Wonderfully cosy or spookily dark?
Opinion is divided over dark interiors but here at your life we say they have a certain magic – and not just because it’s Halloween.
In some ways dark interiors go against the grain because the aim for any property is usually to be as light, bright and airy as it can be.
That isn’t so much about light though, it’s about size – the lighter and brighter a room the bigger it appears and everyone wants more space.
There are other ways to create space and once you have them nailed, it frees you up to a world of colour beyond whites and neutrals.
Start by tidying up, yes it’s tedious, but to pull off a dark interior it needs to be free from clutter because there is nothing magical about a midden.
Having the minimum of furniture in the room will also help, by freeing up physical space and reducing visual clutter.
Better to have one bold sofa than three or four medium-sized pieces.
All of this is a treat compared to the next step, choosing colours, which is the trickiest job of all.
There is much discussion about warm colours and cool colours, north-facing rooms and west light and the truth is you could drive yourself nuts trying to get to grips with all of this.
Unless you know the precise formula for a particular colour it is often difficult to know whether it is warm or cold – and anyway, how it appears will depend upon the light in the room at different times of the day.
To make things even harder, what looks pretty on one side of the room may look completely different on another wall.
The best way to choose colours is to paint sample amounts on cards or pieces of wood and move them around the room for a few weeks, rejecting those you don’t like as you go along.
If painting a small, north-facing room in a cold, dark shade gives you the chills, think of it like this – sometimes it’s better to accentuate what’s there rather than trying to make it appear different.
Instead of a white box you could end up with a wonderfully cosy room and suddenly the home office is transformed into an inviting den, the dining room becomes a snug and the lounge feels devilishly decadent.
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