On the brighter side

Priya Jagat

Colours make the world look beautiful. Everything around us comes alive when dipped in colour. These reflect our personality through the clothes we wear or the furnishings we use to do up our homes. Yet, monochromes and neutral palette have always been the favourites with interior decorators. Referred to as classics, these always form a wonderful canvas inside the house.

Pick your favourite colour

Even when we know that neutrals and creams are preferred for the interiors, there is an urge to experiment with colours. While it is ideal to pick safer tones for walls, one can experiment with soft furnishings. Pick colours liberally but be careful about the hues. Make sure what you pick complements the décor in entirety. Ask questions like — if a yellow is too bright or too pale, a blue too strong or very powered, a red is too bold or making the perfect statement, a white (perhaps the most difficult) is too white, too cold or serene.

Be practical

A colour should not dominate a room and its contents but rather complement and enhance these. It should be a mood definer. Colours should create a relaxing, energetic, fun or whimsical ambience. Also, the personality of the homeowner should get reflected in the choice of colour. The palette chosen has to stand the test of time, at least for a few years. Coming back to the same walls and furniture, day after day, should be comforting and mood uplifting.

Let there be light

Same colour used in different rooms takes on a different hue, depending on the lighting part. A brightly lit room gives the colour of the walls a different shade. And the room that gets natural light makes the colour appears a shade lighter. If the walls of the house are done up in one colour, use paintings and wall art to break the colour scheme.

Add-on factors

Plan the colour of your upholstery according to your lifestyle. Family lounges usually get used the maximum, so pick colours that take dirt and stains in their stride. It is better to be careful with the selection of the colour, rather than rage a war against kids to keep their feet down and not much on the couch. Warm, bright colours lend coziness to cold places or hilly terrains and light colours are more suited for places with hotter climatic conditions. North India experiences at least four seasons in a year. It is important to make a selection that sees you through the year. Picking up a neutral pallete will be a great choice, for instance go for beiges, greys, whites and off-whites. These take care of a longer summer season that we are subjected to. Come winter, bring out cushions, carpets, and throw pillows in vibrant colours.

White and vintage

It’s the ideal backdrop for artworks. We all love white and it still is the most popular choice of colour for homes. A slightly stained white, usually called off-white lends coziness to a room as opposed to stark white. Switch on the table lamps and lights and notice the difference.

The writer is a Chandigarh-based interior consultant