Daily Times

Every time I look into the old black and white family photos of my great grandparents, my mind automatically starts guessing the colours of their costumes and accessories.

Living without colour is like living without love. It holds too much power to evoke emotions and express moods. There exists a colour for every of your moods/ preferences as there are millions colours to select from – bright and clean, happy and uplifting, dreamy and sensual. Here are few tips and tricks for you to consider while going for your kind of colour to enhance the feel of your space:

PROCESS THE COLOUR — the first step towards the selection of your desired colour is to go through a process. You may start through an inspiration or a shortlisted mood board to generate ideas from.

Experimentation is the key. Being an architect and interior designer, I believe that a design studio should serve as an art laboratory where you can pull your sleeves up and let your hands and hair down to try whatever you want to explore.

For example, Paint is the most reasonable mean of introducing colour into your space. Rather than pouring gallons of material on the walls in one go, it is always wiser to do sampling in quarters of your shortlisted colour palette, go through these in terms of what impact they offer to the space and then conclude to one. Because when you work through a process, it filters out the loop holes, thus improving the quality of the outcome.

STUDY THE IMPACT — studying the impact is like evaluating the vibe that your space will create in influence of the colour used. It also depends on the way you are using the colour. For example, painting all the walls in one colour or painting just one accent wall in a statement colour will leave the same space with different impact.

Similarly, the use of lighter colours results in giving the space a wider look whereas darker colours tend to create a narrower and more intimate vibe.

BLACK & WHITE ARE COLOURS — some people don’t consider Black and White as colours which is a huge misconception. Black and white are colours too. In fact, there are thousands of shades of Black and White and choosing amongst them is often more challenging and difficult than selecting amongst hues of blues or browns. These two colours are the safest to use in interiors as they reflect minimalism and provide a subtle yet flexible setting to your space.

LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION — if someone asks me about my favourite colour, I may not have one definite colour to answer as I keep on experimenting with my palettes that match my taste in fashion, interior, product and branding design. Your inspirations for the colour can come from any source; an artwork you like, any furniture piece that holds an emotional value for you, a rug, or even a wardrobe item you love like crazy. Any colour you feel good by looking at will provide you with a comfortable ambiance within a space too. Looking at these colours will help you evaluate what you want to surround yourself in.

Another way to shortlist your selections is by doing reverse engineering. Sort out the colours you really don’t want to have in your space and limit the options for yourself so that it’s easy to focus on what’s desired.

LET COLOUR DO THE TALKING — the aim of working on a colour scheme for your house is to create a dialogue between the spaces so that the different spaces work together as a unit too. For this, it is easier to go for a series of harmonious colours. The key is to think out of the box and give a dynamic look to your space.

Colours are nothing to be afraid of. Consider them your friends like they bring happiness and life to your space. The right combination and strategy can dramatically transform the user experience. So enjoy playing with them and embrace the joy they bring to our lives!

The writer is an architect and interior designer by profession. She can be reached at wasiqasyed8@gmail.com