The Importance of Colour
It’s one of the most commonly asked questions to our team, “What colour is ‘in’ at the moment?”
You won’t be surprised to hear it isn’t as simple as saying ‘teal’. We sat down with our youngest designer Sam, to understand how she approaches a scheme and how those colours are bought to life.
Where does your inspiration for colour and design come from?
From a design perspective, I take inspiration from all sorts of unusual places. I may see something architectural like a staircase that could give me an idea for a headboard or something from nature that gives me an idea for a texture to look for in a fabric.
How does this apply to choosing a colour?
Interior design should be a sensory experience and texture adds depth to colour choices. A flat colour will often struggle to give you depth in design and so you need to consider more elements to make it a sensory experience.
Do you get colours given to you in a brief?
Sometimes. It is often easier for us if clients tell us the things they don’t like. This gives you room to play a bit and lead them down a path of discovery to a design or colour they’d maybe not considered before.
One thing we always consider is if the scheme will last. Showhomes can sometimes be around for some time and so we tend to focus on making something look timely and relevant but also classic so it won’t date in a matter of months.
Does the size of the room have a big impact on colour and design?
Yes, but again it depends on the brief. This is where the choice in window treatments can be so important. How much light is coming into the room? Does it need to feel light and airy or be a moody snug?
Once we start to get a feel for the scheme, we’ll create a mood board of textures, images and colours. This will ultimately be the basis of the mood board used for the presentations. You can start to see how all your ideas work with each other (or don’t!) and develop the scheme from there.
Do Abode designers each have a distinct style?
Definitely. We all have to work within the boundaries of the brief but out of the 8 designers we have here, we could all probably pick out who had done which design.
We have a huge range of experience but were lucky that our clients give us the freedom to pull on that experience. Being the youngest, I may push the boundaries on a design a bit more, but I’ll usually lean on the more experienced designers to see if they think I’m pushing it too far with my ideas.
This is one of the reasons I love working here. Were not a team of designers all with the same tastes and preferences. It creates an environment that allows us to learn from each other.
Do clients need to be challenged on design and colour?
I think so. A simple example may be that a client may not like green. However, emerald green may be a ‘no-go’ but when you introduce a bit of sage green in a really beautiful fabric, all of sudden, that piece is their favourite item.
But it shouldn’t just be colour that is changing over time. The colour palate is important but the ‘statement’ piece we look to include in each room is another way to keep evolving designs and keep interiors fresh and exciting for the developer and their customers.
So what colour is in then?
>>silence<<