Being Bold With Colour In 2022
Emma @homemilk is on a mission to help you confidently bring more colour into your home.
In this guest blog piece, Emma shares her great ideas on being bold with colour!
IT’S TIME TO BE YOU
Yep, that’s right, 2022 is the year of YOU. Well, I’m putting that slogan out there, feeling confident it will catch on considering the absolutely miserable couple of years we’ve just been through. It’s fair to say things have not been going to plan, so let’s take back what control we do have and bring in the maximum amount of joy into our homes, by finding colours that fill us up. “But how do you bring colour into your home, where do you even start?” Hold tight as I whiz you through my top tips for feeling more confident with colour.
Emma Merry of @homemilk is someone who is not afraid to use colour.
THE CLUES ARE THERE
I often help clients who say they just like so many colours that they have no idea what their home colour palette should be. If you stop, pause and take a look, you might be surprised to find they are all around you. You will have been drawn to certain items over the years and have consciously or subconsciously surrounded yourself with your favourites. Take a look at your treasures, what’s popping up most often? You can also try the classic trick of looking in your wardrobe.
If you are still not clear, scan Pinterest, create boards with things you love, even if they don’t make sense at first. You will find as you sift through them there are repeating colours. Those are your core.
Bold colours are used all over Emma's home. This combination of Lilac, Teal & Peach is just gorgeous. Image credit: @homemilk.
Being Bold With Colour In 2022
BUILD YOUR BELIEF
If you are not feeling confident with colour, start small. You could upcycle an old stool in an exciting tone, paint a door in a juicy colour pop or finally get round to putting that painting up on the wall. How does it make you feel? We all know what being mindful is, so apply it to how you engage with colour, how do you react when you see different colours in your home? Once you realise the joy colour can bring, you will be hooked and want to start playing on a larger scale.
Colour to make you smile in the homes of Kerry (@homemilk) - image credit: @homemilk & @home_ofcolour - image credit: @npphotgrapher.
LOVELY FEATURES
People tend to get stuck with what exactly to paint - where to start and where to end, resulting in them going nowhere!. If you love a good colour combination think about highlighting your woodwork in an accent colour. You could try lighter walls with darker woodwork, or vice versa. The more contrast, the more drama. If you keep this style throughout your house there will be a feeling of connection, of intentional design, even if the colours change.
Highlight your woodwork, creating a strong contrast of colour, like in the home of @linsdey_isla - image credit: @npphotographer. And in this pretty pink kids room, image credit: @homemilk.
Being Bold With Colour In 2022
BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL
Make your life easy and go for monochrome. Decide on a colour and go for it, either all one colour
or a tonal approach where you use tints/shades of the same colour. I love going for it in one
colour, people are calling it drenching these days. It’s where you use a single colour across your
walls and your woodwork to create a really modern and expansive look. I love it as it’s a really
clean/unfussy style plus it’s easy to implement.
For a modern paint look, try drenching. Emma uses this technique in her home. Image credit: @npphotographer.
COLOUR BLOCK
Colour blocking doesn’t have to feel terrifying, and when used with confidence is a really clever way to
zone areas. Start by looking for the shapes in your room; are there ones you want to highlight? Or
make disappear? E.g. you can hide away lots of angles in a vaulted ceiling by painting it all one
colour block. Colour blocking can work really well in an open-plan space where you want to
define different areas and give them their own unique personality.
Colour blocking being used in the homes of @thelondonloom & @homemilk. Image credit: @npphotographer.
Being Bold With Colour In 2022
TAKE YOUR EYES FOR A RIDE
I will of course always try to encourage you to go big with paint colour in your home, but if that’s just not your vibe or you can’t paint your walls for practical reasons (you might be renting and the landlord says no) then look for accessories in fun colours. A neutral backdrop will let your beautiful items pop. Think about how you spread your colourful items around, take a step back and evaluate if there’s a nice flow, do your accessories take your eyes on a fun journey around your room?
Bring colour into your home using accessories, seen here in the homes of @homemilk - image credit: @homemilk & @interiorspickle - image credit: @interiorspickle.
INSPIRE YOURSELF
The cool thing about colour is it doesn’t discriminate; it’s free for everyone, you don’t have to buy a ticket and go to a gallery to get inspired. Look up, look down it’s all around! From sweet wrappers to botanical gardens and everything in between, there are colours for everyone. It sounds daft but the key thing is to remind yourself to stop and look. We can take colour for granted and easily forget that the world is a treasure trove of inspiration.
As with life, getting comfy with colour is all about throwing yourself into it, making mistakes, learning and having fun. Don’t be self-conscious, decorate like nobody’s watching 😉
