In photo - Total white carpets or colours for home decoration ?

Home is a safe and clean place

The choice is yours, but never at random. Now that we have made up our minds on the general aspects of our plan to paint a room, let us go into detail to define the colours. We are immediately at the first crossroads: total white or colours? And will these be bold or muted? What will the general palette of the environment we are about to revolutionise (because that is what it is) look like?

Once upon a time, there was total white.

To tell the truth, it is still there, even though there are many voices, among interior designers and others, who oppose this trend. Total white is not just a question of colour, but invests the broader concept of style, which demands absolute contemporaneity.
This means distribution of space, widths, furnishing style, choice of materials.
On the contrary, simply paint of white a 1960s house, for example, would produce the opposite effect, appearing more like a lack of style. Not to mention the white so beloved of the country-chic style - although here we speak more of ’whites“ with different shades - but always combined with wood and other elements that are not white (such as leather or stone).

In photo - total white décor

Total white is by no means an easy choiceas drastic, one might think it is a quick fix; on the contrary, white used absolutely could produce a sense of bewilderment in those who stay in a space that smacks of aseptic perfection and coldness (these are the main arguments against this choice). White rooms are very bright, and this may be over-stimulating in some cases.

Different is if white goes to form a kind of neutral palette on which to choose to accommodate colour, leaving this task to textiles (cushions, carpets, curtains and more), creating highly scenic effects and, above all, allowing the palette to be easily changed several times a year, following the seasons.

The magical world of colours.

Having abandoned the path of absolute whiteness, let us see what happens instead when we enter the magical world of colours. Various design theories and approaches provide interesting answers to the question of colour solutions. Here, more important than the answers will be the questions we ask ourselves, in order to orient ourselves intuitively but consciously.

Before we fall in love with a colour, we consider what character we want to give the room we are about to paint: will it be sophisticated or cheerful, energetic or relaxing, modern or antique? Colour communicates and induces a different attitude: does this room want to be a place of dialogue or reflection, of action or rest? Colours are frequencies, vibrations that affect us: in a red room one discusses animatedly, in a blue corner one gathers, between green walls one relaxes, immersed in orange or yellow one is more energetic. It is intuitive to avoid exciting colours in rooms reserved for resting (if you don't get to sleep, we know who to complain to), while creativity must also be nurtured by means of colourful stimuli, and perhaps it will be watered down in an indefinitely greige context.

In photos - what colour are you?

We think that home is always also a way for us to represent ourselves. Do we feel attracted by fashions, or do we aim to respect tradition? In the first case, one can be inspired by the “Colour of the Year” proposed by Pantone. For 2020 it was the Classic Blue, a reassuring hue, a highly desirable feeling in these uncertain times, which is also reflected in style choices in interior decoration.
Denim tones are making a comeback in the home, both for walls and, even more so, for textiles. Akzo Nobel, a global paint manufacturing giant, had launched, at the dawn of the new decade, its Tranquil Dawn, preferring a softer tone in the light blue range.

Longer-lasting trends are, on the other hand, those linked to revivals, such as the 1970s, which have been making a comeback in fashion and colour proposals for some time now, albeit always revisited from a contemporary point of view. An example of this is the rediscovered prestige of yellow, both in mustard shades (a homage to the past) and in brighter nuances, and often used in combination, as a contrast with blue.

In photo - LOFT the carpet between classic and modern

Limits.

Whenever we talk about design, or composition (even in the musical sense), the concept of limits is a positive one: they are real fixed points from which to start, allowing creativity to run within defined boundaries.
In our case, we will have to keep in mind furniture, accessories and interior design components that will remain constant presences and influence our colour choices.
These will rather enhance them. Once again, we can choose whether to work by analogy or contrast between the colour of the walls and the object dear to us.
All that remains is to try!

In photos - plan materials and colours well

→ read also Part 1 on how to choose colour “Colour Magic”.”

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