Instagram Stories: @BrightBazaar

Photos courtesy @BrightBazaar

Most personal blogs created late in the evening on a whim are probably better left to the dark depths of the Internet. Will Taylor's, however, has proven not only to be a brilliant source of style inspiration for hundreds of thousands of readers, but the launch pad for a 130k+ Instagram feed, a massive hashtag, and two design books. It's also taken the newly New York-based Brit from assisting on the U.K.'s version of Dancing With the Stars to consulting on creative for brands including Starbucks, Warner Brothers and Amazon.

"If I'm honest, when I first started seven years ago I had no clue what a blog was," explains Taylor. "One night back in 2009 I opened Blogger and within several minutes I had created Bright.Bazaar." He came up with the name and the concept, based on his lifelong fascination with color, on the spot. "It really does blow my mind when I think about how those few minutes quite literally changed my life and my career." The blog's genuine, gentlemanly voice quickly attracted legions of color lovers. And it only grew when Taylor made the natural leap to social media to offer another view into his inspiring world. (He now has 2.4 million Pinterest followers, but who's counting.)  Five years on, he's running a very vibrant creative empire, and lucky for you, sharing his advice on decorating, color hunting, and making Instagram into a very real (and very awesome) job, below. 

The Theory of everything

"A common misconception is that I only like the brightest, boldest colors in the spectrum. Not true! My belief, and I guess aim with Bright.Bazaar, is to inspire people to embrace color in all its many, many forms. Whether you love to decorate with, say, hot pink or just a hint of blush, it doesn’t matter. It’s the fact you're using color to show your personality through your decorating choices that I think is important. I’ve felt equally inspired by a neutral palette as I have by a zingy pairing of navy and orange. It’s when a home is left in what I call “builder’s magnolia/ beige” that I find myself wanting to tear my hair out—it’s so cold, clinical and, well, boring!"

The Instagram Career path

"My main stream of work is as a creative consultant for brands. I assist businesses with their social media strategy and, in some instances, I'll deliver the creative content too. This involves conceptualizing, styling, photographing, and editing content that can then be published on their own feeds, or on Bright.Bazaar’s as a way to promote their product or service to my audience."

THe secret to color hunting

"I’m always on the hunt for color, whether I’m on a train, in a cab, even on a plane. As I’m coming in to land in a new city I’ll be looking out the window to see if I can spot brightly painted buildings in the nearby vicinity! My followers are really sweet and regularly send me messages or tag me in their pictures when they happen upon a colorful wall or piece of art that they think I would like. {i've found] in America there’s a bigger emphasis placed on synergy, bold patterns and stronger hues. It definitely embraces color more liberally than the U.K., which is great!" 

The next Bright Thing

"My second book is called Bright.Bazaar’s Dream Décor. The cover was recently unveiled on a huge screen in Times Square live on Good Morning America at the end of my makeover segment—such a thrill! It's full of aspirational but accessible decorating ideas and easy to translate design takeaways. Plus, it equips the reader with an understanding of the fundamental elements of decorating a room: color, pattern, lighting, furniture, texture, accessories. It’s all covered!"