August 27, 2024

Colours

There are two fundamental approaches to handling colour with any room.

You can either build colour into the furniture (which you aren’t exactly going to change at the first change of whim). Or you can have neutral to balanced colours in the furniture and concentrate on colour in your accessories, the wall finish, fabrics and other elements that are not as expensive to change, should your choice go out of fashion or start to bore you.

 

Where the kitchen differs from most rooms is in the near infinite, bewildering range of decorative fittings and accessories available. Literally every element is an opportunity and you are only limited by your imagination. Don’t feel intimidated by all this. It’s important that you should have fun decorating your kitchen and also build in flexibility to leave ‘room’ for manoeuvre.

 

Let’s look at the elements step by step and, ultimately, the choice is yours. The kitchen units come in a variety of materials. If you like natural wood, there is still a kaleidoscope of stains in your arsenal, from a transparent, natural finish to the darkest stain, from a rich, reddish brown to almost black. There are also colour stains – green, blue or red – which, if well thought out, would not date or go out of fashion.

 

Usually, when you choose a colour, it is your favourite, or one you are comfortable with at the very least, so you are unlikely to get fed up of it. When it comes to other finishes, spray paint will enable you to choose from a literally infinite pantone colour spectrum.

 

Having decided on the basic, fixed colour, you can start looking at other elements:

● worktops, which can be in a variety of materials and colours – marble, granite, postform with a marble look or synthetic resins – and the kitchen sink;
● appliances, which no longer just come in white, stainless steel, brown or black but various colour tones, and electrical fittings;
● wall and floor finishes, from plastic emulsion (and paint on the door and/or window frames) and/or tiles to wallpaper, linoleum or a fitted carpet to parquet (always leave room for any movement of the wood on the peripheries); and
● accessories, from handles to crockery, cushion and curtain fabric to tablecloths.

As in anything in life, the secret with colour is to maintain a balance. You are not setting out to create a carnival atmosphere; nor do you want the room to be unnecessarily sombre. Too many colours may make the room look uncoordinated and distracting, even mentally tiring.

 

Sometimes, the colour will emerge in the detail rather than in the large expanses, with a neutral colour being offset by a few eye-catching, bright touches. Try to establish a theme, even if it is different from other themes in your home, and the rest should fall into place.