There’s a lot to be said for neutral colours in your home, as they provide a calming and harmonious influence.While this is a blessing in quiet rooms, such as your bedroom, there are other roomsto whichyou might want to add splashes of colour and vibrant tones to make the spaces come alive, adding touches that reflect your personal preferences and lifestyle. Here are a few tips on the approaches you can take to do just that.
Liven up your living room
Let’s start with the area where most of the family spends time together and where guests are welcomed into your home: the living room. Here,you’ll want to use a few extra special touches to make the space comfortable as well as interesting.
Painted walls and ceiling in a soft shade and a wooden floor offer a lovely backdrop for your furniture and accessories. There’s no need to resort to extravagantly fussy floral curtains, or sofas upholstered in eye-popping patterns to inject a bit of energy into your design scheme. Instead, opt for elegant window shutters in a bright finish, to allow more naturaldaylight into your room. Keep your sofa plain, then accessorise it with jazzy scatter cushions that you can mix and match at will.
Deck out your dining room
Some people like their dining area to be fairly uniform and formal, with matching sideboards and coordinated table and chairs. Others prefer a quirkier look, with mismatched chairs or a unique, upcycled table. No matter your preference, you can bring your dining room to life by introducing shiny chandeliers, striking table runners,eccentric candlesticks or simplebunches of brightly coloured flowers.
When it comes to tableware, you have the opportunity to make the most of dishes that enhance the food you’re serving, and sparkling glassware that will reflect the lighting. Dimmer switches are useful in a dining area when you want to create a mellow, more relaxed mood.
Keep your kitchen comfy
While dining rooms are appropriate for more formal occasions, many families eat together in the kitchen, which is also the place kids sometimes do their homework or hang out with friends. A neighbour who pops in for a cuppa might chat to you in the kitchen, especially if you’re preparing something, rather than movingthrough to your living room. In this sense, your kitchen is a social hub, and you’ll want it to be friendly and welcoming, as well as practical.
If space allows, it’s worth adding a small, brightly upholstered, comfy sofa in your kitchen, so you can have that neighbourly chat. Bear in mind that the kitchen table often ends up being used for repairing punctured bicycle wheels or dismantling lawn mowers, so be sure to keep handy a colourful waterproof or greaseproof covering that can be whipped out of a cupboard as needed.
Throughout your home,interesting wall art also serves as a very useful way to brighten up your interiors, so that there are many ways to make each shared space work for the whole family.