Living with Colour: how to pick paint colours for your home
In making a four-part film series with premium paint manufacturer Farrow & Ball, we’ve learnt a thing or two about decorating with colour. So, whether you’ve got an all-out bold scheme in mind or favour a more restful palette, have a look at our tips on how to pick paint colours for your home interiors to make sure you’re making the right choice.
Do you like it?
It might seem like an obvious place to start but, when choosing a colour for any space in your home, your first question ought to be, ‘Do I like it?’ Unfollow the latest Pinterest board on ‘The trendiest colours this year’ and put down any interior magazine that mentions the words ‘millennial pink’, as our first tip on how to pick paint colours is that you should go with ones that resonate with you on an emotional, instinctive level.
Light sources
Understanding the orientation of a room and, in turn, when and how natural light comes into the space is crucial in determining which colours will work. North-facing rooms are never going to get direct natural light so it’s best just to embrace this and work with darker shades for more cosy, cocooning spaces. Make the most of south-facing rooms, which get warm light all day, with light, pale tones.
Remember that colours are altered drastically by the light sources that fall on them, whether that be the early morning sun, fluorescent light bulbs or candlelight. So, it’s worth considering the light sources that will be in play when you are using the room you are decorating: a north-facing home-study, for example, is going to get cool, harsh light when you are using it during the day, so it’s probably best to stay clear of whites, which are natural light reflectors and are best saved for west-facing rooms with warm light in the afternoon and early evening.
Bolds versus neutrals
When using bold colours, it’s helpful to devise a comprehensive scheme that matches up complementary shades. For this, it’s helpful to get your head around colour weight, which refers to the strength of pigment in a colour. Using paints with similar ‘strength’ will create spaces that seamlessly flow into each other, like those seen at Ian James and Nick Selby’s apartment, which we visited for our ‘Living with Colour’ series.
On the other end of the spectrum are neutrals, which artist Alessandra Taccia works with in both her work and home. It may seem straight-forward enough to paint with neutrals but, as Alessandra explained, ‘Even a white will never really be white. It’s white in your mind,’ drawing attention to natural light’s capacity to imbue subtle tonal variations from morning to night. Also, when using neutrals, it’s helpful to remember that paint can only bounce light that’s already available and will not make a room lighter in itself.
Furniture and art
The colours you paint your walls with form a backdrop for the furniture, art, textiles and objects you put in your interior. Have a bright red sofa? Probably best to stay clear of brown hues. Vivid yellow painting? Paints on the pink end of the spectrum are probably not the best option.
But, even if the objects in your home are spread across the colour spectrum, it doesn’t mean you have to opt for the white box approach to cater to them. As design journalist and consultant Tom Morris’ flat in the Barbican demonstrates, a ‘dark neutral’ can be as accommodating as something lighter, forming a non-obtrusive backdrop to your furnishings and art.
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