Millennial beige is out. Colour-drenching is the new design trend that will revitalise your home
Interior designers are taking an all-or-nothing approach when it comes to colour in the home.
Interior design has moved beyond the timid and hesitant feature wall and towards a more confident top-to-toe, wall-to-wall eruption of colour.
It’s exploding across surfaces, fixtures, fittings and even furniture, with rooms being drenched in the same hue to make a powerful statement.
To achieve the maximum impact, you need to go “all in”, says Andrea Lucena-Orr, colour & communications manager for the DuluxGroup.
Lucena-Orr suggests using mid to deeper colours for the most dynamic effect.
“For a cosy and cocooning retreat, look to bolder colours such as deep greens, burgundy, ochres and dark blues.
“But if you’re after something fresh, blues and green in light to mid tones work well and can also help spaces feel larger.” Done right, nothing is off limits. Subtle washes can be effective too, with muddy khakis and faded neutrals cultivating a soft and enveloping atmosphere.
Designer Mardi Doherty of Studio Doherty says the colour-matching process isn’t an exact science, but more about finding similar shades for a monochromatic effect.
“It doesn’t matter if the different elements don’t match completely so long as the tones are close,” she advises.
“For example, the carpet doesn’t need to be a perfect match to the walls as it’s on a different plane and the way the light picks up the carpet will be different from the way it picks up the paint colours. But as close as possible is ideal.”
Doherty often uses the technique in period homes where the layout typically has greater separation between each room.
Coating everything from the architraves, skirtings and ceiling roses in one colour allows the room to feel “rich, warm and strong”, she says. “It can provide warm relief to what might otherwise be a mostly white home.
“We will often use it in a room that has little natural light as it adds to the drama of the space. We then pay particular attention to lighting with floor lamps and pendants.”
Colour can also be used to help demarcate zones within the home and enhance the division between areas. “This way, when you close your home office door at the end of the day and head into your living room it won’t feel like you’re still at work,” says Lucena-Orr. “Colour drenching helps create definition as it’s all encompassing.”
For homeowners hesitant to commit to drenching an entire space, bathrooms are an ideal place to start.
“We are often more inclined to do something a little different in smaller, more confined spaces with a single purpose,” says Chloe Tozer of Clo Studios.
“Powder rooms and bathrooms are the perfect place to create new energy through colour that’s unexpected. In the design world, we often describe powder rooms as ‘jewel boxes’ as there’s an opportunity to create something special. And the best place to begin is with the colour palette.”
At her newly opened hotel in Noosa, Halse Lodge, Tozer embraced banana yellow for the bathrooms. Committing to the hue wholeheartedly, she enveloped the walls, vanity and joinery in a similar tone across tiles, paint and terrazzo.
“The yellow ceiling creates a warm environment to bathe under – it feels like showering under the sunshine,” she says.
“Colour is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Embrace it with arms wide open – it brings life to design and emotion in a space.”
This story is from the June issue of Mansion Magazine. Inside The Australian on Friday, June 27.
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