JOIN USJust as in fashion, decor has a tendency to move cyclically and colour trends for the coming summer are heading to those of simpler times in the past. Colour expert and author Maria Killam says, “Colour is going back to the ‘50s and ‘60s with so much bright colour out there.”
There is an emerging palette from which you can choose. My favourite, for example, is blue and its myriad shades. Although I prefer to stick to grey for walls and furniture, I use blue as my accent colour. Accent colours are getting livelier so, you could really choose any bright colour as your accent and layer it over your trendy neutrals. When you take this route in your decor, there is one caveat, however. A bright accent colour does not sit well in a space filled with warm tones like say gold and browns. Another point to keep in mind is not to overuse neutrals like grey.
Gravitating towards a trendy neutral and decorating the whole house in it is a decor faux pas.
So, to avoid the debilitating effects of a neutral like grey, one uses an accent colour like cornflower blue. Shades of grey come to life when the blue is introduced in the mix; but a few pillows or vases are not adequate. You need to have small, medium and large accents of the same colour. Killam suggests that you should be playful with your accent colours since colour is meant to be fun. Out with ‘mix and match’, and in with ‘mix and don’t match’, says design expert Prema Varadarajan. She advocates deliberately juxtaposing contrasting materials as part of your decorating.
This could mean something very smooth with something heavily textured or something modern with something vintage and antique. The possibilities are endless but a word of caution — it’s not a trend that means, “Let’s throw everything out and start anew.” The key is to start by looking at what you already have, and then bring in contrasting materials to make your bland space crisp. Repetition, a style from the past, is in again. Repetitive decor layouts, repeating a line of light fixtures, or even, say, arranging your books by colour will create this effect. This trend offers a lot of flexibility at a low cost. You could manage to decorate with bright accessories you already have or shop at handloom exhibitions and so on. Bold and bright colours are appearing in unexpected colours in 2013. Natural fibres like cotton and linen in electric colours are all the rage in ‘avant garde’ decorating circles. Decorators say that when it comes to embracing this trend, it’s about how you incorporate them. Be liberal with soft romantic fabrics in vibrant colours. And as always remember to have fun.