previous in:colour articles

Surrounding yourself with colour

Leafing through the current crop of fashion magazines and reading various fashion editorials you can't fail to have noticed a theme of bold colour this season. As the worlds of fashion and interior design seem to become more entwined it appears that that like fashion too, there is also bit of a 'thing' for bold colour in the interior decorating world at the moment.

As with what you wear, consider carefully the impact of a colour that you may choose to surround yourself with - after all it's easier to return your garment to the shop and change it than spend several hours re-decorating your four walls!

Colour is the most economical way to transform a room, give it a fresh new feeling, even disguise irregularities and highlight the best features! Colour can change the apparent shape and size of spaces and objects. 'Advancing' colours such as reds, yellows and oranges appear to make a surface closer to us or make an object look bigger. 'Receding' colours such as blue, violet or green can make a room seem larger because they make surfaces appear to move away from the eye. And of course it goes without saying that colour affects how you feel. Look at the effects of some of the colours here.

If you want to try out some of the new bold paint or paper colours for decorating I suggest that you may like to try painting one feature wall first. Add more colours to your scheme by adding 'accents' in the form of accessories; cushions, lamps, pictures, and furniture, as you feel comfortable.

     

The stores listed below offer different products, style and decorating tips and pictures of inspirational room sets. I hope you will find them helpful.

Laura Ashley Inspirational Room Sets http://www.lauraashley.com/icat/inspirations
These room sets give an interesting guide to the decorating elements that might appeal to the different colour personality types.
Garden Room - light, fresh, clean. Floral elements and small patterns (spring)
Enchanted Forest - elegant, soft, serene, shimmering (summer)
Decorative Living - berry shades and textures (autumn)
Country Pursuits - substantial rich, muted palette (autumn)
Black & White Living - mirror, lacquer and glass (winter)

Laura Ashley

B&Q online brochure
http://www.diy.com
This is online guide that you can pick up from stores too. It contains pictures of styled room sets for inspiration and is full of designer tips and products.

Homebase inspirations pages http://www.homebase.co.uk
Offers tips on different paint effects to try and how to make a mood board.

Uk Home Ideas
http://www.ukhomeideas.co.uk/
An online home interior decorating magazine with articles, featured products, tips and ideas for everything to do with decorating and the home 

Do you have any comments or questions? May be you have some great decorating tips and advice to pass on! Please do send them in I'd love to hear from you! If you know of anyone else that you think would enjoy the content of this newsletter please do forward it on to them. You can sign up here to receive editions. Thank you.