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How to Style Multicoloured Interiors

How to Style Multicoloured Interiors

5th September 2023

Multi-coloured fabrics and wallpapers bring joy and vitality to our everyday lives. Enriched with an energy and flavour, being in a space that features an array of colours can instantly uplift and refresh our moods. Multi-coloured schemes are increasingly popular in modern design so join us as we look through how to best style them together in your home...

Many associations with multicolour are comforting and soothing. Rainbows, for example transform the sky into an exhibition of various hues. In humans, they create a sense of positivity and joy and are often featured on branding and logos in an effort to evoke this in us. Other multicoloured effects appear through prisms of light; in the feathers of tropical birds, shells, petals and sunsets; all of which provide us with a colourful reminder of the beauty that can be across our natural world.

To successfully create an interior vision which perfectly matches multiple colours throughout can feel like a challenge, but when done right, the results are always impressive. Multicoloured schemes demonstrate not only creativity but a playful nature. They make for informal and inviting interiors that provide the perfect ambience. So if you are a fan of colour, read on to discover how to achieve this look in your own home.

Multi Colour: Having Many Colours

When decorating with a multicoloured scheme, these three principles will help you to understand which tones work well together.

1. Complementing Colours

To select complementing colours, choose one colour then the colour directly opposite this is the ideal shade, like violet and yellow.

2. Analogous Colours

Analogous are in groups of three on the colour wheel. They share a common colour or mix to create the middle one. Begin by selecting one shade and the shades on either side of this colour are its analogous colours.

3. Triadic Colours

To use a triad of colours, imagine an equilateral triangle in the centre of the colour wheel pointing to three shades et voila!

Multicolour Styling Tips

Subtle Sophistication

Multicoloured interior design does not always have to be bright and bold. Lilac is the perfect shade to create a subtle balance. It brings a splash of colour whilst working wonderfully with neutral and muted tones.

Cream is lilac's complementing colour making them a smart match. Pink rose and greyed lavender are then the analogous shades. Finally, mineral orange and jade green are the triadic colours.

The results of any of these colour combinations are pleasing to the eye without being overbearing. They're colourful, relaxing, and a great place to start. The rule then is always to work in either contrast or harmony.

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Young and Fun

There are, however, plenty of big, bold, and bright multicoloured fabric and wallpaper designs to bring life to interiors. They offer the opportunity to go all-out with larger prints and patterns.

Whilst the rules around colour combinations still count, this style can handle a rainbow of colour. The trick is to pull out key tones and repeat them in plain designs and/or other patterns. This ties the room together and creates balance.

Alternatively, neutral shades and monochrome let the multicoloured pattern stand alone, as the focal feature of the room. This increases its impact with powerful results.

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Rich and Warm

Burnt orange, ochre yellow, rustic red, magenta pink, and turquoise are all decadent shades that create an inviting ambience. Their use instantly produces a sense of warmth that draws you into a space.

Use them together to fully delve into this style or follow the colour matching rules for different effects. Orange, for example, can be deepened with a darker shade like navy blue or tempered with paler shades like sky blue.

These beautiful multicoloured fabric designs work wonderfully when they're then repeated. This can be on curtains and cushions, or on multicoloured occasional chairs.

Pair multicoloured walls with natural materials, like dark wood, to bring a room into harmony. Otherwise, use white for juxtaposition, and an urban and modern interior.

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Darkly Demure

A dark background is another strong way to use multicoloured fabric and wallpaper. This design technique allows the colours to pop whilst simultaneously reigning them in.

Big patterns or small, the trick with these designs is to have a mix of light and dark shades. Plus, they work even better with a good range of bright, pastel, and jewel tones. The result is a gradation of colour between the dark background and the lightest shade. It's all about the balance.

Use these designs with a mix of textures on plain fabric for contrast, comfort and depth. Velvet, (faux) leather, and silk are ideal finishing touches.