Clodagh McKenna's bedroom makeover is a masterclass in making a dark space feel 'lighter, brighter and incredibly calming'

Oh, how we love a dramatic home makeover, as does Chef Clodagh McKenna, clearly, as she proudly invites fans in for a peek at her incredible bedroom transformation in time for the cosy season.

As part of the transformation of Broadspear, the 100-acre Hampshire estate she’s been renovating – Clodagh initially painted the bedroom a dark green, creating a brooding, atmospheric sleep space. But now she’s ready for the room to feel "lighter, brighter and incredibly calming," but just as cocooning.

While the makeover looks dramatic, she’s revealed how simple it can be with the right paint, lighting and refined finishing touches – as well as offering tips on why a neutral base makes the most "restful backdrop" that is easy to "change with the seasons."

For Clodagh’s room to capture the lightness and warmth she craved, it was all about finding the right colour to anchor every decision that followed. She settled on a creamy, warm white that reminds her of something very specific.

Sharing a video to her social media, she explains, "I colour-drenched [the room] in Dulux Heritage Linen. It's a shade of white that I really love. It reminds me of when I'm making a panna cotta and the egg yolk has popped into the milk, and you get that perfect, creamy, warm white."

By colour-drenching the room – that's painting every surface in the same colour, including the ceilings and the skirting boards the space feels opened up but not in a cold, empty way thanks to the warm, earthy tones. The before-and-after in her video makes the difference immediately clear.

A bedroom being a bedroom, Clodagh wanted sleep to be the most important part, inspiring the choice of warm, layered lighting.

Showcasing her choices of lights at different heights and positions, she shared, “I love these little twin lights, wall lights. They're really beautiful. I put them on either side of the bed. I put on some lights for reading. So I got these on so when I'm sleeping, [her husband] can have a little read.”

Using the smaller lights at varying levels plays with shadows and depth, creating a relaxing feel around the bed. The repeated use of natural wood, from the flooring, shelves and bedside table, adds a further element of warmth to the lighting by creating a soft reflective glow.

Outside-in decor is a reliable design trick to mimic the calming effects of nature in any room, and Clodagh shows us how to do this in a way that doesn't overwhelm the decor.

To do this, Clodagh pressed flowers from her garden and framed them. The result is perfect little pops of colour that stand out without feeling too jarring against the creamy colour scheme. This is also evident in how else she uses colour sparingly but effectively.

Her velvet pink chair, for example, is bright enough to add a noticeable accent tone that breaks up the creamy colour scheme without overpowering and throwing off the soft, warm tones. On her bed, she uses mustard cushions to add just the right pop of colour, but one that fits in with the overall scheme and feels grounding.

An added benefit of choosing a neutral coloured room is that it allows quick and easy updates in the future, for when you might fancy a change of accent colour.

It’s easy to imagine how something as simple as adding a colourful bedspread and framing a few brighter or pastel-coloured flowers would create a more spring-like feel. Similarly, if you wanted to play with contrast, adding darker touches would prove striking and dramatic.

It’s something Clodagh had in mind when choosing the colour, she revealed, saying, “I'm excited for all the seasons, the changing of the seasons where I can add different colours in because this colour is so evergreen, but it's so calming."