House to Home: Colour can make every room in your home feel special

In the 90s, my mum and her best friend ‘had their colours done’.
A living room decorated in muted coloursA living room decorated in muted colours
A living room decorated in muted colours

For those who have never come across the concept it means a consultant looks at the tones in your skin, hair and eyes and matches you to the colours that work best for you.

The result was (and still is) that they look great in whatever they are wearing and that makes them feel good about themselves.

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Now imagine if those clothes were paint colours. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you felt great in every room in your house?

The psychology of colour is a subject that fascinates me and one I can wax lyrical about for hours on end.

Do you have a room that feels too small? Colour can help with that.

Do you have a room that feels stark and not very cosy? Colour can help with that. Do you have an uninspiring office space? Yes you’ve guessed it: the right colour will help.

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How you react to colour will be affected by your age, gender, ethnicity, culture and life experience, but what is certain is that different colours will make you feel differently so when you’re decorating it’s important to decide how you want to feel in a space before you go choosing paint colours.

Let’s do a quick run through of a few rooms and see which colours might work best:

Home office: do you have a job that requires a certain amount of creativity? Then introducing a bit of yellow or orange into your home office could be for you as these colours are stimulating and are said to encourage communication (don’t go overboard though as too much of these colours might be uncomfortable).

Do you need to concentrate for long periods of time? Then maybe go for blue, which is a calming colour and is said to promote intellectual thought.

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Family room/lounge: as this is usually a communal area then other people need to be taken into consideration.

Is this an area for relaxing in? Is it mostly used in the evening? Then deep blues and greens will create a calm, cosy atmosphere.

Alternatively you could keep it neutral and add colours with accessories (if you do choose a neutral scheme then make sure to include lots of different textures).

Bedroom: this should be your sanctuary, somewhere to escape to. Muted and darker colours will be the most relaxing in this space – avoid busy wallpapers as they will not be restful.

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Textures are also important here, particularly underfoot. If you have hard floors, why not try a couple of sheepskin rugs (faux or real) at either side of the bed?

Done right, colour can have a positive effect on each space in your home, but it shouldn’t be considered in isolation.

To make a room really work you also need to think about the orientation of a room, the mount of natural light it gets, artificial lighting, and texture.

So, let’s make 2022 the year we take a step away from the greige and towards colours that will inspire and enrich our lives.

And if it all seems too overwhelming then get in touch and I’ll guide you through it.

Once you understand and embrace colour, life will start to make more sense.

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