How to have fun with colour in your home
Make your home bold and beautiful
Main image: Farrow and Ball
Using colour is one of the quickest ways to add interest to your interiors, transforming a room into a space that can lift your mood, make you feel calmer or more energetic, provide a talking point and quite simply, make you feel happier. It doesn’t have to be maximalist excess or all the colours of the rainbow either, unless you wish to, but judicious choices or pops of vibrant hues used in unexpected ways. It is also something you can experiment with, until you find what works for you.
Interior designer Lou Bailey says: “Colour is a powerful tool in interior design that goes beyond mere aesthetics. It can influence mood, perception, and functionality, making it an essential element in creating spaces that are both beautiful and practical. Colour can add depth and dimension to a space. It can highlight architectural features, create focal points, and add layers of visual interest that make a room more engaging. In open-plan areas, colour can help define different zones without the need for physical dividers.”
So, how to use colour effectively? Says Lou: “Consider the colours of furniture, flooring, and other permanent fixtures in the room. Coordinating the paint colour with these elements can create a stylish and harmonious look. If you’re using bold colours, balance them with neutral tones to prevent the room from feeling too intense.”
In terms of choosing what colour to use, think about the effect you want to achieve. If the room has a tendency to overheat in the warmer weather, Tash Bradley, Lick’s director of interior design and colour psychologist, says to look to the cool side of the colour wheel. Lick Blue 05 is a mid blue with lilac undertones, which evokes the feeling of tranquillity, without feeling too chilly, and has associations with the sky and water. Dark colours, meanwhile, have the opposite effect, as the darker the colour, the more it absorbs the light and makes your room warmer and more cosy, having the same effect on the people within it: something to consider as we move into the autumn months.
Before you commit to a colour, try a visualiser app – Dulux does one – where you can take a picture of your room and see what it will look like in different hues. Buy some tester pots, paint them on large pieces of lining paper and then look at how they appear at different times of day, and in artificial light.
You may also want to consider what colours will be trending next year. Among the colour predictions for 2025, Brabbu Design Forces lists Cool Matcha: a serene green that brings tranquillity and sophistication, and Midnight Blue for mystery and elegance. Trend forecasters WSGN’s colour of the year for 2025 is Future Dusk, a dark, moody hue, sitting between blue and purple. It is a twist on dark blue, and is said to feel both familiar and futuristic.
Pictured: Decorbuddi, Earthborn
Design consultant Eleanor Taylor-Roberts advises: “Define your palette with an umbrella theme, such as Miami escapism. Dusting a statement wall with splashes of flamingo pink or peach with burnt saffron stripes can shift a mundane space to a conversation starter. Consider using pops of paint as a framing mechanism, such as a wavy arch bordering an otherwise frameless wall mirror. Or you could favour jewel tones such as ruby, emerald and sapphire to exude maximalism: marrying these hues with paired back off-white features or classic copper accents creates an indisputably elegant juxtaposition within a space.”
A bold impact can still be created using softer shades and blending them with natural materials, as Decorbuddi Stephanie Bailey has done using soft pinks and greens in a teen room, combined with linen bedding and floor to ceiling curtains. Or add pops of colour using wallpaper, as in the example by Ann Jackman, with wallpaper offering plenty of opportunities to have fun with your schemes.
Another idea to inject colour is to paint your floorboards, using a durable paint such as Farrow & Ball’s Modern Eggshell.
Wander through your home looking for opportunities: a new colour for the front door, painting the spindles or risers of your staircase, the kitchen cabinets, or even ‘colour drenching’ an entire bedroom – this trend sees one shade cover everything, including the ceiling, radiator, woodwork and even furniture. Above all, let your creativity flow.
