Monochrome, with lighter versions of black, is an alternative to bright white and dull magnolia

I confess to having magnolia walls in my house, even though the colour has been out of fashion since its monumental popularity in the ‘80s.

Back then, it was fresh and clean, after highly patterned, labour-intensive wallpaper was stripped from interior fashion. White was a no-no, except for woodwork, and considered too Mediterranean and at odds with our rain-soaked little island, so magnolia was neutral with a touch of warmth.

But its disadvantage was, and still is, a dull, murky tone on a grey winter’s day. It’s problematic in summer, too, because beautiful, warm rays of sunlight, especially those with the yellow hues of late afternoon when the sun is in the west, saturate it to a cigarette-smoke yellow. The morning doesn’t fare much better, when magnolia takes on the most unexciting tone of them all — beige.