Living in full colour
These beautiful homes and apartments show how easy it is to add colour without overpowering the senses. From Bohemian - boho - style to modern minimalist, colour can be used to express your individual personality and style, or to turn a sterile setting into a delight for the eye.
Often compared to eclectic style, Bohemian - or boho - style brings together treasured collectibles, secondhand bargains, wonderful patterned fabrics and reproduction furniture - with just a dash of modern convenience. It's a style of decorating that reflects your true personality, whether you are hippie chic or a modern gypsey!
Colourful accents and a multitude of textures and materials reflect the true essence of Bohemian style. It's a mod podge of elements brought together in such a way that they are visually appealing and create an atmosphere of relaxed comfort. Woven fabrics, tie-dyed or hand printed patterns, natural materials and colourful accents abound in a home or apartment decorated in Bohemian style. Think Indian sari's, oriental rugs and afghan fabrics and you are on the right track.
In a Bohemian style setting you can bring in colours, patterns and textures in so many different ways. Don't be afraid to pair together a glass coffee table with a fringed Victorian lampshade on an art deco base. Colourful fabrics both plain and patterned, with beads and sequins or fringed edges add essential finishing touches to a Bohemian scheme. You could make your own wall hangings with vintage quilts, hand woven rugs, or even textured wallpaper.
Bohemian originates from travelling gypsies, who collected various pieces of furniture from different countries and different periods over the years, bringing this all together to create what we now call boho style. What's especially nice about boho style for the average home decorator is that you don't need to go looking for expensive antiques, but can shop around for secondhand bargains and salvage finds to assemble your own unique boho interiors. One of my favourite ways to find 'trash-to-treasure' pieces is to keep an eye out for people moving. You would be amazed at what some people throw away, and how you can easily restore or revamp these pieces - that cost nothing!
If you love boho style and want to incorporate this style in a room - or your home - pop into your nearest paint store and load up with paint swatches. Start off with one colour taken from an item that you already have in the room. This can be a colour in cushion fabrics, a rug, or even a painting. Think warm earthy colours and rich jewel tones
At the opposite end of decor styles is the more minimalist look. With emphasis on keeping interiors as clean and clutter-free as possible, minimalist interior can sometimes look sterile and lack personality. That's where colour comes into play. Using colour you can warm up a minimalist interior and introduce your individuality at the same time, without losing touch with clean, clutter-free interior spaces.
For those who prefer to keep clutter out of sight and trinkets and accessories to a minimum, it is important to add personality in other ways. Colour is an easy way to introduce identity and break up the monotony of monochromatic interior spaces.
In a modern minimalist setting colour doesn't have to overpower the space. Even a single colour can make a huge impact in an all-white setting!
Think about how your living spaces could look with colour, and then pop into your local Builders Warehouse or paint store and grab some colour swatches. Even if you don't plan on painting walls, the colour swatches will guide you in selecting colours for decorating your home in other ways.
