• Interior Styling

Style your home using Colour Psychology

So how are the new year intentions going! I’ve been overwhelmed with work not to mention the house renovations. What a new years fail already as my main intention this year was not to feel too busy! But with lots of exciting projects on the go I’m not grumbling though.

The next few weeks see’s me hosting a series of workshops. First up I’m joining forces with the indomitable Daniel Hopwood for our Interior Design Masterclass on the 24th Jan. Hot on the heels of that I’m hosting a mini colour workshop for journalists and influencers at the House of Houzz on the 29th. If you were lucky enough to receive an invite to this, please do come! But a real highlight for the start of the year for me is my fabulous Colour Workshop (hosting in London on the 6th February). I’ve devised this course to purely indulge my love of colour and to share all my Colour Loving tips to empower people to come up with mouth watering and original colour schems that are perfect for their home.

Quite frankly I could do with taking my own advise. As our home renovations gather a pace I’m finding it hard to make those big colour decisions and keep a vision for the whole house rather than just isolating the schemes room by room. But this is where colour psychology is such a game changer. I thought I’d share a little sneek peek at part of the Colour workshop for Interior designs course that I run with Fiona Humberstone (next date for that is the 21st June) to show you how easy it can be to pull your home together with a little clever styling.

The day is spent exploring the nuances of Colour Psychology, as masterminded by psychologist Angela Wright, into the for seasonal personalities. Angela created four distinct personalities, Spring, Summer, Autumn and winter and devised a framework which would suit peoples different aesthetics. In the workshop we cover all the theory in order to help designers feel empowered when answering a clients brief but its really useful to anyone wanting to design their own home.

A popular part of the day is my styling workshop where I style four vignettes to capture the seasons using the unique colour palettes that are assigned to each. Here are some snap shots of the presentation complete with my styling tips that I presented on our last event in November. Read on to find out which season you are!

The Spring personality loves the feeling of light and space and an airy quality. Colours are bright but clear rather than too bold so I think coloured glass works perfectly. While they love a busy pattern and lots of energy in the overall look is more contemporary in feel than cluttered. The geometric wallpaper from Graham and Brown is busy and modern. Tips include gathering a selection of glass vases together, I always think odd numbers look best. These LSA vases have an irridescent shimmer to them which a Spring person would love. Using single stem flowers in each vase is a modern way to arrange flowers and keeps the overall feeling light and spacious. When I’m gathering a selection of objects together I nice little styling trick is to place them all inside a tray. Finally as Spring personalites love a little shimmer and shine and to be on trend the copper accessories from Oliver Bonas are a perfect way to complete the look.

The Summer colour palette is much more muted and the over all style is calmer and more relaxed. I translated this by omitting busy patterns and just focusing on the texture. I started with a pair of rattan lamps from John Lewis as Summer personalities really love a bit of symmetry. Next gorgeous cushions from Rockett St George really hit the spot for me. I’ve contrasted washed out linens with super soft velvet cushions. Summer is all about blousey abundance and they love a bit of tradition and formality. So this stunning faux hydrangea arrangement, again from Rockett St George looks just perfect. A lovely little styling trick is to use books as a plinth to add height. Here I have arranged the book spines at the back as its the lovely neutral texture of the pages that works best with this scene.

By contrast Autumn personalities love all the intense pattern and colour that would tip a pure summer personality over the edge! No surprise that I use the Autumn look in my own pile as I love the more is more philosophy and the intense colour palette really floats my boat. Textiles are really key to this look and I mixed lots of patterns and textures together. Autumn people really love the handmade so this is evident on the textiles and pottery, they really love that feeling of authenticity. So hand thrown pots and thick glazed ceramics are perfect for this look. I created a tablescape using objects of different height, again using the book plinth trick again, but this time choosing to show the spines in all their colourful glory. The lamp and shade are from Pooky, the rear cushion is Habitat and the two in the front from Marks and Spencers. The ceramics are from Audenza and the lovely rabbit is at Rockett St George.

Finally Winter is all about the drama and making a strong style statement. This season loves to be right on trend so I selected iconic pieces like the Eames house bird and Bella Freud merino wool cushion. both from Rockett St George. Bold striking colours are also the favour of Autumn personalities so this punchy fabric by designer Kitty McCall is the perfect back drop. I chose very graphic pieces of artwork too for this look. One lovely styling trick is to layer them propped up against the wall on a sideboard or console table. It gives a relaxed and modern look. Both these frame dpictures are from John Lewis and the bright Taurus head ornament is from Audenza.

If you’d like to join me on one of my workshops my next event is a colour work shop on the 6th February to help you create your own colour palette, with just a few spaces left- taking bookings here.

If you are working within interior design or experienced at colour scheming you can join Fiona and I for our next Colour Psychology workshop in June- taking bookings here.