Joa’s Easy Festive Updates

Walls: Hague Blue No.30 in Estate Emulsion

Our entertaining spaces might be seeing fewer faces this holiday season, but they can still be inspiring, inviting, intimate backdrops for treasured (if non-traditional) memories. Over our next two blog posts, in anticipation of those small but perfectly formed celebrations, we’ve asked Joa Studholme to share her favourite tips for enhancing your home with colour.

 “These are not huge things,” says Joa; “it’s all about enhancing what you already have and making your entertaining spaces bring a smile to your face, as well as those you share your home with.”

If a whole room is more than you can manage before the holiday season, start small and consider other elements in your entertaining spaces that might benefit from some new enriching colour.

The quickest and easiest of jobs is to paint a border directly onto the wall around mirrors and pictures – about six centimetres wide. In a festive colour like Calke Green or Radicchio, this will emphasise your pieces and create a huge impact.

You can easily upcycle flea market finds or refresh existing furniture with the use of paint, too. Chairs painted in Modern Eggshell in the same colour as the walls creates a really sophisticated look and throws all the attention onto your festive table, but if you want a more relaxed feel, paint them in mismatched colours that can be used throughout your home during the rest of the year.

Colour can appear to visually alter the proportions of a room. Lighter colours are often best suited to big rooms because they maximise the space and won’t feel overpowering. In contrast, darker tones will enhance small areas and make them feel more intimate, so they can be used to zone areas for entertaining, while keeping lighter areas for working in.

One wall – or a corner – of rich colour, like Deep Reddish Brown or De Nimes, will create an area that feels opulent and will draw your eye away from the mundane. Set your festive table in this area to create an illusion of intimacy within a big space. And nothing can be more luxurious than using wallpaper to create an intimate moment in a room. Indulge yourself in one of our fabulously reflective metallic wallpapers, such as Lotus or Enigma.

Small areas like the interior of a food or drinks cupboard are crying out for some festive colour, however wary of bold tones you may be. Don’t forget: you can always shut the doors on these spaces if you need an oasis of calm during the working day, while they will bring joy to you and your guests when you use them for entertaining.

Be bold – choose strong tones like Rangwali, Book Room Red or Stone Blue that will result in vibrant, happy spaces. If you have glazed cupboards in your kitchen, these too can benefit from the addition of strong colour on their inside, perhaps echoing the colour of a kitchen island. And if you have any leftover wallpaper, it adds an extra chic twist to any cupboard or the back of a kitchen dresser. Try the Ocelot wallpaper or super sophisticated Pelt in the back of glasses cabinets for a glamorous festive feel.