Colour

 At the change of season, it is a good time to review our living environment whether to redecorate completely, or just to make some small adjustments such as swapping out some pictures or getting new throws and cushions. This is a good opportunity to work positively with colour to enhance our spaces. 

If you are renting your place, first check your lease agreement: many landlords have a clause that prevents you from repainting in any colour other than white, or requires you to restore to the original paint colours when you leave. This could prompt you to focus on the soft furnishings and removable items such as pictures. If you own your property, then you have a completely free hand and can view redecoration as an investment.

To begin, I would first analyse the space, before deciding on a colour scheme: how big is the room; is it dark or brightly lit in daytime; is it on the warm or cold side of the building? A large room or an open-plan layout offers great opportunity to use bold colours  and patterns although I would be careful of not using large patterns on all the walls, as this could be overpowering. Look into pairing a bold wallpaper or large artwork with one of the colours in its design for one or more of the other walls. If you are using strong colours for the walls, these need to match or complement your furniture or soft furnishing. Here you may want to blend in or use neutral tones such as taupe, a subtle tone between beige and grey that is very versatile. For an open-plan layout, colour can very effectively harmonise the space, by repeating a bold colour in two sections of the room, creating visual continuity.

Small rooms need a more delicate touch: dark colours can make them seem cavernous, and bright hues tend to make the room seem even smaller. The furniture will also play an important role: do you have a large bookcase or fitting dominating the space? This should not frighten you away from using colour for a smaller space, but I would use it for just one wall, maybe to draw attention to an artwork or piece of furniture. Also, when using strong colours, these always look more intense on the wall than they appear on the colour swatch.

For a room bathed in sunlight, you can follow the guide for a large room. Here you may find that the light is too intense - for one of my children's rooms when she was a baby, I fitted a translucent blind over half of the very large window, giving a more diffuse light to the space. In this room, I used bright red accents in the soft furnishing and furniture all with a white background. 

So often a dark room can seem very gloomy if the walls are just painted white: here you may want to introduce a splash of colour on one of the walls to liven up the room. This can be complemented by blending in the curtains and other soft finishes, but be careful of introducing too many colours if the room is quite small.

There is a wealth of information on colour theory: in essence this describes blue as a cool colour and orange as warm. In general, this is accurate, but I have seen rooms painted in dark blue that have a cozy feel, and bright yellow used effectively in a sunny room. In general, though, it tends to be easier to work with "sophisticated" colours, such as teal rather than royal blue or terracotta rather than bright orange. 

Subtle shades of blue and teal make this room feel cool
Creative commons licensed: https://decoratorswisdom.com/decor/color-trends-2024/

It is also good to keep an eye out for the Pantone "colour of the year", partly because this introduces you to new colours, but also because this will influence the available colours of accessories such as cushions, that would blend with your colour scheme. The 2024 colour of the year is "peach fuzz", a subtle tone between pink and orange, which would work in many applications, including small dark rooms on the cold side of the building. 

But in the end, the choice of colour is very personal, and should reflect your preferences rather than being dictated by stylists, magazines or social media. Over the years, you will have collected items that reflect your personality, so choose new colours that blend with and complement your possessions.