Using rich, bold colours for Autumn decorating

September.  The kids are back at school, we’re mentally gearing up for shorter, greyer days.  This strikes me as the perfect opportunity to get some autumn decorating done.  Getting your home cosied up ready for the deepest, darkest season yet to come.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to start suggesting that you whip out the paintbrushes, and march down to B&Q!  I’ll just give you some inspiration and easy tips on how you can cosy up your home this autumn.

The 60:30:10 RuleIn interior design, one of the most commonly used concepts of distributing colour is in the 60:30:10 rule.  That is one base colour in 60% of your space, and a complimentary colour for 30% of your space.  The remaining 10% of space is a contrasting accent colour.  Now I know what you’re thinking!  ‘Annabelle! How am I supposed to know what 60% of my room looks like?’  Don’t panic, it sounds scarier than it is!  So think of 60% of your room as being the walls and ceilings, 30% of your room are the larger items (sofa, cupboards, flooring).  The remaining 10% of space are your finishing touches: the soft furnishings, accessories, artwork, photographs, and candles etc.

House Winter Wardrobe

At this time of year, we typically swap out our wardrobes, putting away all the floaty, summer tee shirts and cropped trousers, and pulling out the autumn/winter wardrobe.  Heavier materials, woolly sweaters, thick socks, gloves and scarves.  Now imagine doing this for the house.  A few key autumn decorating tasks to dress your home ready for winter.  Putting on the heavier curtains, to keep all those drafts at bay, and that feeling of shutting out the night; draping wool or tweed throws over the sofa, to cuddle up to when watching Strictly; and the candles, flickering romantically in the dark nightlight.  I think there is a lot to be said for giving our homes a winter wardrobe, if you’ve got the space to store it when out of season.  And I truly believe we would get less bored of what we own too, if we only see it for 6 months of the year.  We probably wouldn’t have the need to completely redecorate our rooms nearly so often.

The Remaining 10%

By focusing on the 10% area of your room, the accessories, it's really easy to use this concept of an autumn/winter house wardrobe, and to inject some seasonal colour.  For Autumn decorating, focus on reds, rusts, oranges, and yellows, alternatively, go with deep greens, dark browns and moody greys.  Remember what I said in this blog post here, if it looks good in nature you can’t go wrong.  So don’t be afraid to go with colour choices that are not ‘on-trend’.  Remember, trends are only retailers and designers telling you what they want you to buy of their products to make them money!

Updating Your Room Easily

So what could be easily updated?  Soft furnishings.  Curtains.  Throws on the sofa.  Cushions too.  Pull down a couple of your pictures, and swap them out for darker colours.  Change some of the photographs for ones taken during the autumn (you’ll see how the light will be different in them).  And you’ll all know by know that I’m a big fan of fairy lights, so get them out of the Christmas box or from your garden and get them up in your house!  Get in the autumn decorating mood, and change out a couple of your ornaments, or accessories, for ones in a deeper tone, and bring in some different coloured pots for your plants.

Candles and Blooms

Candles are another great way of cosy-ing up the home.  Dot a few extra ones about the place.  Switch some of the fragranced ones for more evocative and deeper scents such as a frankincense, or spice.  Check out our collection of autumn inspired ones here.

And of course don’t forget flowers and natural foliage.  A big bunch of greenery, with a few blooms in it feels ever so luxurious.  Choosing the right greenery will make the arrangement last for a couple of weeks.  These days, you can subscribe to a flower box, and have them delivered to your door either weekly or fortnightly.  Or of course, you can always use faux or silk flowers, then you never need to worry about losing the quality of the bloom again.

Metallics in the Home

Metallics are a great tone to use in the home too, especially for autumn decorating.  They help to bounce the light around making it feel brighter, or a space bigger than it actually is.  So opt for a metallic that complements either your primary or secondary colour.  Are your walls cream and furniture pale wood?  Opt for either rose gold, or pale copper.  Have you got lots of honey oak in your kitchen, try antique gold accessories.  Or to complement dark wood such as mahogany, aged oak or walnut, maybe try a dark copper metallic.  Extra points if you can combine your accent colour with your chosen metallic, but don't sweat it if you can’t, it’s only you that would notice!

And breathe.  Why You Need to Make Space

My last tip is two-fold.  Firstly, clear areas of space on your shelves, sideboards or tables to allow your room to breathe.  With darker nights pulling in, your room will feel darker.  By having all of your surfaces covered with paraphernalia, it will make your room feel messier than it is. 

This autumn decorating, or decluttering, will also give you much more space to put out your Christmas decorations in a couple of months (or so!).  You’ll find that your area doesn’t feel as cluttered and won’t need the cleaning preparation beforehand. 

Secondly, clump together what you have left on display to make deeper mini displays.  During the summer it works better in our houses to spread things out to make it feel airier, but in winter the opposite is true, as it makes things feel cosier.  So, group a collection of photos together tightly, with a group of candles and a vase filled with blooms.  Nestle this around the base of a lamp on your sideboard, instead of having it in 5 different spots around your room.

If you fancy updating some of your home decor this Autumn, check out our Autumn Inspirations collection here

Keep in touch...

I’d love to see how you guys have cosied up your home for the Autumn, so head on over to our Facebook page, and post your pictures on our wall. Alternatively join us on Instagram and tag us in your post!  Or of course, you can email.  I love reading your news!

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