Colour Your Room Happy

Colour your Home Happy

By Katherine Sorrell

Use colour in unexpected places – such as on a staircase, dado rails or skirting boards. This cheering yellow makes a great contrast to a grey sofa that’s adorned with fun cushions. Harlow grey L-shaped sofa, £999.99, Furniture And Choice.

Lift your spirits and freshen up your space by introducing bold, clear shades

This cool lamp, in a ‘mootard’ glaze, would liven up any desk, table or shelf. Nellie table lamp, £112, with 35cm straight empire shade in Heraldic Ikat, £79, Pooky. Bold colour probably won’t work all around the room, but used on a small section can create an eye-catching feature. Out of the Blue paint by COAT, £42 per 2.5l, coatpaints.com.

A sofa, chair or – in this case – loveseat can make a good focal point in a room, especially in a warming, bold colour such as this. The Rebel 1.5 Snuggler in marmalade velvet, £899, Snug sofa.

Go for a tropical vibe with a bright and breezy accent lampshade, featuring abstract palm trees, a gold lining and looped fringing. Ravenala lampshade, £180, Mindthegap.

Nothing beats a blanket or throw as an easy way to introduce fresh new colour, texture and pattern, whether over a sofa, chair or bed. Manhattan reversible supersoft merino lambswool blanket, from £150, The Fine Cotton Company.

Coloured glass is one of the prettiest things – and this delightful vase is very ontrend, since Pantone’s colour of the year 2022 is Very Peri, a dynamic violet-blue. Small cushion vase in amethyst, £27, Dartington Crystal. Replacing some cushions is one of the easiest ways to introduce personality and pops of colour. Combine plains with bold patterns for variety and interest. Jonathan Adler Milano Concentric Loops cushion in emerald/ navy, £134, Sweetpea & Willow.

The smallest accessory in the right combination of colour and pattern can make all the difference, and a distinctive piece such as this terracotta vase, hand made in Portugal, is a great example. Tangerine Bold pitcher, £42.99, softstore.co. • Choose shades that are fresh and clear rather than muted or muddy, and neither too pale nor too dark. Mid-spectrum brights such as sunny yellow, fuchsia pink, emerald green and brilliant blue will make your home sing.

• For this look, keep things simple with a backdrop of white or a pale neutral, which will allow you to experiment with adding pops of bold colour here and there as you wish. Some say it’s best to keep the area that’s covered by bold colours to around a quarter of the room at most, so as to let the eyes rest and not be overwhelmed.

• Choose two, or maybe three, bold colours and add them in gradually – an accent sofa or chair, a cushion or throw, a vase or candlestick, and so on. Alternatively, make bold colour part of the architecture by painting or papering a feature wall, or even sections of woodwork. See how things look together, and move them around (or even take them out again) as necessary.

• Lovers of pattern may feel confident enough to mix pattern-on-pattern with brights; most of us, however, will prefer to play a little safer and stick to plain colours plus the occasional minimal pattern. Simple geometrics look great with this look, and have a mid-century style that works really well.

STOCKISTS

Dartington Crystal: dartington.co.uk Furniture And Choice: 03330 150 000; furniturechoice.co.uk Pooky: 020 7351 3003; pooky.com softstore.co: softstore.co Coat: 07368 870 097; coatpaints.com The Fine Cotton Company: 0345 602 9050; thefinecottoncompany.com Mindthegap: +40 265 264 121; mindtheg.com Snug: 020 3095 6555; snugsofa.com Sweetpea & Willow: 0345 257 2627; sweetpeaandwillow.com