonderful sunrise of glorious pink, yellow and orange. Now that’s a colourful welcome home!

Let’s Stay in Touch

So that’s a colourful wrap for November. Thank you for joining me this month and I look forward to seeing you again for December’s colour filled issue from sunny Australia.

If you would like to stay in touch with what I’m up to in our colourful world then join my mailing list to receive your monthly dose of colourful news.

You can also download the First Chapter of The Little Book of Colour for free.

Want to find new ways to bring colour into all areas of your life? Then The Colour Club might be just what you’re looking for.

You can also find me over on Instagram.

Wishing you a colourful day!
Karenx

Want to find out more?

Inside Stylist networking – a network especially for interior stylists and interior designers

Inside Stylist podcast – Really Getting to grips with colour with Karen Haller: episode 73

Home Milk IGTV – 4 episodes where Emma and I discuss colour
Ep 1: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5V0u6PlnCG/
Ep 2: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5n3l_zlckv/
Ep 3: https://www.instagram.com/p/B555Y_olS_9/
Ep 4: https://www.instagram.com/p/B6L4UoWFbBs/

Country Living Fair

Interior Design Business podcast – All about Colour

Roca London Gallery