Working With Colour
Image by Bed Threads
When it comes to colour, I like to take cues from my client’s personal taste, the desired feeling they want for their home, and the quality of natural light their space receives.
When choosing colours for your interiors, think about what colours you really respond to and how they make you feel. They may create a sense of calmness, or perhaps energise you without you even realising. If you start to think about whether colours have a particular impact on you and importantly, whether you can actually live with the colour surrounding you, you will more easily find the perfect palette. If a colour makes you feel good, you know you are on the right track.
If you like a cohesive and calming palette, a tonal palette may be for you. Tonal means working with various tints (when white is added to lighten) and shades (when black is added to darken) of the one colour, for example pairing different greens like forest green with sage green. Some see a tonal palette as having longevity as opposed to contrasting colours, but there’s no right or wrong.
Image by Bed Threads
My key tips on selecting a colour palette for your home
1. ORIENTATION
Consider each rooms orientation and its level of natural light. This will give you a more accurate indication of how a colour will look in your space. Selecting cooler hues reduces the feeling of heat in a west facing room. Selecting warmer hues helps to create a sense of cosiness in a south facing room. You don’t need to change the entire colour palette to suit each room’s orientation, you just need to play around with slightly warmer and cooler hues of your chosen colour palette to accommodate the level of light.
2. THE FEELING
Consider how you want to feel in your home. Cool colours include green, blue and purple which typically evoke feelings of relaxation, calmness and peace. Warm colours include red, orange and yellow which typically evoke feelings of excitement, optimism and energy. If you already love the feeling that you have created in your home, then take note of what colours you are already surrounding yourself with and continue to carry those throughout your home.
3. NEUTRALS
If you prefer a neutral colour palette, you can always introduce florals and greenery which will inject extra life and colour into your home. Selecting timber furniture is a wonderful way to warm a space and inject a feeling especially when styling with a neutral palette.
It can feel daunting selecting colours for your home, but remember that colour is natural and we enjoy colour everyday outside our homes. Just take a look outside and see what jumps out at you. Our preferences are very personal so take your time when deciding and just start with the feeling that it creates for you and how you want to feel in your own home.