Colour Forecast 2026: A Cottage Bedroom, Dreamed in Colour with Fran Perks
Jul '26
At Craig & Rose, we believe the most beautiful interiors are those that feel deeply considered. Shaped by colour, atmosphere, architecture and the way a room is truly lived in.
For this cottage bedroom transformation, created as part of our Colour Forecast 2026, we partnered with Francesca Perks, whose thoughtful approach to interiors and fashion captures the realities of creating a home with warmth, character and intention. Known for her honest, witty and highly personal design perspective, Fran brings a refreshing charm to the decorating process.
Her brief was deceptively simple: to transform a small, characterful cottage room into a bedroom with one clear purpose, rest. With its intimate proportions, low ceiling and irregular architecture, the space called for a palette that would soften and enhance the room while staying true to her style.
From the four curated palettes within Colour Forecast 2026, Fran was drawn to Dream, a collection of nostalgic, gently layered hues designed to bring warmth, softness and a bit of whimsy.
Here, Fran reflects on the transformation in her own words, from the charm and challenge of the room itself to the colours, details and design decisions that brought it quietly to life.
Fran's Forecast Diary
Falling for the smallest room
My bedrooms have always been multi-hyphenates: a bedroom and a walk-in wardrobe, a bedroom and an office, a bedroom and my dad’s designated space for his BMX memorabilia (no, really), so when we stood in the doorway of the bedroom whilst viewing the cottage for the first time, and I looked out at a room that could just about squeeze in a double mattress and would almost guarantee my partner hit his head on the ceiling each morning, I felt an immediate draw.
A bedroom so little it's only goal is to sleep in it. To relax. There’s no way my dad could even affix a BMX to those beams.
We’ll take it.
Finding The Dream Palette
Once we’d moved in and lived in the space for a couple of months, I gave myself the mental go-ahead to start planning what to do with the room. And given my penchant for overthinking, decision paralysis quickly set in: creating a space that honoured the cottage, still felt representative of our style, and didn’t overwhelm the room’s small dimensions.
It was going to be just a bedroom for the first time, and I was going to do it right.
The antidote to my decision paralysis was the Craig & Rose Colour Forecast: four palettes created by the team to transform spaces with the perfect amount of depth, light, optimism and vibrancy. Something that simply me and my mighty system of Pinterest boards could never achieve alone.
From the four palettes, we went with ‘Dream’: hues that struck the perfect balance between being a calming presence while still retaining personality.
Fran's Forecast Diary
Falling for the smallest room
My bedrooms have always been multi-hyphenates: a bedroom and a walk-in wardrobe, a bedroom and an office, a bedroom and my dad’s designated space for his BMX memorabilia (no, really), so when we stood in the doorway of the bedroom whilst viewing the cottage for the first time, and I looked out at a room that could just about squeeze in a double mattress and would almost guarantee my partner hit his head on the ceiling each morning, I felt an immediate draw.
A bedroom so little it's only goal is to sleep in it. To relax. There’s no way my dad could even affix a BMX to those beams.
We’ll take it.
Finding The Dream Palette
Once we’d moved in and lived in the space for a couple of months, I gave myself the mental go-ahead to start planning what to do with the room. And given my penchant for overthinking, decision paralysis quickly set in: creating a space that honoured the cottage, still felt representative of our style, and didn’t overwhelm the room’s small dimensions.
It was going to be just a bedroom for the first time, and I was going to do it right.
The antidote to my decision paralysis was the Craig & Rose Colour Forecast: four palettes created by the team to transform spaces with the perfect amount of depth, light, optimism and vibrancy. Something that simply me and my mighty system of Pinterest boards could never achieve alone.
From the four palettes, we went with ‘Dream’: hues that struck the perfect balance between being a calming presence while still retaining personality.
Colour Drenching Soft Green
For the wall colour, we landed on ‘Soft Green’ as our shade of choice and, alongside Scott, the brilliant painter Craig & Rose kindly sent over bright and early on a Tuesday morning, we agreed on colour drenching the ceilings too. As with most cottages, the higgledy-piggledy shape of the room lent itself to being wrapped in one colour, leaving the skirting boards and farmhouse-style doors their original white.
Building the room around the palette
As for the interiors of the bedroom, having the Dream palette as a guiding principle really helped ground me, as someone with a penchant for a late-night online order and the disposition of, “Let it arrive and let’s just see if it works.”
Those nine hues that made up the palette stood as the perfect voice of reason when absent-mindedly adding things to my online basket: “Fran, this is not even close to the hue of our anchoring presence.”
And so, collating the interiors of the room did take more time, yet felt a lot more intentional in doing so: the perfect hand-painted lamp in the hue of Morris Blue, our ottoman storage bed in the hue of Moorish Yellow, and pops of Pompadour in our Maria Murphy artwork above the bed.
The turning point: Smalt
Then we had Smalt this grounding anchoring colour that appears in all four of the Colour Forecast palettes. A striking ornamental blue for making a bold statement.
Working Smalt into the room, even in a small way (in my case, painting an oak armchair) truly was the turning point of the bedroom transformation. Injecting just the right amount of energy into a room designed for calm.
The metaphorical BMX on the wall.
The Finished Room
Looking at the bedroom now, standing in the doorway where I first viewed it months ago, I feel as if I’ve pulled off what I deemed a rather tough brief (albeit nearly in its entirety thanks to Craig & Rose): a calming space in what is, by all accounts, an incredibly small room.
A space that respects its cottage foundations, yet still feels like it belongs to our own sensibilities and taste.
My first bedroom that’s simply just a bedroom.
And it’s really ruddy good at it. Thanks Craig & Rose
Love Fran x
One thing, exceptionally well
Seeing Fran take our palettes and create this transformation is a reminder that considered colour can completely change the feeling of a room, no matter its size. By embracing the bedroom’s intimate proportions rather than working against them, Fran has created a space that feels calm, characterful and beautifully resolved.
The Dream palette gives the scheme a beautifully considered sense of direction, with Soft Green creating a restful foundation and carefully chosen accessories and furnishings adding to the depth and personality that Fran is known for. Each colour feels intentional, allowing the room to feel layered without becoming overcomplicated.
It is this balance that makes the space feel so successful. A small cottage bedroom with a clear purpose, brought to life through colour, texture and personal detail. It proves that a room does not need to do everything to feel complete. Sometimes, the most beautiful spaces are the ones designed to do one thing exceptionally well.
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