Sadly Dermot Bannon can’t pay us all a personal visit and solve all of our interiors issues, a la RTE’s Room to Improve but fear not…Here at Meadows & Byrne we’ve got you covered!
Our new autumn range has landed and we have curated colour palettes through our soft furnishings to ensure a DIY transformation can be hassle-free, won’t break the bank, and creates immediate impact.
The living room is a space to host friends, chat for hours with family and also spend time unwinding. When looking at the living room in terms of interiors, it can be a great place to show some of your personality and use some accent colour. It is a balance between making the space cosy and inviting for when you want to chill out, but also being brave and taking the opportunity to bring in colour you enjoy in a room that is the core of what your home is all about.
To begin with, you should take stock of what you are working with- this means your large furniture, your flooring, your fireplace, hard furniture such as sideboards, coffee tables etc.
When looking at your sofas, work out a place for what you would need for each- for example for a 2 seater, 3 seater and armchair, you would likely buy 2 accent cushions for the 2 seater, 4 cushions for the 3 seater and 1 cushion for the armchair, along with 1 throw- 2 throws if you feel both are needed.
You should also consider adding a rug if you are working with a tiled or timber floor which is common in newer builds. It is important that your rug is large enough to lie just slightly under the sofas so that it does not appear to be floating under your coffee table.
Finally, take stock of if you are happy with your paint, if not, have a think about repainting- it is not as big a job as you may think, and it makes a huge difference to a room. I have referenced a few colour ideas in my article, but you should always check the colour in your room first- these colours are just suggestions to get you thinking, not set advice. Curtains fall into the same bracket here- curtains in the past have been so expensive it can be hard to say goodbye to them, but if you are deciding to update the room, and your curtains are causing consternation, look into getting a new pair- there are some great ready-mades out there these days, and you will find it easier to purchase them when they aren’t so costly.
Now that you have your list of what you need, you need to think about your colour scheme. A few things to be aware of when choosing your colour palette:
What colours will work with your sofas?
Here’s a quick guide on which colours will work great with different sofas:
- Cream/beige sofa: burgundy, pinks, smoke green, rust
- Grey/silver sofa: ochre, blues, blush pink, teal, Rust
- Tan leather sofa: blue, ochre, grey, cream, green
What is the natural light like in your space?
If your room is light and airy, you can keep your wall colour nice and bright (for example Blackened by Farrow and Ball) and use some strong colour to liven up your sofas. If you are working with a darker room on the northern face of the house, keep the majority of the room with a warm neutral paint (for example Drop Cloth by Farrow and Ball), but try some rich colour to add to the cosy feeling of the room- painting a room that is never going to be full of natural light in a white is going to feel cold, so lean into the warmer and cosy side of things.
What colour do you love?
This is one that comes as a surprise to people sometimes. If you love a colour in your clothing, accessories etc then consider it for your interiors. Sometimes the idea of changing our décor can feel like a mammoth task, and there is an endless choice, so you end up picking shades of cream or grey for your new room. These are a great base, but follow your intuition and taste in terms of accessories, and allow some of your personality into the room by incorporating a colour you love. I know for me, I have always loved navy’s and blues, so I have used Dulux’s Gatsby Blue on one wall of my living room, and have dressed my Draper sofas with an assortment of Navy cushions and throws. Look at your wardrobe and decide on one colour that will act as a base for your accessories- you can then work around that tonally- so if you love to wear deep burgundy tones, you can work within the Blush Pink and Burgundy and bring that into your interiors
Now you are armed with an idea of how many items you need to buy and the colour palette you are looking for, we can take care of the rest.
Colour Stories
Ochre & Grey
Our first colour story is Ochre and Grey. This works great with grey or silver sofas, and also look great on a tan or brown leather sofa.
Blush & Burgundy
Next up we have Blush and Burgundy– this is a very rich story that looks as good in an old Victorian townhouse as it does in a new build. This looks great with beige or cream sofas, but can equally be used on a grey sofa. With this, you can be adventurous and try adding some of the rich colour using paint. We recently used a Dulux trade colour which was a dusty Mauve/Blush colour 30YR 29/118.
Pine Green
Our Pine Green collection is elegant and works well with gold or brass accents. This collection looks good on grey, beige, or a tan leather sofa. This is an excellent story for that north-facing, cosy living room and would be the ideal room to add a rich paint colour on your chimney breast wall to add some richness to the room- for example, Smoke Green by Farrow and Ball-used in a recent shoot.
Mineral Blue
Our Mineral Blue story works very well with silver or grey sofas, or leather sofas. It is a peacock blue shade and is the type of colour that is always very popular. We have brought in some silver and off white cushions to use with this story, and it makes for a bright and modern look. This would work great in a bright and airy room, but will also work to bring light into a darker, charcoal living room.
Pumpkin
Our Pumpkin story features a rich rust colour based in a mainly neutral cream and beige story, with some warm greys. The same throw from the Mineral blue is used here and offers a gentle pop of colour. This is a great story to work in with most neutral sofa colours. The wall behind your sofa could be nice in a toned-down version of this pumpkin colour also (such as Autumn Fern 3 by Dulux), but if this is too much colour to commit to, consider artwork with similar colour tones to bring more of that Spice tone into the room.
Colour Linking
Finally, we have brought in the Link Cushion that features a few of the tones meaning it can fit into most of the palettes- it features a slate blue, sage green, ochre and burgundy.
It also means if you have some block colour cushions you already love, one of these on each sofa, along with a solid velvet in Ochre, Burgundy, or Green will update your room so quickly- this cushion is an all-rounder’s that can fit into most schemes.
XBD Collective is an award-winning design firm focused on materializing sophisticated design into inspired physical spaces . Motivated by the pureness of human experience, our team imagines architectural and interior designs meant to envelop inspire, and engage sensory experiences for . With presence in London & Dubai, XBD Collective is a recognised architecture and interior design agency positioned to provide a careful bespoke approach to ambitious projects worldwide