Decor for Deepavali
The Festival of Lights will soon be here. How about dressing up your interiors too? Lend a fresh look to the space you inhabit this festive season by splashing some sovereign hues about.
Furnishings, curtains, rugs, mats, carpets, cushions, tablecloths – all could get a makeover at this time of the year. Let’s see how you can usher in the colour of golden lights into your house.
Intense yellow curtains and cushions might appeal on TV soaps but not, perhaps, on your everyday sofas. Bright yellow can warm little hearts when spread on their walls. But, if you’re doubtful about the aesthetics of splashing such colours, retain a fashionable finish without foregoing taste. Just employ varying shades of yellow for the different elements in the room. Perplexed? Then, head for the kitchen for inspiration! Lots of foodstuff have the season’s favourite colour – turmeric, banana, mango, lemon, fenugreek, mustard, toor dal, moong dal..... Stretching the colour range a bit will bring orange, saffron and peach into its fold too.
Different combinations of these shades will transform your rooms into a veritable fairyland! Let’s begin with the living room. First - the floor. If you can redo the tiling, select ivory-veined, light mustard or khaki ceramic/vitrified tiles. Else, roll out an exquisite carpet with dark mustard as the basic colour. Next tackle the walls. Dark mustard on one pair of opposite walls (or for one accent wall) and ivory on the other pair impart a look of muted grandeur to the room. Make sure the furniture pieces are minimalistic, black and metalled or of rosewood. Garnet-coloured sofas also gel wonderfully well with this setting. Hang white/ivory and lemon yellow curtains to contrast with their respective wall-colours. Coir and cane lend an exotic touch without botching up the colour scheme.
Alternately, you could have sober lilac walls and dark grey sofas or black, metal, minimalistic furniture, with a carpet of a mango-yellow basic colour. Brighten up the demure decor with sovereign-coloured cushions and lemon yellow curtains. Accessories of terracotta or any other earthy hues work fine. As for the bedroom, go for bright bedspreads with pale yellow floral patterns, coupling them with a cosy, deep-mustard blanket.
Plain, sovereign cushions and pillows with intense-yellow lampshades compensate for the sobriety. Opting for a wall-to-wall carpet? A serene light-biscuit hue/beige will do the trick. The regal finish will make you feel it’s worth the heavy maintenance effort! Placing a couch? Again, dark/light grey, bottle green or burnt brown/chocolate will ally well.
The potential for combinations in the yellow range is infinite. But, don’t be overly obsessed with the yellow streak. A bunch of yellow gerberas in a shocking-yellow vase on a bright-yellow tablecloth is overkill!
But, waved with restraint, the golden wand will work wonders, giving a sunny kiss to your dull interiors! Yellow bodes happy days ahead for you and your visitors, for it is known to cast a benign spell on the human brain, dispelling depression and bringing cheer! Happy Deepavali!
