Accent colours are a great way to bring depth and interest to a neutral colour scheme. It’s an easy route to introducing colour to your home if you’re apprehensive about splashing it all over your walls. But although it seems pretty simple to add a splash of colour here and there it’s amazing how easy it is to get wrong. You don’t want to fall victim to the hideous show-home look that’s so contrived and overdone.
So here are my top tips on how how to successfully use an accent colour in your home.
1. USE TONAL VARIATIONS OF YOUR COLOUR
So first up, don’t use the same shade of your accent colour throughout your room or your home. Using the same shade of teal everywhere will look way too match-matchy and will be dull, dull, dull. Mix it up by using tonal variations of your colour.
So what I mean by tonal is lighter and darker variations of your colour. My accent colour is pink. It varies from the palest blush to the deepest burgundy. Keeping it varied makes it look much more natural and organic. Imagine going for a walk in the forest and all the different shades of green you would come across, that’s the look you should be going for.
2. USE DIFFERENT OBJECTS TO SHOWCASE YOUR COLOUR
The next tip is to not just feature your colour in cushions, you can do better than that. Use your accent colour on a whole variety of objects. So go for a painted piece of furniture in one room, a rug in another, a piece of artwork in another space, a door handle, a plant pot, a stack of books, a blind, a throw, a wall hook, a tile, a tea towel, a table cloth. By using a variety of objects you will vary the texture of your accent colour and also the height. Having your accent colour up high on a shelf and on the rug on a floor will make it feel much more sophisticated and interesting.
3. DOT THE COLOUR EVENLY TO CREATE RHYTHM
When we place accent colours evenly throughout a room it encourages the eye to travel around at take it all in. This creates a lovely rhythm of the repetition which will make a room feel really well put together. So try to feature your colour on every wall as you look around the room so it feels balanced.
4. USE IT IN EVERY ROOM FOR A COHESIVE LOOK
If you want to create a really coordinated look around your home then you can feature your accent colour in every room, as long as you stick to all the previous tips to make it feel natural. This should work really easily if you have already created a whole home colour palette of harmonious colours as your accent should seamlessly work in every room. If you have no idea how to create a whole home scheme you can read about it here.
5. LET IT EVOLVE NATURALLY
The final tip is to let your accent colour build over time and don’t try too hard, remember the show home look we want to avoid?! If you choose accent colours you are naturally drawn to (which you absolutely should) then over time you should build an authentic collection of items that will find their natural place in every room.
Thanks for reading my blogs, I love sharing them with you. If you would like any face-to-face advice then get in touch, I offer my interior design services across Southampton and Hampshire.
Sarah x
