When it comes to interior design and making a bold, creative statement, sometimes size really does matter. There’s a time for being subtle, but your living room or kitchen might not be one of them. You crave larger than life design ideas to reflect your personality and you want to find the courage to take the plunge.
Take a look at the sorts of statements you can make when kitting out your humble abode.
Colour
Forget the bland beiges and the mundane magnolias, you want a colour palette to inspire and rejuvenate. Cream walls in every room of the house can be calming, but it can also be dull and uninspiring. Instead, go for something a little bolder.
If you love purple, opt for a damson feature wall, whip up some plum flock wallpaper and experiment with matte and sheen finishes. While you don’t want your environment to look garish or messy, you can utilise more striking colours to express your personality.
If you still love your white walls and don’t want to relinquish the crispness just yet, why not inject a bit of colour into your furnishings. Brighter curtains, more textured and patterned cushions, and intricate throws can be the ideal way to get your fix for colour.
Statement Pieces
If you’re keen to bring some focal points into your living spaces, don’t underplay the feature. Bite the bullet and go bold. If your dining room has an expanse of stunningly beautiful antique wooden floorboards that are period, a large rug works well in breaking up the sea of brown and injecting texture and colour into your space. Underfoot, you will also have a more tactile and pleasant experience for your soles.
For your living room, the chimney breast is the ideal place to have a focal point. You may choose to install a wood burning stove, create an open fire or have an ultra-modern eco-friendly hologram fireplace design. Don’t be subtle and go for the largest design that you can.
Accompanying your new fireplace, you may want a wallpaper feature wall, or you might prefer stripes, or simply a favourite colour of yours. To draw the eye, go large and bold.
Furniture
A two-seater sofa can be perfect for a cosy living room in a cramped cottage. However, a small sofa can look lost in a large lounge or drawing room. Try to gauge the proportions of your humble abode and draw up some plans. Try to fill the space with the furniture that you love.
A large corner sofa can be comfortable, and ironically space saving for those larger dimensions. If you adore vintage pieces, try and source some Scandinavian mid-century designs at your local auction house or scour the classifieds for inspiration.
Designing your pad should be exciting. While it can be daunting to follow your passion for the bold, bright and big, take the plunge and fill your interior with the designs that you love. Be individual and express your personality. Size really does matter.
I find myself more and more drawn to colour for my clothes, but also in my home. I like the idea of bringing splashes of colour without being overpowered.
I do like the idea of a feature wall, but like you say, I don’t want it to be too garish! Choosing paint is quite stressful!
I think that bringing a splash of colour into a room is a must!
I hands up to like plain walls, but try to bring in colour using accessories, which hopefully helps make it look brighter.
A hologram fireplace sounds like a fun, modern addition to a living room! I should try that.
I don’t have a huge amount of colour in the flat I am in now because I know I’ll be moving next year but when we get a house I know I’ll be looking at colour for the size of the space x
There are some great tips here. I’ll be giving my room a makeover soon and I’ll be doing a statement wall of either a bold block colour or maybe a brick wall effect! x
I’m loving the idea right now of crisp light coloured walls with the pop of colours being in the furnishings, if I could afford it I would love to give my house a complete makeover. I also am quite intrigued by the idea of just having one bold coloured wall
I really want to add some colour to my home but struggle as it looks so dark
I’d love to inject a little more colour into my home but my other half is super boring and just likes everything to be magnolia. Borrrring {‘;’}
Louise x
We live in a rented flat with lino flooring and I’m desperate for a big statement rug! We have the usual magnolia walls and most of our furniture is dark brown, including our sofa so I am desperate to brighten the room up a bit!
We have a very monochromatic colour pallet throughout our home, every room by the bathroom and one of the kids rooms, are black and white/cream. However we love books, games, and art so our various displays / collections add the splashes of colour and keep it feeling vibrant.
I love a bit of colour! I’m drawn to bright colours but always feel I need to tone it down a bit!