Cool, calm and cosy
In the first of Guthrie Bowron Tauranga’s Design Elements series, Margaret Gill and Anoushka Haskell demonstrate how to create a relaxed indoor space with paint and wallpaper, to conjure up all your favourite feels.
In the first of Guthrie Bowron Tauranga’s Design Elements series, Margaret Gill and Anoushka Haskell demonstrate how to create a relaxed indoor space with paint and wallpaper, to conjure up all your favourite feels.
There are plenty of ways to use wallpaper and paint to create spaces that evoke certain emotions.
Firstly, consider how you want your space to make you feel. What kind of atmosphere do you wish to create, whether it be relaxation, inspiration, festivity or playfulness? This is a chance to do design differently from your everyday safer palette.
This space can be created wherever you like – in a hallway entrance, a guest bedroom, sunroom or reading nook. Anywhere you want to let the sunshine in.
For instance, in the image below, the colour and pattern of the feature wallpaper, Cuba ‘Pina’ from Casadeco, creates the exotic feel of Cuba and establishes the sense that you’re experiencing island life in the summertime, in a conservatory setting.
The anchor colour is crucial to the look and feel of the décor – in this case a mellow pineapple yellow holds centre court.
Be bold with emphasising the key colour. In this case it is repeated within the retro sofa fabric, golden cane pendant, coloured glass panes and mid-century side table.
With paint and fabric accent colours it’s best to go for muddier hues such as Dulux Ruakaka and Crow Valley, which don’t compete with the hero wallpaper.
Two thirds of the room is dominated by the grey denim blue and yellow, whilst the other third is in crisp white. The neutral summery cane and palm frond accents, found in plantation summer rooms and verandas, serve to balance out the wallpaper choice.
This two-thirds rule, also known as the golden ratio, is an interior design technique that involves dividing a space into two sections, with one section taking up two-thirds of the space. This technique can help create balance, scale, and proportion in a room. For instance we see that the sofa is approximately two thirds the size of the wallpapered feature wall, which maintains visual harmony.
In the next image – top – the petite beachside sleeping space makes you almost feel the salt spray in your hair and the hazy blue skies above you. With the emphasis on the horizon, it evokes all those possibilities that an endless summer can bring. This wallpaper collection, from BorasTapeter Marstrand 11 Coastal Living ‘Horizon’, celebrates the maritime spirit of the Swedish coastline.
The natural Nordic linens, blonded wooden ladder and simplistic choice of pared-back accessories complement and don’t overwhelm this dreamy tranquil bedroom.
Consider using white wood washes that can add interest on wooden ceilings as they’re not a heavy paint colour as such, rather much softer and organic. The height of the bedroom attic roofline allows the wallpaper panels to show off their full potential and almost take flight, in a very natural way.
Our last example is from the Harlequin Idyllic Retreat wallpaper collection in Atlantic coastal tones – above. This mood board shows various combinations of that cooling colour palette of blue and green. Within each combination, there is an anchor wallpaper featuring flora or fauna, complemented with textured woven and embroidered fabrics.
Putting together a mood board is an effective way to work with colour and balance when considering the addition of paint colours and flooring or cabinet veneers. And it can provide the basis for expert wallpaper, paint and window treatment advice.