Colourful Home Inspiration – The Transformation of a London Flat Using Colour and Design
Science has proven that the colours we use in our home influence our mood and well-being. Depending on your interior design style, you can opt for a riot of colour throughout your home in an eclectic style or for a more limited selection of colours that suits your personality best.
Our home is an extension of our personality, which is why it should mirror how we want the world to see us!
Every day we spend in our homes is like spending time with ourselves. So, our home should be a happy place, a sanctuary, where we always look forward to returning to, whether we are returning from a long day at work or from a wonderful vacation. Nowhere is better than where we feel we belong and the colours we choose for our interiors remind us of this.
From the Idea to the Reality
Sometimes, even if you know exactly how you want your home to look, the results do not always match what you had in your head! It takes patience to create the interior you imagined: sometimes it can be worth getting a little help from experts that have the experience to advise you when you are struggling. A good place to start is to create your own mood board of colours, patterns, wallpapers, fabrics and furniture you like and to see how they work together (see an example of one of our mood boards on this blog post.) The colours you choose for your home should match your personality, your taste and complement the size of each room in your home. Eg: if you have a small flat, pay attention to the tones you use: darker shades can create the illusion of an even smaller and crowded room. On the other hand, a mix of lighter colours reflects light and your room will appear larger. We have gone into this at a deeper level in this blog post Room Colours: How to Use Colour to Uplift Your Spirits.
With Great Interior Products, You Will Have the Home of Your Dreams
The easiest way to understand how colours can transform your home is by following, from start to finish, a redecoration project which has colour at its core. Recently we had the chance to collaborate with a wonderful client – Marilyn – who invited us to her flat in London to take some pictures. She ordered a bespoke Rainbow rug from us, which required several colours from the design seen in our Rug Collection to be adjusted in order to match the colour scheme of her new home.
Rainbow Original Rug to the left and Marilyn’s Rainbow Rug in Custom Colours to the right
We absolutely fell in love with Marilyn’s home and the way our Rainbow rug works with her thoughtfully chosen furnishings. We were inspired by her taste in interior design and the way she uses a mix of bold and sophisticated shades of colour thought. Her whole flat is beautifully decorated with products from niche and unusual makers/designers, each of them carefully chosen by herself. As you will see below, in this very colourful flat the tones are combined tastefully using interesting background shades to complement pops of colour. Wherever you look there is something interesting to see.
Let’s Take a Peek in the Kitchen
All the joinery (cupboards/kitchen/cornicing and columns etc.) in Marilyn’s flat were custom made. The kitchen unit fronts are painted in light teal and the insides in a deep rich dark greenish teal. The beautiful cherry blossom and dandelion photography by Andy Small behind the glass splash back fabricated by Opticolour is whimsical and uplifting and compliments the kitchen’s tones. This gallery kitchen is superbly thought-out with 2 larders, specialist storage for wine glasses, every modern appliance you can think of (including or favourite ice-cream making machine!) neatly crafted into a relatively small space that is open, light and and a joy to work in.
Flower Printed Glass Splashback by Opticolour
How about the living room?
Bespoke Rainbow Rug
As you can see, our Rainbow rug is a centre piece of the living room. By being customised with 6 bespoke colours (purple, 2 shades of teal to match with her sofa, red and oranges) the rug brings all the elements of the room together perfectly. The Deya Meadow Wallpaper, inspired by spring flowers in the village of Deya Mallorca is by Matthew Williamson (Osborne & Little) and the carpentry (as is the kitchen) is hand made and hand painted by Jamie Williams. The living room is furnished with an eclectic, but controlled, choice of furniture: a teal sofa, multi coloured acrylic side tables by Jonathan Adler and two armchairs (same model, but different colourways – mint green and dark purple.) This mix creates contrast and interest within the space, resulting in a highly original room, full of inspiring, uplifting colours that one could never tire of.
Neo Geo Drinks Table by Jonathan Alder
The Bedroom – the place you never want to leave, especially in the morning
The colours used in the bedroom are light and airy, giving the impression of a larger space. At a glance, the white & light green combination may seem quite simple, but the blinds fabric designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier (Botanique) add so much interest, completing the room in a classy, almost bohemian way. The transparent acrylic console table was a piece Marilyn had before which fits perfectly underneath thte window and serves as a desk that does not take up any visual space. Simple, elegant, cosy… the perfect bedroom sanctuary to relax after a long busy day.
Botanique blinds fabric by Jean-Paul Gaultier
The Bathroom – Exotic & Beautiful
Every room in this inspiring home has been carefully considered. The bathroom was designed in keeping with the rest of the flat. Nature is here too with flower motifs just as in the other rooms, but this time with a more exotic vibe – using Rainforest by Kit Miles wallpaper from Osborne & Little. The detailed cornices and mirrored cabinets continues the “Art Deco” theme.
Rainforest Wallpaper by Kit Miles for Osborne & Little
Thoughtful Details
The flooring throughout the flat appears to be an elegant large parquet pattern that warms the apartment up as it flows through all the rooms. However we were stunned to learn that this is actually a ceramic floor with the parquet pattern finely printed onto each tile. This makes the flooring much harder wearing and practical and a less expensive option than parquet, while also being great for underfloor heating (which can be tricky to install under wood). These 80 x 80cm (31 x 31 inch) tiles are the Caseto design made by the Spanish company Undefasa. They have a number of wood effect tiles that are really worth taking a look at! Marilyn sourced this at the annual ceramic tile fair CERSAIE in Bologna and shipped them herself into the UK.
‘Caseto’ Floor Tiles by Undefasa
Mirrors are a fantastic tool to brightening any room as they reflect light and give the illusion of the space being much larger. Marilyn has cleverly used mirrors throughout her home: in the living room, within the bespoke cabinetry in the hallway, in the custom-made Art Deco style bathroom cabinets. See the images below.
Bespoke made cabinetry with mirrors in the Entrance Hallway, Living room and Bathroom
The whole aprtment was renovated by a wonderful builder Stephen McCabe of Cape Construction – as Mariyln says: “None of it would have worked without him.”
We hope that this inspirational apartment has convinced you to bring more colour into your home. As you can see, great results can be achieved when you have the confidence to go with the colours you love.
