Live a life in colour!

ANGLIAN Home Improvements helps homeowners embrace colour with top tips from Sophie Robinson

New Year, more colour!

So many homeowners want to recreate the swoon-worthy interiors seen in glossy magazines or on Instagram feeds, but the fear of using colour creeps in and they retreat back to…magnolia.

Anglian Home Improvements has teamed up with top interior designer Sophie Robinson, to discover the best ways for UK homeowners to live a life in colour.

Known for her passion for colourful interiors, who better to provide inspiration and advice on how to allow your personality and individuality shine through in your home than Sophie Robinson.

Sophie commented: “If I had one mission in life it would be to play a part in making people’s homes more colourful. While I splash colour around my own home with wild abandon, I’m aware that for most folk it can be a thing of terror and dread. I’ve therefore pulled together six top tips to tempt self-confessed colour-phobes to experiment with a multitude of different hues, and to embrace the endless possibilities and transformational qualities of colour.”

1. Paint it!

First up invest in a pot of paint.

I’m serious, for a price of a tub and a weekend with a roller in your hand you can totally transform the look, feel and vibe of your room.

My mantra is just go for it, it’s only paint!

2. Expect the unexpected…

Use colour in unexpected ways.

I’ve got a thing at the moment for painting the doors in my house surprising colours because it just makes me smile.

But why not start off with a bold new hue for your front door.

Nothing gives a great first impression than a bonny bright colour, so don’t be afraid to stand out.

3. Accessorise with colour

For the faint hearted I’d suggest going neutral for the big ticket items like the sofa, flooring and curtains and then adding the colour with accessories.

A bold feature floor rug, brightly coloured lampshades, scatter cushions and wall art all combine to make an interesting scheme – but can easily be changed and updated over time.

4. Find YOUR colour

Choose a cohesive colour palette and use this to design all the rooms in your home so there is some flow.

While you’ll want each room to be different it helps if they work as a set.

It’s really important to dig deep and work out which colours and hues resonate with you.

If you’re stuck on where to start you can begin by looking in your wardrobe to see the colours you naturally pick out.

5. Start with a sample

I often start with a colourful wallpaper swatch or a fabric sample to build a colour scheme around.

You’ll find a combination of colours which all sit nicely together, neutrals through to brighter accent colours.

6. Magic number three

I find that three is a bit of a magic number when pulling a scheme together with the hero colour being around 60-70 per cent of the scheme (think walls, floors or large pieces of furniture) then the secondary colour being around 20-30 per cent (for example soft furnishings) with the final accent colour around 10-5 per cent (that’s cushions, artwork and vases).

You can add neutrals in with this, I call them a free colour, and can be found in wood flooring and furniture for example.

A Spokesperson for Anglian Home Improvements comments: “We’re thrilled to be working with Sophie once again in our bid brighten up the dark days of winter by encouraging homeowners to inject colour into their properties.

“At Anglian we believe it’s really important to be able to express your personality within your home, and we think Sophie is very inspirational with the ways in which she embraces colour, so who better to provide us with expert advice. Our newest range of composite front doors come in an array of bright and bold colours and, as Sophie suggests, this a fantastic place to start making your home stand out from the crowd!”

To find out more about Anglian Home Improvements and its wide range of home improvement products, including double glazed windows and doors, conservatories and orangeries, please visit anglianhome.co.uk

To take a closer look at how different product, design and colour options could transform your property, search ‘visualiser’ on the Anglian website.