Inside Story: How to decorate with summer’s hot hues

When it comes to adding colour to your interiors, be inspired by summer’s bright and beautiful palette and take a fearless approach, writes Georgina Robertson of Cambridge’s COCO Interior Design

High summer is truly upon us, after what felt like possibly the longest winter ever. Along with the warmer temperatures, summer brings with it an abundance of new colours through flowers, plants, and how the light changes day by day. This year in particular, I’ve noticed that roses are thriving and I’ve seen some stunning colour combinations.

Using bright colours in your home can be quite intimidating, but if you were to take some of these colours that nature has bought with it this summer and fearlessly add them to your interiors, you can bring your home to life with cheerful but sophisticated hues guaranteed to make an impact.

Find Your Neutral
Start at the beginning. With any colour palette, it’s good to start with the neutral colour that you want to pair with your bright colours. This neutral colour will cement your scheme and ensure you don’t lose control of the scheme!
If you’re looking for a short-term injection of colour that you can easily change, an all-white room is a perfect canvas for making bright colours come to life. Ensure you’re mixing colours with different textures and finishes when using a white backdrop to avoid the room from falling flat. Add one or two colours at a time to bring it together.
Another way to add colour fearlessly but without it being permanent is to pair bright accessories with sophisticated neutrals. Go for a showstopper rug, cushions or curtains to make the additions feel intentional.
Once you’ve chosen your neutral colour and the bright colours to pair with it, make sure you design all the rooms in your home with variations of the same colours or picking out some specific ones. While you want each room to be different, you want it to feel cohesive and intentional as you move from one room to the next. Always use colours that resonate with you rather than what is trending on social media, otherwise you’ll start to hit a wall pretty quickly

Consider Your Focal Point
A focal point is key in any room, but particularly when introducing bright colours as it avoids the room becoming overwhelming. You need to limit the colour palette to two or three colours plus your neutral. So what is your focal point in the room going to be? Where do you want to make an impact? If you want to go for bold walls, then ensure all your furniture and flooring is neutral. A bright-coloured sofa? Then go for more neutral walls.
Avoid feature walls with bright colours to ensure you don’t go down the route of looking like an early 2000s interior. Bright-coloured walls are however a great, inexpensive way to add an injection of colour that can be changed easily.

The Unexpected Surprise
It’s fun to get creative with where you use colour. Pops of bright colour can be the perfect unexpected surprise and add a lot of personality to your space.
Adding a bright colour to the interior of your joinery unit or a bold wallpaper to add some interest can really make your room come to life and make everything on the shelves shine. A bright upholstery fabric on an ottoman or small chair that would be unexpected or even a brightly colour interior door!
Consider what other elements you can use in your vignette that will provide contrast, visual interest, and colour harmony.

See cocointeriordesign.co.uk for more.