Bringing Colour and Interest to Your Living Spaces: 4 Tips from an Interior Design Masters Contestant
My name is Buse the founder of Interior Design Cambridge – former contestant on BBC Interior Design Masters 2022 and a full-time interior designer in Cambridge. Here are my tips to bring interest, warmth and colour into my client’s living spaces. Let’s say you are trying to transform your living space from an all-grey developers interior to something that reflects your personality and style, or maybe you just watched the latest And Just Like That series and got inspired by Carrie’s insane apartment! Either way, I’m here.
Embrace Colourful Accents
Okay, firstly, I am all about adding a solid textural and natural base before talking about details however we are starting from the bit I usually end with here. Consider your base — if you’ve got an all-grey type of foundation you can go one of two ways. One, go colourful! Pick two or three accent colours that work harmoniously with each other and BOOM – you’ve got some character! Alternatively, and I do think this is a more timeless and elegant solution; you may know what I’m going to say, my motto, is ADD WAMTH. Here you can look at incorporating more natural colours, browns, terracottas, and whites and add hints of an accent colour where appropriate.
(Image Credit: Abigail Ahern)
Layer Texture
Now this comes in many forms and is a word interior designers love to throw out there. It hints at materiality. Essentially, what we mean by this is mixing materials with high levels of interest together. An example of this is a plush velvet chair, with a boucle sofa, and a knit throw spilling out of a wicker basket, sat next to a sleek glass coffee table with an antique brass ornament on top. I’ve listed 6 different materials, all with their textural properties, all that once played next to each other will help the other singgg.
Patterns
Getting the right patterns can be a tricky business. This is where samples come into play. The key here is to mood board collect as many samples as possible from patterns that you may like, lay them next to each other and see if they work well together! Add your paint samples and some of your hardware in too and that will be your personalised scheme!
(Image Credit: Abigail Ahern)
Meaningful Objects
I grew up in a house where my father was an antique collector. When my father passed away, I always knew that when I bought my home those antiques would come along with me. The way I set up my home and designed it was based on the knowledge that these objects would be there. Your past and your present should all be present in a well-designed home. This could include places you’ve travelled and objects you’ve collected there, rocks you collected from that time you went to the beach, and that chair your friend gave you that you are very fond of and is super comfortable. Objects are things we bring along the way as we continue our lives. Don’t underestimate them! They are important.
If you are looking to have a consultation to talk through how to bring further interest into your home, you can book a personal consultation here at Interior Design Cambridge.
Written by Busé
