Playful, feminine and kitsch, pink is suddenly everywhere, thanks to the upcoming release of Barbie, the movie starring Margot Robbie in the title role, with Ryan Gosling as her trusty sidekick, Ken.
Preview shots of the film’s candy pink and magenta ensemble may have some reach for her sunglasses, but the ‘Barbiecore’ hashtag has attracted nearly half a billion views on TikTok. As an interior designer and guest judge on hit TV shows, including the BBC’s Interior Design Masters, he encourages everyone to break free from the ‘beige box house’.
The confinement changed our relationship with our homes. Being forced to spend so much time confined to four walls made people realize how sad neutral palettes can be. Now, thankfully, no one seems to care much about having the “right” shade of gray on the walls.
People have overcome their fear to make bolder decisions.
In my own home, a late Victorian farmhouse in East Sussex, I’ve just had a new kitchen installed, with soft pink cabinets. The front door is a welcoming pastel pink, and there are pops of pink throughout, from a hot pink stair runner to the bright pinks in the office wallpaper.
Amy Griffith’s six-bedroom, seven-bathroom house in Essex is known to many as “Barbie’s house.”
My husband Tom is a builder and we have a 12-year-old son, Arthur, so I am well aware of the battle many women face when trying to bring this color into their homes.
That’s silly because it wasn’t until the 1950s that pink was considered a feminine color, but if you meet with resistance, be smart and choose pinks with names like “putty” or “plaster,” so they blend in.
To go Barbiecore, though, you have to be cheeky—there’s no point in playing it safe with some pink throw pillows or accessories, as these extraordinary houses illustrate.
This is my dream house and Barbie would love it.
Like most women of her generation, 47-year-old Amy Griffith enjoyed playing with Barbie dolls as a child. She now, she has two real-life Barbie dream homes of her own, one in rural Essex and one in Morocco.
Her six-bedroom, seven-bathroom home in Essex is known to many as “Barbie’s house.” Not surprising, given that it’s even painted pink on the outside.
“When I invested in the property in 2009, it was just a ramshackle beige house that hadn’t been shown any love for many years,” says Amy, an artist and businesswoman who lives between the two houses with her partner and rents them when She’s not there.
Like most women of her generation, 47-year-old Amy Griffith enjoyed playing with Barbie dolls as a child. Now, she has two real-life Barbie dream homes, one in rural Essex and one in Morocco.
“I wanted to design a house that would serve as a masterpiece in its own right.
“I chose pink as the main theme that runs through the house because it’s a feel-good color.”
The style is eclectic, bold and kitschy with bedrooms, bathrooms, dining room, hallway, and expansive gardens decked out and outfitted in every shade of pink, from blush to neon.
“Barbie wasn’t my original inspiration for the house, the pink theme just evolved. I’ve come to realize that color is just one part of who I am.”
Some say it’s childish, but I love being feminine.
Looking at the outside of Sophia Ferrari-Wills’ five-bedroom traditional country house in rural Cambridgeshire, you’d never guess that inside it’s like walking into a Barbie Dreamhouse.
On a break from her career as a midwife and health visitor, Sophia, 35, lives with her husband Chris, 43, a printing sales manager, and their daughters Clemmie, four, and Minnie, two.
Sophia Ferrari-Wills lives with her husband Chris, 43, a printing sales manager, and their daughters Clemmie, four, and Minnie, two.
Her love of pink interiors has earned her 494,000 followers on Instagram (@thiscolourfulnest)
Her love of pink interiors has earned her 494,000 followers on Instagram (@thiscolourfulnest).
“I’ve always been a girl,” laughs Sophia.
‘My friends bought me the Ferrari Barbie as a gift in my teens because of my last name. I still have it.
Two days after buying the cabin in October 2019, Sophia went to work. ‘It was my pleasure to hand paint each dark wood stair shaft pink.
‘Last year I painted the wood stove in the living room and everything in the kitchen pink, including the microwave.’
The garden fence is painted in a shade called ‘My Husband Said No’. Not that Sophia had any trouble convincing Chris.
“When we met, I was wearing a pink shirt and socks,” she says. ‘Like me, she loves colour.’
Other members of your family are not as enthusiastic. “When some relatives came to stay, they weren’t very impressed. ‘All pink is a bit childish, isn’t it?’ they said. ‘Surely you will be more neutral when renovating the house in the future?’ The answer is no.’
I’ve even painted the patio pink
Kate Morgan’s three-bedroom house in an Essex village has gotten the full Barbie treatment. ‘The house was new construction when we bought it six years ago and it was all magnolia. Little by little I added color to inject some personality.
“I’ve always been very feminine and I’m obsessed with Barbie, so wearing pink is not an interior decorating trend for me, it’s my neutrality. Our old house also had pink bedrooms and a pink kitchen.
Kate Morgan’s three-bedroom house in an Essex village has had the full Barbie treatment
Kate’s house is now a glorious tribute to all things pink and pastel, from the pink-painted pavers in her patio to the patterned flowers on her stair steps.
Kate’s house is now a glorious tribute to all things pink and pastel, from the pink-painted pavers in her patio to the patterned flowers on her stair steps.
As a child, she owned several Barbie dolls and the highly coveted Barbie motorhome. “I especially love my pink-themed kitchen. To keep costs down, I’m a do-it-yourselfer, doing most of the decorating myself, including upcycling furniture by painting it pink and other pastel shades.
‘I painted the floor in my bedroom pink and also the furniture in the kitchen. I scour thrift stores and boot sales for vintage accessories.
‘My friends love my house, they see it as a novelty. But having everything pink would be overwhelming, so I offset it with lots of greens, blues and lilacs to break it up.’
She describes herself as an ‘accidental instagramer’ who has gained more than 430,000 followers since she posted some progress photos of her interiors in 2019 (@kate_rose_morgan). Her husband, 44-year-old Ella Lammert, a trainer for the National Health Service, was not swayed when it came to the color choice.
“I especially love my pink-themed kitchen,” Kate said. “To keep costs down, I’m a do-it-yourselfer, doing most of the decorating myself, including upcycling furniture by painting it pink and other pastel shades.”
‘He knows how much I love anything to do with interiors, so he says yes to any ideas I have just to make me happy! I’m lucky, because I know a lot of men wouldn’t consider it,” says Kate, 40.
As for the Barbie movie, Kate says she and her eldest daughter are on the countdown, while her husband gears up for more pink house projects once they’ve seen it.
The kitchen fitter just couldn’t believe his eyes
Communications manager Lucy Saxton-Quinn went for Barbiecore in her bright pink kitchen, with the full support of her husband.
The guy from the kitchen company who came to install it thought we were joking when we told him it was pink. When he took the drives out of the box, he was so excited that he asked if he could FaceTime his wife to show her,” says Lucy, 39, whose pink-themed home is a two-bed duplex in Tunbridge Wells that she shares with Jason, 58, an author and magazine editor, and his two dogs.
Communications manager Lucy Saxton-Quinn has gone Barbiecore in her bright pink kitchen, with the full support of her husband.
“As a child I had Barbie dolls and the pink Barbie car. It’s such a crazy happy color and you can’t help but feel alive when you’re surrounded by pink.
“I fell even more in love when Jason spoke at the Jaipur literature festival in India a few years ago, a city famous for its beautiful colours: there was bright orange, pink and fuchsia everywhere.
“It inspired the theme for our Bollywood and Tropicana Club wedding in Kent in 2019, including a bright pink tuk-tuk instead of a traditional wedding car.
“Pink is our trademark and it makes us so happy that we decided to do it with our kitchen and go for the brightest, pinkest units we could find when we renovated it in 2018.”
Lucy (above) says her friends describe her home as a “cross between a nightclub and a Bollywood set” and that she’s already hatching a plan to spread the Barbiecore trend to other rooms.
“The living room needs to be redecorated, so it will be pink, followed by the exterior of the front door,” she adds. ‘Our neighbors comment on the pink kitchen as they can see it when the lights are on and say how cheerful it is. Even the kids on our way like to stop by and have a look.
“Jason loves to cook Indian food, so the kitchen is a fun space for him and we often match our clothes to the units.”
