BOLDLY GO...
Move away from neutrals and take the plunge with bright and beautiful colours
Colour’s officially cool – according to the decor experts – but it takes guts to plunge into the palette and experiment in rooms.
Banish the fear and do it anyway, declares Emily Henson, interiors stylist and author of the aptly named, Be Bold: Interiors For The Brave Of Heart, which is a celebration of homes with “joyful patterns, gutsy colour choices and exhilarating paint treatments”.
Their owners, she says, enjoy homes which contain daring explosions of colour, pattern, humour and originality, where “boldness is a way of life”.
Some make a statement “with vivid paint on every surface and neon signs on the walls”, while others have “leopard print and folksy embroidered cushions clashing on a pink sofa, or window frames painted yellow in an otherwise white wall”. Whatever, she notes, bold really is beautiful.
It’s certainly a world away from the bland, and Emily gleefully sums up the philosophy as ‘decorate like nobody’s watching.’
Still nervous? “Think of the colours you like and want in your life, and test the waters by spray painting something small,” she says.
For the more confident, she urges: “Dive in at the deep end, just go for it! What’s the worst thing that can happen? You won’t like it and you’ll have to repaint. That’s not the end of the world.”
Be inspired by three homes where owners truly dance to their own decor tune...
Be Bold: Interiors For The Brave Of Heart (inset) by Emily Henson, photography by Catherine Gratwicke, is published by Ryland Peters & Small, priced £19.99. Available to readers for the special price of £14 (inc p&p) by going to rylandpeters.com and using code: BOLDPA at the checkout.
Offer valid until December 31, 2018.