Decorate with watercolour brights this summer
Get your home ready for summer with bright watercolour florals to breathe life and vibrancy into your interior
Start with a white backdrop, add a bold, painterly print and pops of co-ordinating colour- then stand back and admire your work of art
Contemporary all-white kitchen-diners can look flat and sterile, so bring life and energy to a space with bright pattern and use colours from it as spot colour for furniture and lighting
IDEA: Start with a wallpaper panerl- this is Amrapali, £194 fro 3mx1.8m, Designers Guild range, Wallpaperdirect
THE ESSENTIALS
1. White surfaces. Start with a stark pure-white backdrop on walls, flooring and most furniture
2. Look-at-me pattern. Choose modern florals, stripes, watercolour abstracts and sharp geometric prints for wallpaper, fabrics and artwork.. Avoid a palette of primary colours, unless you want your room to look like the set of a children's TV show.
3. Contemporary furniture. Go for ultramodern designs with a futuristic feel in white gloss, glass and metal.
4. Colour-pop pieces. Work in furniture and accessories in several blod colours and your main pattern.
5. Modern details. Look for colourful glassware and white china in minimalist designs, contemporary lighting and short-pile statement rugs
Get the look with a pinboard made using a painterly fabric, a strip of paint-effect wallpaper and a statement rug, repeating the colours on accessories
Use framed prints (or sections of wallpaper or fabric) to kick-start a blod living-room scheme. Mix modern florals and geometrics, all in a matching palette of white and brights
IDEA: Start with artwork: these prints, £65 each, Bluebellgray, stand out in simple frames on a white wall
Give your white bedroom a fresh face-lift with painterly design bed linen and super-bright upholstery and accessories in colours take from it
IDEA: Start with colourful bed linen: this crisp white-and-brights double duvet cover is £90 from Bluebellgray
Keep the majority of your scheme white, so the pops of bright colour have impact without feeling overwhelming
Use a bright paper to zone a dining area in an open-plan kitchen/living space
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Tamara was Ideal Home's Digital Editor before joining the Woman & Home team in 2022. She has spent the last 15 years working with the style teams at Country Homes & Interiors and Ideal Home, both now at Future PLC. It’s with these award wining interiors teams that she's honed her skills and passion for shopping, styling and writing. Tamara is always ahead of the curve when it comes to interiors trends – and is great at seeking out designer dupes on the high street.
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