Use your decor to express your personality - start with vivid pops of colour.
Colour should be chosen with an individual's personality in mind. High-energy people may need low-energy colours in the bedroom so they get a good night's sleep or vice versa.
Colour should be chosen for the appropriate emotion or job at hand wherever possible.
Children generally respond well to colour, especiallyprimary colours that are clear and bright. Colour that stimulates the mind makes a child more reflective or inquisitive. Colour that encourages fun and play, whether educational or just good old-fashioned fun, makes your child feel content.
Colour will bring an emotional response for most people. It may bring happy or sad memories, positive or negative. Certain colours, fragrances and textures instantly take me back to my childhood. I recently worked with a client choosing the interior colours for their renovated home. One of the colours I had chosen would have worked very well for this particular situation. I was aware that my client was unsure of the hue but seemed to accept that it would work well. On the second visit she told me she had thought about the colour and, no, she wouldn't like it because it reminded her of the family's old farm sheds. They'd left the farm 13 years previously and that was where she wanted it to stay.
Each and every one of us will have a different response or emotion to a single colour and, hopefully, it will be a positive one. If you are struggling with making a change or a total revamp, consider getting some help. Sometimes it is only a few colours or textures that need a tweak to make a room or workplace work.
Don't be afraid to use bright colour schemes.
Next year I will be presenting at the Whanganui Regional Museum's historical talks on early Brunswick.
My father, Stuart Littlejohn, grew up in Brunswick and we shifted back there in 1975. If anyone has any photos or stories of early Brunswick they would like to share, particularly regarding the old homestead, school and family photos of when Brunswick was first settled through to about the 1950s, can you please email or give me a ring. I'm booked to speak on the third Monday in February.
*Terry Lobb is an interior/kitchen designer and personal colour and style consultant who takes a holistic approach to living with colour, texture and style. Email: terry@terrylobb.com or visit the website terrylobb.com
