Live a life in colour!

A bright New Year should be filled with colour! So many homeowners want to recreate the swoon-worthy interiors seen in glossy magazines or on Instagram feeds, but the fear of using colour creeps in and they retreat back to…magnolia. This winter, Anglian Home Improvements has teamed up with top interior designer Sophie Robinson to discover the best ways for UK homeowners to live a life in colour.

Known for her passion for colourful interiors, Sophie is a go-to for providing inspiration and advice on how to let your personality and individuality shine through in your home.

“If I had one mission in life,” Sophie said, “it would be to play a part in making people’s homes more colourful. While I splash colour around my own home with wild abandon, I’m aware that for most folk it can be a thing of terror and dread. I’ve therefore pulled together six top tips that’ll encourage self-confessed colour-phobes to experiment with a multitude of different hues and embrace the endless possibilities and transformational qualities of colour.”

1. Paint it!

First up, invest in a pot of paint. I’m serious – for the price of a paint tub and a weekend with a roller in your hand, you can totally transform the look, feel and vibe of any room. My mantra is to just go for it – it’s only paint!

2. Expect the unexpected

Use colour in unexpected ways. I’ve got a thing at the moment for painting the doors in my house surprising colours because it just makes me smile. But why not start off with a bold new hue for your front door? Nothing gives a great first impression than a bonny bright colour, so don’t be afraid to stand out.

3. Accessorise with colour

For the faint-hearted, I’d suggest going neutral for the big ticket items like the sofa, flooring and curtains and then adding the colour with accessories. A bold feature floor rug, brightly-coloured lampshades, scatter cushions and wall art all combine to make an interesting scheme – but can easily be changed and updated over time.

4. Find YOUR colour

Choose a cohesive colour palette and use this to design all the rooms in your home so there is some flow. While you’ll want each room to be different, it helps if they work as a set. It’s really important to dig deep and work out which colours and hues resonate with you. If you’re stuck on where to start you can begin by looking in your wardrobe to see the colours you naturally pick out.

5. Start with a sample

I often start with a colourful wallpaper swatch or a fabric sample to build a colour scheme around. You’ll find a combination of colours which all sit nicely together, neutrals through to brighter accent colours.

6. A magic number three

I find that three is a bit of a magic number when pulling a scheme together, with the hero colour being around 60-70% of the scheme (think walls, floors or large pieces of furniture) then the secondary colour being around 20-30% (for example soft furnishings) with the final accent colour around 5-10% (that’s cushions, artwork and vases). You can add neutrals in with this – I call them a free colour, and can be found in wood flooring and furniture, for example.

Adding colour into your home can be a daunting prospect, but these top tips from Sophie are inspiring ways to brighten up our homes in the dark days of winter. What colours will you be adding to your home this year? Let us know in the comments below!

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from Good to be Home https://www.anglianhome.co.uk/goodtobehome/design-and-architecture/live-life-colour/