Synaesthesia: the unusual reason behind my love of neutral decor

I originally published this post back in 2018, but in recent weeks I’ve seen yet more Instagram and magazine pieces pushing the idea that neutral decor is bland and soulless. So, I feel it’s time to update and reshare it – and explain why I find the continuing ‘beige is boring’ narrative so frustrating.

If you’ve spent any amount of time looking through this blog, you’ll have noticed that I’m always drawn towards calming, neutral hues. There are many reasons for this: they’re timeless and elegant, they create a versatile base that works with pretty much anything, and they help turn our homes into restful sanctuaries where we can unwind from the stresses and strains of our busy lives. But there’s another factor, too, and that’s a neurological condition called synaesthesia. 

If you haven’t heard of synaesthesia before, it’s where senses or cognitive pathways overlap, and the triggering of one leads to the involuntary triggering of another. It affects roughly one person in every 2,000 and can manifest itself in all sorts of different ways: some people perceive taste when they hear a sound, others might ‘smell’ touch. In my case, it means I see each letter, number and day of the week as a different colour – and not just ‘green’ or ‘red’, but very specific hues. Tuesday, for example, is pea green, whereas Thursday is a darker forest green; the letter ‘b’ is bright postbox red, while ‘u’ is a brown-based, brick-like red.

Above: how I see the alphabet (as accurately as I can render on a screen, anyway!)

My form of synaesthesia is known as grapheme-colour synaesthesia, and it’s such a natural part of my life that I reached my late teens before I realised it was unusual. I see it largely as a positive thing: it’s given me a strong appreciation of the subtle differences between colours and I think it’s one of the reasons I’m so interested in design, photography and other visually creative things. I also suspect it lies behind my love of language (and I mean a full-on geeky interest in spelling and grammar!), and it’s certainly helped me as a writer and editor. I can instantly spot typos because the colours I’d normally associate with a particular word appear in the wrong order – I’d notice straight away if ‘beautiful’ was written ‘beuatiful’, for instance, as the steely blue of the ‘a’ wouldn’t be in the right place. I also tend to have a very good memory for phone numbers, birthdays and names.

But there are downsides, as this fascinating BBC article on synaesthesia shows. I certainly don’t have it to the same extent as the doctor featured, and the whole ‘mirror-touch’ thing sounds terrifying, but it gives you an idea of how the condition can affect daily life.

I’m constantly bombarded by colour. As I write this, the hue of every single letter is flashing through my mind, and the same thing happens when I’m reading, talking and even just thinking to myself. As a result, I find it particularly hard to switch off, so I like my home to be a muted, minimalist space – an antidote to the never-ending rainbow dancing around inside my head. It’s why I tend to decorate with warm off-whites and gentle beiges and why, when I do incorporate other colours, they’re generally desaturated or quietened with muddy brown or grey undertones. It’s also why I display books with their spines facing inwards. I’ve always been an avid reader, and this is a way for me to have my much-loved book collection close at hand without finding all the different colours of the covers jarring and stressful.

Above: the neutral living room and book-shelf display in our former home

A quick trawl of online pieces written by other grapheme-colour synaesthetes suggests we’re fairly evenly split between those who love being surrounded by lots of colour and those who, like me, need a respite from it. And I think that just proves that the palettes we use in our homes are very personal choices, influenced by an array of different considerations. There needs to be a much greater awareness in general about the impact of neurodivergency on decor preferences, and an understanding that for some people avoiding sensory overload is a major factor. The insinuation that those of us who opt for neutrals are dull and unadventurous is, frankly, quite offensive. 

Above: the mood board for the renovation of our new home, which you can read about here

Even if you don’t have a condition such as synaesthesia, I think it’s essential to remember that you’re free to decorate your own home in whatever way you want, without judgement from others. If you love strong colour, then great; if you prefer neutrals and muted tones, that’s great too. I talk in both my books about the importance of finding hues that connect with you on an emotional level, and how there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach when it comes to choosing a colour palette or any other aspect of interior design. At the end of the day, all that matters is what makes you feel happy and comfortable – please don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

All images by Abi Dare

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