Does seeing colour make you smile?

Personally, I love colour, if you read my last blog you will already know this. I love greens, blues, oranges, reds, purples and yellows and you can see this throughout mine and my girlfriends home (luckily she loves colour too) 😜. But i’m always surprised how many homes I visit that have no colour — why would you want a home with no colour? Colour is what brings a home alive, so why have dull beige, or neutral magnolia (colours which even sound a bit dull when you say them) when you have the choice of any colour your heart desires? I’m not suggesting we go back to the 70’s and have garish orange walls and green shaggy rugs, but instead of having lifeless neutral colours, why not be a bit more…. adventurous?

Decorating sucks

Okay, we all know it, decorating sucks. It’s a pig of a job and it can easily take up your whole weekend, and then you’re back in work on Monday morning with paint in your ears, hair and finger nails — not cool. So to prevent the embarrassment of walking into your Monday morning meeting looking like you’ve been attacked by a paint brush, lets see how we can add a pop of colour into your home without getting the dreaded paintbrush out.

Go green 🌲

I LOVE a home which has plants and trees. They are a great way to add colour and a great way to incorporate the ever popular Boho look into your interior — then just throw a colourful Moroccan rug down, get yourself a floor settee and add lot of wicker and there you have it! The Boho look. Okay it may not be that easy but honestly, its easier than it looks. So you may be asking what kind of plants are good around the home, my three personal favourites are: all types of cactus, the rubber tree and the Banana tree. If you are interested in house plants, my next blog is going to go more into depth into the different types you can get and also how to care for them!

Get fruity with it 🍉🍊🍋🍌

Okay you’re going to think I sound a bit crazy here, but fruit is a great way to add a splash of colour into your kitchen, whilst also keeping you healthy — not bad hey? Think about it, you’ve got the yellows, the greens, the purples, the reds and the oranges, so how about finding a big bowl and brighten up your kitchen using fruit! If your decor is more antique based, why not try a silver plated punch bowl? If you have a more contemporary interior, try a long narrow glass dish? Or if you have a vintage interior, get funky with it and go for an atomic bowl? You can pick any, but fruit is certainly an easy (and healthy!) way to add some colour into your kitchen.

Coloured frames (and of course the prints in them!)

Colourful frames are a great way to brighten up those walls. If you’re crafty yourself then the best way to do this, is to head out to the charity shops (or auctions if you need quite a few) and buy some 1980’s mahogany frames for £0.50p each. On the way back, drop by B & Q and pick up some sampler pots, be brave with the colours you pick as colours you may think look awful in the shop, may actually look amazing hung up and the most you’re going to lose is a couple of ££’s. My other half’s mum has taken this crafty option to the extreme and actually glues buttons to frames in order to spice up her walls! If you’re too busy for this then your best option is to search the web for the colour you think will look right, remember though, frames certainly aren’t cheap so be sure on the colour you pick! The best ones I’ve come across were by Polaroid (a cheeky little find in Homesense), the choice of colours is great and they have a few different shapes and sizes to choose from.

Ornaments

Every home should have a few ornaments, things bought from holidays, vases found from car boots or gifts from your great aunt which actually you hate, but feel obliged to put on display. I imagine you are looking around now at the ornaments you have dotted around and wondering why on earth you still have them, but we are not here to talk about de-cluttering — this article is about the joys of colour! If you want to add some colour using ornaments then choose wisely, try buying things which could be an investment for the future. For me, studio glassware is a great thing to be investing in at the minute, get yourself educated on different designers of the industry. Everyone knows the obvious manufacturers of glass like Whitefriars or Murano, so why not try the less well known manufacturers like Holmegaard or Loetz, two manufacturers who still command high prices, but are certainly less well known to the average dealer so you may always find a bargain!

Scatter cushions and throws

This is such an easy way to add a splash of colour to your living room. Both cushions and throws can up lift an otherwise dull sofa and completely change its appearance. When I was on the hunt for cushions for my flat, I was shocked by the price of them, until I took a trip to Homesense. This place is the king of cushions and they are all relatively cheap, yet excellent quality. If you want a particular pattern then you could always have a go at making them yourself, there’s plenty of video’s out there which can show you how within a few hours. Me and my girlfriend love a good throw, my personal favourite type is by far the welsh blanket, everything about it is perfect from the patterns to the colours. We have some corkers listed at intique.net sold by a good friend of ours who actually lives in Wales!

Rugs

Depending on the floor you have, a rug may be one of the best ways to brighten your room. Natural floors, like wood or stone can sometimes feel a little cold and make a room seem a bit dark. A great way to counteract this is by investing in an antique or vintage rug. Rugs have been fashionable for hundreds of years which means the choice is endless. Personally, I love an Afghan rug, or a 60’s Sunburst rug, two very different styles, yet offer the same thing — colour. The Sunburst rug certainly isn’t to everyone’s taste, they often have bold patterns, use warm colours like yellows and oranges and are quite small in size. The afghan rug is quite different and comes in a huge array of colours, sizes and patterns. If you do want to add a rug to your room then I’d 100% recommend buying buy vintage or antique, they hold their value over time but also, if they start to get a little tatty it adds to their character!

—————————————————

My name is James Broad, antique & curio enthusiast turned entrepreneur. I buy, restore & sell beautiful things for homes & commercial interiors. For more information, check out my About Me page; for products, have a look at my Inventory & for anything else, well, just click on the big CONTACT button.

How to Add a Pop of Colour in Your Home — Without Getting the Paintbrush Out!