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Design Philosophies

Should you follow a trend or your instincts with colour?

September 26, 2019

Inspiration can be found in many places when designing your own home. If a room doesn’t immediately shout out how it wants to be decorated, you need to seek out ideas. Personally, to get my creativity flowing, I love going to interiors talks and fairs, checking out boutiques, meeting craftsmen, flicking through magazines, scanning Instagram and Pinterest and searching the web more generally to find the latest in interior design.

Although it’s important to stay fresh and to know what’s going on in the interiors world by keeping up to date with the latest developments, just following trends because respected or revered designers have said it is ‘in’ can mean creativity is dampened rather than enhanced.

Interior design - dining room

Painting your walls with the shade of the moment, for instance, rather than because it truly speaks to you and your overall vision, could mean you may have to end up with something you don’t entirely like.

Being open to ideas that may challenge your initial vision – including new trends – is great, but to ensure you end up with an interior that you (or your clients) truly love, it’s essential to make decisions based on elements that suit you and that you can actually see yourself living with.

At Ana Engelhorn Interior Design, a little trick I love to use to help decide on wall colours, for instance, is to paint two or three large

pieces of paper with the potential colours and stick them on different walls of the room. You can then see how the colours look in your room at different times of day and how you feel about it.

There are colour combinations you may never have imagined would look good together but when up on your wall, you find they do! Think about orange and green, or pink and brown … colours that are found in nature and go beautifully together but you might not have considered without seeing them in context.

 

colour trends

If you are not keen on painting your walls with a more bold colour, think about adding colour in the finishes, such as throws, cushions or artwork.

My advice would be to keep an open mind and be willing to try new things, but ultimately, choose things and colours for your interior because you like them and believe they look good, not because someone else has told you they do.