Two Spring Schemes from an Expert Colour Consultant

scheme one

In these colours, I envision a scheme for an open-plan living space. More and more properties are being extended to embrace the outdoors and family living, which is brilliant for creating sociable spaces, but can make it more daunting to decorate. My suggestion is to use different colours to delineate each area.

Bone is a lovely soft neutral that can be taken over walls and ceiling in the kitchen area, and you could use Sap Green to mark out the dining area. If you don’t have a useful junction at which to start a new colour, you could try extending Bone through the dining area, but colour-blocking an area near the dining table.

Finally, I’d use lead-grey Down Pipe for the living area, either across the whole space, or applied in a similar way to the Sap Green colour-blocked dining room.

Any way you choose to combine these colours, you’ll have a scheme that connects you to the outdoors. This palette is earthy with a hint of mid-century modern, bringing in the utilitarian trend for Danish design. Second-hand Ercol or G-Plan furniture embraces the recent swing towards nostalgia perfectly.

scheme two

These colours create a natural, earthy scheme with a hint of the traditional. Despite each shade having a modern feel, the scheme as a whole feel grounded in nostalgia and the security of the past. You could try them in a kitchen, with base units in Duck Green, walls and wall units in Hardwick White, and woodwork in Treron.

This combination would also look lovely in a dining room – walls in Duck Green, ceiling in Treron, and woodwork and cornice in Hardwick White. Or, try the same approach in a living room combined with pale natural wood and faux fur rugs.