Quite simply, colour coordinating in a room leads to better flow. Done well, it makes a room feel more considered, and gives it a more polished and cohesive edge. This is often the difference between a disjointed and choppy space over a flowing and coordinated masterpiece!

Start by determining your accent colours…

Pick out one or two colours from your artwork, or otherwise any fabrics or favourite accessories you might already own. (Or if it’s an entirely new home, you can work in reverse order! Start by choosing a painting that you absolutely love, and use that piece as the inspiration for your room’s colour palette).

For the purpose of this blog post, we’ve selected our Indy Razz print in mint & blue. (We’ll be pulling out the mint tones and contrasting it with a bright yellow. We’ll also be adding touches of primary red to add some real contemporary zing!)

So, once you’ve settled on your accent tones, look around the room and start to plan where you might begin to dot them in…

TIP: A common mistake people make is choosing too many colours. However, it’s the amount of colour and the number of times it appears throughout the room that makes the room colourful – not the number of different colours used!

Now here’s proof of how just a hint of your palette can be enough to create a stunning result:

Cushions…

There’s no easier way to introduce accent colours into your home decor than with cushions. They’re affordable and easily changed, yet can quite literally transform your interior design scheme by popping a major colour punch.
You can absolutely vary the patterns, textures and shapes of your decorative pillows to add interest. However, a good idea is to intersperse these with plainer blocks of colour to give the eye a rest and really ground the key accent colours.

TIP: A real no-no in interior design is seeing cushions at an angle! That means, no balancing them on their corners, please! Buy them nice and big, fluff them up so they’re standing proud - and make them face the world square on! (And if you give them a little karate-chop in the middle you’ll get an even more designer look…)


Ornaments…

Stylish ornaments are brilliant for introducing accent colours, but don’t overdo them or your interior design scheme will start to look cluttered. Coffee tables, mantlepieces and one or two open-shelves are prime display spots. When grouping your ornaments, try varying a few different tones, heights and sizes to create a more interesting arrangement…

TIP: Display stuff in threes! This is a good rule to bear in mind for displays - three items hang together beautifully and create a harmonious group. (Why? It’s one of those things that just works!) Another good tip is to place items to one side. People often position objects in the centre of a shelf, causing it to look a little like an altar. Be savvy with your positioning - don’t go for the obvious middle!

Oh, and don't forget the… black!

(Don’t worry, that wasn’t a typo!) Even though this post is all about colour, don’t forget the “non-colours” that make the bright hues really blossom. Like in the photo above, a few touches of black (or white if you want a more airy look) act as a brilliant foil to your accent colours - try it for yourself, you’ll be amazed!

So, what’s the moral of the story here? Repeat yourself! An accent colour has to be a deliberate style statement, and to achieve that you 
have to be repetitive. One isolated item can look out of place and random. But repeat it and you’ve got a decorative theme. If you’re unsure about how many times is enough, we again would suggest repeating an accent colour three times...

So why not put it to the test? Pick out those accent colours, and the rest will just -- flow!