Help me decorate with colour!

[Cripesalive]

I'm in the process of buying a victorian house, having lived in a modern flat for the past few years. I absolutely love colour - the bolder the better. However, I've never had a full house to decorate and wondered if anyone had any tips? Should there be a coherent theme throughout the house, for example? I don't want it to be too twee and matchy matchy but equally don't want it to look awful. Has anyone managed to pull this off, most of the houses I see are mainly neutral so not much real life inspiration.

I would suggest keeping woodwork the same colour (doesn’t have to be white but some sort of neutral probably works best) all the way through, that keeps it coherent.

Keeping colours in the same sort of “family” also helps. So for example all bright clean colours (think crayons), or all muted F&B subtle type colours, or all pastels. I wouldn’t call this a theme exactly but it does tend to give an overall feel to the house and mean the colours go together.

Have a look at Mad About the House’s blog - some useful articles there about colour.

I live in an Edwardian house and love lots of colour too.

I'm of the mind that you should paint rooms exactly how you want them, and I am never afraid to be bold.

I have recently finished decorating my DD's new bedroom (there is a thread on this board), and went very colourful on that.

I also love colour - predominantly darker tones 😉

Our current home is 400 years old and we've been gradually restoring the historic character and features (most of which had sadly been lost) over the past three years. Lots and lots of different colours have been used, although I do tend to stick with muted, earthy tones on the whole.

My own preference is to paint skirting, architrave, doors etc in the same colour as the walls. Not just because it gives a more cohesive appearance, but because imho it also looks stunning 😄

Thanks for all of the advice, and for the blog recommendation - I think I'll spend the rest of the afternoon on pinterest :)

I need to start thinking about this also. 1930's house we are doing up, but previously 'updated' in the 1970's with a theme colour in each room! Lime green, bright purple, bright pink, peach and a royal blue bathroom suite- complete with a bidet, but the toilet is in another room!

Have you looked through pinterest/etsy/magazines for Victorian themed rooms/colours? Could be completely wrong, but I think of forest green and a burgundy on the walls, with small, black and white tiles in the hall.

I like colour.... and dont have a colour theme throughout. But rooms do need to flow together and not “jar” as you go from one to the next. So choosing colours of a similar type - eg all muted, or all jewel, or all deep, or whatever works better than (eg) pale sage green room then a rich sapphire coloured room then a pastel pink then a charcoal grey... etc.

Agree with the above ... definitely simplifies things if your colours generally work together... as well as whether pastel/bright/earthy etc it's worth considering whether they have warm or cool undertones. May need a bit of reading up on colour theory. Getting a grasp of harmonious and complementary colours too is helpful. This way it'll be easier to predict which colours will work together.

Realistically I would expect you will paint rooms over time rather than all at once - there is a benefit to this as it means you can test out ideas and see how they work with the natural light and spaces in your home.

I prefer deep and bolder colours on the whole. I haven't regretted being bold in our redecoration. I wish I hadn't played it so safe in the rooms I ended up painting off-white.

Thanks all, really helpful advice :)

Ooohhh good thread OP. I want to know this too. I don't have a period property but want to move away from uniform off white everywhere.
My dds bedroom has colour and every time I walk up the stairs and see it I smile and think how fresh it looks compared to the rest of the house.

Check out Sophie Robinson's blog and Instagram if you're on there - the bolder the better is pretty much her mantra!

www.sophierobinson.co.uk/

hi
Victorian house owner here, what original features does your house still have ?
do you have a beautiful tiled hall floor, start by looking at the best bits you have, replace anything that really should be there, eg. proper front door, I couldnt afford to put back stained glass that some muppet had removed in the 70's so had some bespoke etched glass made.
then look at the light levels in all your rooms and devise a colour scheme with this in mind, get a colour wheel)and use wall paper too, big patterns as you will have high ceilings. I often use a favourite piece of artwork, or furniture as my starting point.
dont be a slave to high Victorian deco, but be brave
enjoy

Thanks - sadly no original hall tiles (replaced with carpet!) however there are several original fireplaces, all of the cornicing/ceiling roses etc and a lovely stained glass front door.