Lisa and Jonathan Hedley have always loved the West End of Darlington. Jonathan is from the town and the couple often used to walk past the house they now proudly call their own. “We always liked the street and would walk down it thinking how lovely it would be to own one,” says Lisa, who is originally from Hartburn, near Stockton.

The couple bought the four-bedroom Victorian terraced house four year ago. They were over-the-moon to have bagged a house in this prestigious area of the town and work on their new home started straight away. They loved the high ceilings and the large rooms, but the beige just had to go.

“Before we had even unpacked, we decorated quite a lot of the house,” says Lisa, 39, who has worked as a hairdresser for more than two decades and always had a passion for colouring hair. This love of colour has spilled over into the Hedleys’ home: against a backdrop of cool greys, feature walls are decorated in funky papers, furniture is painted in bright, bold gloss, and striking posters and signs populate the walls.

“I love bright colours for the home,” says Lisa. “My favourite colour for the home is yellow. I had a lot of red in my last house, and I want to experiment with some green and blue next.”

The proverbial ‘blank canvas’ was soon transformed. The bland sitting room, which faces West and catches the late afternoon sun, was painted in Farrow & Ball Lamp Room Grey to give it a smart, modern look, to which Lisa has added vibrant accessories which can be changed with the season. A plush grey sofa from DFS has been dressed up with cushions and a bright yellow throw, which echoes a bright yellow painted table in the window bay. On this sits a retro-style telephone, and behind, the window is dressed with shutters. Lisa chose them over curtains as they add a colonial edge to the décor and let in lots of light without compromising the family’s privacy.

In the hallway, the Hedleys went for a hard-wearing, practical dark stripe carpet, which is perfect for a growing family. The couple have two children, Nancy, seven, and three-year-old Frank, and a Hungarian Vizsla called Agnes. Splashes of colour come from a red cabinet bought from Ikea and the couple’s many pictures and prints. “We get a lot from Etsy, but I also love TK Maxx,” says Lisa. “A lot of the posters have a musical theme – Jonathan’s influence – but my favourite print is the lady with the glasses from a nightclub in Ibiza called Pacha. Jonathan proposed to me there. Plus, my daughter thinks it's a picture of me!”

One room the couple couldn’t wait to transform was the kitchen. “It was overcrowded with so many cupboards it looked dark and enclosed, even though it really is quite a big space,” says Lisa.

The Christmas before last, the sledgehammers came out and the Hedleys said goodbye to the cream Shaker kitchen. They replaced it with plain grey units from Magnet, brightened up on the range wall with mosaic tiles from Topps. Doing without wall units has opened out the space and made it look much bigger. The couple also splashed out on a pale blue Smeg fridge. On the worktop is a sign: “Frank is three,” it announces proudly. “The kitchen had to be right as we spend so much time in it, and I enjoy cooking,” says Lisa. “It’s my favourite room now and we spend a lot of quality family time in there.”

Outside there is a simple back yard, which was cleared and renovated last summer to make it a nicer space for the children to play. And for Lisa and Jonathan to sit and enjoy a drink. “We bought some orange bar stools the previous summer and left them out all winter,” says Lisa. “They had faded so I bought a can of orange spray paint to smarten them up. The garden chairs we got in B&M for £25. I had seen them on Instagram and eventually hunted some down.”

Upstairs the mixture of colour and restraint continues, in rooms which reflect Lisa’s ability to make bargain buys look lovely.

The main bedroom is painted a lovely blue called Delphinium, a fresh, bright colour that complements the shutters. The carpet was ripped up recently and the floors sanded. “We got the rocking chair from Gumtree. We did plan to paint it, but decided it was lovely left as it was,” says Lisa. “The bedcovers were from Sainsbury's. I searched the shops to find something that matched the blue walls and struck lucky at the supermarket!”

The couple’s next plan is to update the bathroom, the only room in the house that hasn’t yet been transformed. “We plan to change the tiles, then paint the walls a pale pink,” says Lisa. “I quite fancy painting the skirting boards and door frame dark grey too. Or maybe I’ll do it Stiffkey Blue”

So many colours to choose from, so few rooms. No doubt Lisa will be starting again with the paint brush almost as soon as the paint in the bathroom is dry. The most in-your-face splashes of colour in this happy family home, though, are the feature wallpapers.

The one in the playroom is called Boutique Boulevard and features cafes and shops called Cinderella’s and Twinkle Toes, while the vestibule is papered in Penguin Library by Osborne & Little, bright book covers mirrored by the little row of brightly coloured wellington boots underneath.

“I love wallpaper, the funkier the better,” says Lisa. “The house is bursting with character now and I love experimenting with wallpapers as I think it's an expression of my personality.”