Picking a paint colour—for your living room, for your garden gate, for your toes – can involve hours of deliberation and the occasional click-related panic attack. Are the greenish undertones of the matte white I ordered too sickly? Will my soft grey seem overly warm in situ? And is that red the right shade for my skin? Just in time for summer renovation projects and your new spring wardrobe both, I thought we might look at colour – what it is, how we use it, and when to stay well away. We all have our preferred whites and neutrals, we all think we know which greens are most calming, which blues most Tiffanys-adjacent. But do we really? Read on…
With interiors, choice of colour goes beyond mere aesthetics. It’s subjective and divisive, a mood changer and a reflection of both you and the way a space is meant to be used. Personally, I love almost all colours – in theory. But look at my own home and you’d begin to doubt it. After all, it revolves around a neutral base, livened up by just a few colourful accents – a decision taken because I’ve learned that I thrive best in a light, bright environment. Where I’m at my most playful is with joinery, where I almost always use colour – in my case, a dark, grubby red (COAT’s Old Corset Factory) and what I’d call a grey-green (Zoffany’s Norsk Blue). I also tend to get a little more experimental with textured wall coverings, which come in just about any shade you can think of; their horizontal (or vertical) stripes or linen effects mute large slabs of colour, while giving a more interesting depth of tone than a simple flat surface.
Selecting colours is an entirely personal affair, but never something to leave late in the project: in fact, identifying which ones make you tick from the outset is crucial. What natural materials are you using? They’ll have to work with your colour palate. Ditto the carpets – which often have to be ordered early, as lead times can be long.
Once a palette is identified, you also need to think about saturation, shades and hues – which may sound a little technical, but doesn’t really mean much more than how loud you want it to be. A bold sky blue, for instance, will be too much in many situations, but makes a striking maximalist statement that some large spaces can carry. On the other hand, a more muted blue with lots of grey tones – think, perhaps, Farrow & Ball’s Parma Grey No.27 – can happily work anywhere, and makes a great backdrop to more heritage or homely rooms.
A great starting point for many schemes is picking a ‘hero’ fabric you love that includes three or more colours: do that and you’ll be on your way, with this piece available to endlessly reference throughout the process, equal parts inspiration, reassurance and warning, and becoming the glue that ties a room together. If it works with your hero, it will work in the room, becomes the mantra – and if it doesn’t, you don’t want it. Voila: you almost guarantee a handsome, unified and curated composition of shades, colours and patterns.
If all this sounds a little scary, neutral wall coverings with subtle coloured patterns upon them are an effective way to introduce colour whilst maintaining a simple pallet as a base; this same base can then flow into other rooms, in each paired with different highlight colours and patterns.
The great thing about neutral interiors – characterised by a palette of soft, understated, natural tones – is that they’re timeless and versatile, an aesthetic that says, “I’m above fleeting trends”, but says it quietly. These are spaces that evoke feelings of serenity, harmony and sophistication – all that good stuff – and often revolve around shades of fawn, taupe or grey, though muted pastels may also serve. They’re sometimes considered the opposite of colour, though that’s something I’d quibble with: a soft colour is still a colour, after all.
One beauty of neutral interiors lies in their ability to adapt endlessly to incoming design styles, from minimalist and Scandinavian to classic and contemporary, with very little effort. They provide an elegant backdrop that allows furnishings, textures, and accents to take centre stage, these easy-to-swap items infusing what might otherwise be a somewhat characterless space with personality and warmth. Neutrals serve as a unifying force, effortlessly incorporating any material and finish you can think of, from natural wood and stone to metal and glass. Much of the fun now comes from texture and material, rather than contrasting shades.
Paint and wallpaper specialists like Little Greene or Zoffany offer tonal shade ranges, a great way to add variety to a neutral palette that runs throughout the home while still offering variations for each particular room. They might all share a summery green, say, but in the living room this is paired with whites, in the study with browns, and in the kitchen with beiges and other neutrals. Each reads as a distinct whole, while together the house has a cohesive feel.
The Right Hue
People will tell you, quite definitively, that a particular colour does this or that to our moods, but then you come across someone who simply doesn’t feel that way. All I can offer, then, are some paints that currently make me feel good…
Sanderson’s Artichoke
“A great heritage colour, perfect for Georgian homes, harmonious but a little bit vibrant too; it flatters almost any room.”
Farrow & Ball’s Dix Blue No.82
“Another great heritage choice, warm and greenish and with a lovely neutrality that works so nicely with blacks, greys and natural wood colours.”
Zoffany’s Aubusson
“You and I might call it a grey, they call it a blue-green; what I know is that this colour really is a bit of me.”
Morris & Co’s Farringdon Grey
“This is another great all-rounder, the perfect base neutral, soft and cool like a pile of cashmere jumpers. It really is visual peace, always soothing but never dull.”
Farrow & Ball’s India Yellow No.66
“Really more of a mustard, definitely boasting the weirdest back story in paint (it’s named for a pigment collected from the urine of cows fed on mango leaves!), and almost guaranteed to lift your mood. Some yellows pop too much, but this has a sophistication that the eye never tires of; it works wonders in a sunny living room.”
Farrow & Ball’s Savage Ground No.213
“This goes brilliantly with the yellow just above – it’s really a stone colour, but one with a lot of yellow in it too, and I’ve used it on woodwork paired with India Yellow walls more than once.”
In this room by West Country paint specialist Atelier Ellis, just a very few small patches of bright colour – in the pictures and the flowers, the most immediately swappable elements of the room – add punch to a palate of dark, earthy neutrals. Paints here are from their Beginnings range, a range of nine colours designed to work together and created to celebrate the opening of a new display space, but actually, their entire rich, muted palate does this to some extent; www.atelierellis.co.uk
The Big Tip
Always buy a small sample of the colours you’re keen on, then paint a segment of your wall—and live with it for a bit. It’s just too risky buying paint for a whole room based on a colour card alone. COAT makes it super-simple: they’ll send you a sample on a sticker, so you can just slap it on the wall.
Caught My Eye
Kirsty’s interiors edit for April
- Tiles by Bert & May, £157.70 per sq metre; bertandmay.com
- Orange cup by Jessica Torne, £50; www.jessicathorne.co.uk
- Cavendish table lamp by Pooky, £198 (shade an additional £78); pooky.com
Image Credits: See published article
Magazine Published by Media Clash, Bristol Life
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