Bold Moves: how to decorate with bright colours
Neutral colour palettes accompanied by the sort of soft, muted detailing championed by Scandi interior bloggers have long been the default option when it comes to doing up your home. But sometimes it pays to play things a little bolder, so we’ve put together some inspiration for how to decorate with bright colours.
Beresford Road, London N5
London-based architects Russian For Fish’s recent overhaul of this three-bedroom apartment in Newington Green included a striking galley kitchen comprised of bespoke yellow-coloured cabinetry and worktops. The trick here has been to offset the splash of colour with soberer polished-concrete floors.
Fog House, London EC1
Internationally acclaimed architect David Adjaye overhauled this warehouse in Clerkenwell to include a top-floor kitchen, with purple cabinetry and glazing on three sides. Elsewhere, mint green shelving and blue panelling establish a consistently buoyant feel.
Hartfield, East Sussex
Architect Michael Wilford designed this family house in a secluded position in the Ashdown Forest for his own use in 2000. With echoes of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie House and fusions of differing architectural styles, the house includes various whimsical details, like this curved yellow wall – a lesson in idiosyncratic flair.
Packington Street, London N1
Working out how to decorate with bright colours doesn’t have to be about attacking one wall in lipstick red. Subtler alternatives can draw inspiration from the work that architects OMMX did for owner Bessie Austin’s first home in Islington. An exposed steel beam painted in Yves Klein blue zig-zags through the centre of the living room, passing through the wall and reappearing on the landing of the floor above.
Housden House, London NW3
Architect Brian Housden sourced inspiration for his family home overlooking Hampstead Heath from various Modernist masterpieces, and one of those was the canvasses of De Stijl contributor Piet Mondrian. Nowhere is the influence more felt than in the painted homage to the artist on the top floor landing – a reminder that there ain’t nothing wrong with a light touch of imitation.
Pop Up Ute, London NW1
“The staircase is an up-cycled industrial one that I painted myself over the summer. It’s had 10 coats of paint and it’s still not quite finished, at least to me,” said photographer Jonathan Root when we visited his home in an old piano factory in Chalk Farm. The lesson being: sometimes achieving bright colours comes with a bit of hard graft.
Park Road, London NW10
Storp Weber Architecture’s work to this substantial six-bedroom house in Harlesden has included the addition of a bright orange study room. The colour scheme has been applied to the walls, cabinetry, desks, and even extends to the choice of chairs. Sometimes, you just have to commit.
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Read more: My Modern House: Photographer Jonathan Root’s retro interiors in a converted piano factory in Camden
Dramatic Design: how to decorate with dark colours
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