The festive five

Design tips for the season

October 14, 2016 01:32 pm | Updated December 01, 2016 05:51 pm IST

Kit out your home for the festive season by thinking up something new or reinventing something old.

Try these five ideas to ensure that your home stays festival-ready all the way till New Year!

#1 Explore

colour blocking

This technique of playing with colour isn’t for the faint of heart; it’s for someone who likes to make a statement. The art of layering together bold, single-shade items isn’t just for clothes. You can use it to good effect in your home as well. Just look for colours that stand out against each other, teal and rose, coral and aqua or pink and orange, and get going.

#2 Add touches of gold

If there’s one colour that’s the go-to hue for festivals and celebrations, it’s got to be gold. Associated with abundance, prosperity, luxury, and triumph, the colour adds richness and warmth to a space. Use it any way you like — as an accent on the wall, in trinkets on the coffee table, as a pendant lamp over the dining table, or as sleek frames to showcase artwork. Whatever you do, make sure the shine doesn’t go off.

#3 Show off your mettle

Metal adds a subtle shine to any room, enhancing the textures and adding a layered look to the room. Be it in the form of modern lamps, contemporary bedsteads, antique knobs or weathered balustrades, metal can be used across the home. Brass and bronze have always been popular but also explore copper, silver, gold and burnished steel. The on-trend rose gold is being used in lamps and tables, but it hasn’t attained classic status yet.

#4 Try high-gloss paint

The festive season is when most of us turn our homes upside down and give it a fresh new coat of paint. This time, we suggest you give a couple of old pieces of furniture — an old garden chair, a metal table or a chest of drawers — a brand new look by giving it a couple of coats of high-gloss paint. Unlike regular paint, this glamorous cousin gives your furniture a light-reflecting sparkle and a coat of opulence.

#5 Make friends with wallpaper

You may be a paint person but there’s no reason you can’t experiment with wallpaper in the home at this time of the year. Start small by choosing an area that is in sight — may be the entryway, the hallway, a wall in the home office or the wall behind your bed. Wallpapers are now available in a variety of colours, patterns, prints, textures, and finishes, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that you don’t love.

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