{Home Tour: A bright Parisian apartment}

Over the last week, I've featured a collection of white, stark homes on Bright.Bazaar. There was that gorgeous white house, along with the cold, but super slick and stylish concrete homes on Monday's post. Despite not being my favourite interiors, I did manage to take some inspiration from them, but it was writing about Zach's Brooklyn apartment that reminded me why I started Bright.Bazaar back at the start of 2009: quite simply because I love colour and believe it allows us all to express ourselves inside our homes. I just find colour so uplifting and playful!

This Parisian apartment is a far cry from the small kitchen in Paris I wrote about a few weeks ago - both equally stylish, just for very different reasons. Talking in an interview with The Guardian, owner Mathilde Baralhe explains that she has had a lifelong love affair with bright shades (she's my kinda girl!). Cleverly, Mathilde kept all the walls, floors, mouldings and panelling neutral, whilst adding primary-coloured furniture to satisfy her desire for bright colours.

What works so well in Mathide's apartment is that, although it may not look like it, she hasn't gone wild with colour. Sticking to three colours - reds, yellows and blues - all the rooms are tied together and the bright colours become the story and the scheme running through her home. I love how she has added pops of colour to the backs of the floating box shelves; it makes what would be a fairly ordinary shelf, extraordinary!

Images: Antonie Baralhe

Lots of the latest homeware collections have jumped on board the trend for hot pinks and loud yellows, but what does colour mean to you? Do you like to add gentle hints in the form of pastel shades, or do you go for in-your-face, bold and brash brights?