While design trends come and go, there are no rules that state that you need to stick to them. The world of interior design is primarily a neutral greige at the moment, but sometimes we may find ourselves craving some colour. Colour can be a great way to add some warmth and personality to your space, and when done well, can make your home the envy of the neighbourhood.
So, here are some tips on how you can go against the trends and add some colour to your space.
Lighting
First and foremost, make sure that all of your lightbulbs are the same colour temperature. The colour temperature you use will change the look of the paint in each room. Lightbulbs come in two colours, daylight, and tungsten. Daylight gives a colder bluer look to a space, while tungsten gives a warmer more orange look. Pick one temperature and stick with it throughout your entire home.
Next, how much light each room receives will slightly alter the hue of your paint. To combat this, if you want to paint two rooms the same colour, paint the brighter room a slightly darker hue, and the darker room a slightly lighter hue, this should even them out.
Layout
When creating cohesiveness, you want to make sure that each room ties together. Pay attention to sightlines to make sure that connecting rooms do not clash. If you’re standing in one room and looking down a hallway, all rooms that you see should tie together. You can do this by incorporating repetition and having the same colours appear in each room, as well as having a base colour that you use in all rooms.
Also, certain colours suit certain rooms better than others. For instance, having a calm and peaceful blue in the bedroom might make more sense than an energetic orange.
Accessories
Your accessories can also dictate colour choice. For instance, if you’re going for a more eclectic look with lots of colours, use your rug as your colour palette. A rug with lots of colours in it can really tie a room together as long as you don’t stray too far from those colours in the other parts of your décor.
If you’re worried about using bold colours, introduce those colours through accessories such as candles, throw blankets and a pillow or two. Those kinds of accessories are easy to switch out if you find you don’t like them and add a little colour without going overboard.
If you feel like you’ve done everything, but your home still lacks cohesion, perhaps it’s the woods and metals that are the problem. As a general rule, darker colour woods should be paired with darker colour metals and vice versa.
Choosing a Colour Palette
When choosing colours, among many, there are two popular options. You can use a flow-through colour, or you can use the 60-30-10 formula.
Flow-through is a design style where you pick one prominent colour, and then all pops of colour are dispersed equally throughout the rest of your décor. This colour should appear most frequently in all rooms of your house in either your furniture, or the paint on your walls. This will help your other colours pop and stop your colours from becoming too busy and lost within each other.
The 60-30-10 formula refers to having a base colour that takes up 60 per cent of your home, a secondary colour that takes up 30 per cent of your home, and an accent colour that takes up 10 per cent of your home.
When choosing colours, pick colours that have the same undertone, so keeping warm colours together vs cool colours. You can also use analogous colours, so colours that appear next to each other on the colour wheel. You’ll also want to make sure you’re not mixing colour weights, so not mixing pastels with jewel tones.
Choose a colour palette before you start decorating so you have a guide. This way you can choose things that work for your space and avoid clashing. You can also change up a design style by introducing textures and patterns rather than adding more colours.
Lauren Schwartz | Staff Writer
