How to use paint colours in your home
Moving beyond neutrals and going bold can be daunting. Here are our tips on how to paint with flair USING FEATURE COLOURS
Colour can have a huge impact on how a room feels. It easily transforms a space and adds personality, but many people are scared to use it in their homes.
There are simple rules to follow, but the first step is just to give it a go!
Choose one item as inspiration, like a cushion cover, artwork or an accessory, and use a colour in that piece as your starting point. Begin with simple, inexpensive projects so you can build your confidence and then move on to a more dramatic look. CREATING A FEATURE WALL A feature wall is an easy, quick and inexpensive way to add colour to your home. It’s also a great place for any beginner to start because if you don’t like it, or the colour is wrong, you can simply paint over it.
To choose a colour, look at your existing furniture, homeware and accessories. The colour should be picked up somewhere else in the room, but only in small doses. You’ll look at this wall every day so think about how the colour makes you and your family feel. CONFIDENT COLOUR This relaxing blue-green feature wall creates a tropical vibe, evoking the hues of the sea.
Most blue-green tones are relaxing, fresh and calming to live with, bringing the colours of nature into our homes. WHY IT WORKS The rest of the room features washed grey tones on both the floor and in the feature timber-look wallpaper.
The skirting and dining table are crisp white, and natural timber tones are visible in the coffee table, bench seats and woven baskets.
Golden hues in the light fitting and natural timber work well with the brass wall mirror, so the room feels cohesive and well thought out.
PAINTING WITH PASTELS
“Muted” means restrained or subdued. In the world of colour, muted tones refer to ones that have a lesser visual impact than their base colours.
This is achieved by mixing the original colour with white, grey or black to achieve a softer version. The best example of this is pastel shades – they’re calming and relaxing, and allow you to add colour to any space in a subtle and unobtrusive way. CONFIDENT COLOUR This muted tonal palette is perfect for a bedroom, creating a calming and relaxing space.
The soft blush rear wall provides contrast against the mid-tone grey of the concrete-look feature wall. Although concrete is a hard and harsh material, its colour adds interest and balances the space. WHY IT WORKS There’s a wide range of textures in this room, in varying shades of muted colour, providing balance and calm.
The throw picks up the blush pink wall, and the hint of orange works well with the timber in the picture frame and the drawer base. The lilac bedding coordinates with the concrete-look wall, and the mid-tone grey is picked up in the washed timber floorboards and cushion.
Soft-white drawers, sensuous side table, elegant light fitting and artwork border help to ground the whole look.
APPLYING BRIGHT COLOURS
Bold colour brings personality and a cheerful energy to a space. But strong colours can compete with each other, creating a confused, busy scheme – add lots of patterns and you may end up with an overwhelming explosion of colour.
Instead, use one bright colour as the main focus then add either one additional bright colour in an even amount or additional bold colours in lesser amounts. CONFIDENT COLOUR This bright and bold living room packs a punch yet it’s still inviting and liveable.
It follows an important rule – to combine bright colours with a neutral. A white focus wall allows the vibrant blue to demand attention without overwhelming the space.
White-washed timber floorboards and a comfy, oversized sofa add textural softness and warmth. WHY IT WORKS A deep indigo velvet cushion and cooler round artwork do a good job of balancing the blue feature wall. Fresher blues with slightly green tones in the ottoman as well as the cushion on the armchair work well as they don’t compete with the brighter blue, and prevent the space from being visually too busy.
To add warmth, there’s a pot plant and accent cushion in a citrus yellow. The inclusion of black in the armchair and striped rug ground the space.