AHEAD of the CURVE
How to create a curvaceous home
Having no obvious archways in your home doesn’t prevent you creating curves. This bold mural is takes centre-stage against a backdrop of white. Curvaceous furniture adds to the impact of the mural.
CURVES ARE A PHENOMENON that have garnered great appeal in interior design and with good reason. Using shape within our homes is much the same as using colour to impact how we feel. Soft shapely curves create a calm relaxing ambience, and can be added in many ways from wall colours to furniture choices.
Working colour into an archway is a great way to introduce personality into your home in a subtle way. If your hallway has an existing archway, this is a prime opportunity to create focus and personality in the entrance to your home. Go bold and bright or soft and subtle — let your creative mind announce your style.
When choosing the colours to enhance this space, think about the surrounding areas and the impact you want to achieve. If you love a bold pop, just be mindful your archway colour works in with your wall, ceiling and skirting choices.
Choose a combination of bold tones from the same palette, and don’t feel tied to just using one colour in your archway. Try Resene Burgundy as the central colour and then move out to Adrenalin for a burst of orange, then soften the edge to work back into your wall colour with Barely There. These colours would work with a warm based white wall like Half Spanish White.
Not all homes come with a hall archway but you can paint arches on walls to create an expressive feature and delineate a space. In a bedroom you can easily create a headboard by simply painting a stylish curve to frame the bed, select calming and complementary tones that enhance the space and draw the eye to the bed, working in with your choice of linens.
Living in a studio or loft space, painted curves can help define spaces for different uses. Create a bold and wide painted wall arch to assign a cosy work from home alcove or allow your arch to work across the corner of the room to draw the eye to this area, outlining a reading nook or dressing space, whatever your needs you can create them with curves.
If you’re in the fortunate position to be designing from scratch, keep in mind the natural attraction of curves. You’ve only to think of rolling sand dunes to recall their sensual curves of rich gold, or waves reaching their crescendo in arcs of deep blue feathered with icy white tips.
Historically, curved architecture has been featured in many of the finest buildings and structures around the world. Architect Zaha Hadid was famous for her futuristic and at times curvaceous structures, both fluid and blunt, the fluidity of her work is what truly brings her structures to life.
While being beautiful and functional, curves in our homes offer another unexpected benefit to our health. Curves have been proven to improve our mood and sense of wellbeing. When we enter a room that features curves in some form we naturally feel better, beautiful curves and shapes whether inbuilt or painted on, energise rooms and make us feel good. We’re also more likely to think a room that has curvilinear features is more beautiful than that of a rectilinear room. Essentially, we humans love curves.
Once you have decided on how to feature curves in your home, the next step is to enhance them with colour. If you’re lucky enough to have curves in-built you can add to the beauty of these by painting them to boost the shades and highlights. Use deep colours like Resene Barista to deepen the shadows and a lighter tone of the same palette like Pearl Blush to pop out the highlights. Alternatively create an ombre´ effect within your archway, this will give a unique linear effect to the hallway, this also works wonders when painting an archway directly onto a wall.
When it comes to preparing your walls and choosing the right finish for the job, Resene colour expert Brenda Ngatai advises setting yourself up for success. “Prep by filling any pin holes with filler and leave to dry, sand back and clean the area before applying Resene Quick Dry undercoat to all walls being painted. Once your undercoat has dried, apply two topcoats of Zylone Sheen or SpaceCote Low Sheen, this will allow your chosen colours to be the hero of your design.”
If you have wooden curved walls, it’s often best to allow the grain to feature as this is nature’s way of highlighting the curves. Protect your wood with a natural look clear finish like Resene Aquaclear Natural. This soft matt finish will treat and protect your wood, while allowing the grain to naturally reflect its curves.
Cosy curvaceous furniture can bring curves into your home. Current trends offer gorgeous armchairs and sofas, rounded to suit your every mood. Choosing soft rolling armchairs and sofas will work beautifully alongside your painted walls or archways, carrying the theme through and making your space feel stylish and cohesive.
Take some time to look through where and how you might be able to add some beauty in your home with the benefit of curves. Whether you go all out and create an entirely curved home, or you gently dip your toe in the water and paint your archway in a gorgeous colour, curves are a wonderful way to bring beauty and delight into our homes and our lives. ■ For colour advice, visit your local Resene ColorShop, ask a Resene Colour Expert online at resene.co.nz/colourexpert, or book a Resene Colour