Step into spring with Mint

Mint is a flavour and a colour I’ve always been in love with – there’s nothing more refreshing than a mint ice cream on a boiling hot day and nothing more soothing than coming home to fresh mint walls. 

Mint is a colour I go to time and again when I’m decorating and looking for something softer than blue or green. Often, a room is dying for a bit of personality but doesn’t want to be overbearing. That’s where mint comes in: it soothes and calms like a pastel but invigorates like an ocean breeze. 

Don’t get me wrong, you can make mistakes with mint. Too much of it can be cloying or clinical, think mouthwash and operating theatres. I remember being so proud when my boyfriend put up mint tiles all over our first kitchen. They were from Habitat and cost a fortune, and I thought my mum would be very impressed because she was a bit of a snob. I poured her a large glass of Chablis with which to toast the tiles, but when she walked in she just sniffed and said, “Hmm, it looks like a public lavatory.”

My fingers were itching to throw the glass of wine at her, but I didn’t because it was too expensive. I downed it instead and laughed a very shrill laugh. Twenty years on and the memory still stings me. How very dare she insult my taste. She with her 1970s brown and orange carpeted bathroom!

The kitchen is a great place to start decorating with mint. Ikea in Loulé has some glossy kitchen units and cupboard doors in a beautiful pale peppermint. New Terracotta in Coimbra has a range of handmade Craquelé glaze wall tiles in a delicate aqua. I’ve never been a fan of air fryers (I banished my husband’s to the basement because it’s not only so enormous it takes up half the worktop, but it’s also black and makes a noise louder than an aeroplane). I’ve managed to find a pretty little mint one – along with a mint fridge that’s a lot cheaper than a Smeg – from Spanish online retailer sklum.com

A mint feature wall can really transform a white bedroom. If you can’t find the right shade of mint, you can always mix your own. Use a huge bucket or trough for your creation. You’ll need to make up a fair amount because, if you run out before you’ve finished the wall, you’ll never be able to make the exact same colour again.

Mix equal parts blue and green and then a good measure of white and a touch of grey. Then, adjust according to your taste. You might even need to add a tiny bit of black or yellow. You’ll need to do a lot of vigorous stirring with a big stick to make sure it’s perfectly blended, if you have a spare bucket, try pouring the mixture from one to the other so you can see the colour is mixed properly all the way to the bottom. 

The wall above our bed (pictured) is the star of the show in our bedroom. I’ve added a bit of texture to my newly painted mint wall with a decorative carved wooden wall plaque I found at the pottery near Odiáxere. It doesn’t need much else, the bed itself I’ve kept white, but I dressed it with lots of velvet cushions in shades of mint and sand. 

Mint is not just for bedrooms and bathrooms, it works all over the house. It’s great with white and beige and grey. It can hang out with all the soft neutrals and retain a soothing vibe while at the same time making a living space feel cheerful and playful. Try mint in different textures – mint velvet feels luxurious, mint linen cool and crisp, and mint paired with rustic natural fibres like hessian and jute is perfect for a contemporary beach house look. Mint can’t help but make you feel fresh and creative – it’s the perfect colour to welcome spring. 

So throw open all your windows and doors, make yourself a mojito with lots of muddled mint and get decorating!