Terry O’Driscoll hails from Cork and his fabulous home is featured in the current edition of Munster Interiors.  You can see more images and more about what Terry does on his website Peninsula Life and Design.  Terry is currently offering a 90 minute Colour Consultations at a much discounted rate of €65  and he has kindly agreed to do a guest post for us outling How to use Colour in our homes. The pictures are all from Terry’s own home.

Get the Foundations Right!

We are all more than aware, that with all things in life, you need to get the foundations right, if not then you’re heading straight for disaster.

Interior design is no different, with colour and light replacing your traditional sand and cement.  I can’t over emphasise the importance of getting the balance and quantities of these two vital ingredients just right, if you don’t, quite simply your foundations will crumble.  Not the look you’re after!

Colour & Light

The relationship between colour and light is a delicate one requiring sensitive handling.  Co-dependant, they can both exact positive and negative effects.  For example, colours possess varying light-absorbing levels, essential to remember when dealing with a room that has perhaps a limited amount of natural light.  The darker the shade the less light it reflects.  Additionally colours can appear very different depending on whether the light is natural or artificial.  Always ensure you see the colour in both lights before any decision making.

The actual space itself has an obvious major say, some permitting great freedom while others can enforce restrictions.  Victorian properties for instance, when built, were painted in rich colours, i.e. racing green and deep claret red (due to the paint pigments available at the time).  So, if you were in the process of returning a period property to its former glory, this could be your way forward.  On the other hand, modern properties grant a greater choice from the colour spectrum allowing you to stamp your own style and personality on them.

Being a bit of a trickster, colour can perform an array of illusions, making dark rooms appear brighter, cold ones warm, widening narrow ones and transforming large spaces into intimate ones.

The Psychology of Colour

There is in-fact a whole psychology behind colour and the impact it has on us.  Have you ever noticed that all fast food restaurants have yellow and red in their corporate colours? Wondered why? Simple….. Yellow induces hunger and Red makes us uncomfortable, resulting in….eat and leave!  Clever!

Keep It Simple

For me, my own personal philosophy is “Simplicity”.  I like a colour scheme to be fluid and move seamlessly throughout the house.  I have a strong belief that less is more and endeavour to keep the colours used for the entirety of a house to a maximum of five (one dominant, four accents).  This achieves a feeling of connection with an overall sense of harmony.

Something I hear regularly is “paint is cheap”, not so! Choosing the right colours in a design project can prove to be a bit of a minefield and when it can cost hundreds of euros to paint a room, correcting an error can be pricey.  Seeking professional advice is a wise move.  By removing the guess work and confusion you can avoid costly mistakes proving to be not just wise but also euro-wise! 

Thank you very much to Terry for his informative post with fabulous images, I hope you enjoyed it, do check out more images and tips on his website and don’t forget to enter our giveaway this weekend on our previous post.

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