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Country cottage colour schemes


Cottage ideas for a living room: cottage lounge inspiration |

(Image credit: Stefani Stein)

Cottage living rooms are loved for being cozy spaces full of character and rustic charm. When it comes to decorating yours, first look to what you have – historic cottage living rooms are awash with beautiful original features from rustic beams, timber weatherboarding or exposed stone – so build a scheme around these living room ideas and features to really make them shine. 

Secondly, take inspiration from nature. Cottages are often surrounded by idyllic countryside, so cottage decorating ideas should naturally include earthy and muted colors inspired by the landscape. These are a brilliant foundation to build upon, alongside neutrals to keep spaces calm and bright. Furnishing with natural materials and finishing with flora and fauna prints, or classic checks and stripes, will also ensure timeless charm. 

Cottage living room ideas 

'If it’s not cozy, then it’s not a cottage!' says LA based interior designer Stefani Stein . 'Start with comfortable seating, incorporate a variety of textures and then layer in a patterned throw pillow or two... for a great cozy-yet-calm vibe, I like to include earthy hues, dusty palettes and a hint of leather.'

Read on to discover more cottage living room ideas and inspiration for creating the perfect country retreat. 

1. Embrace architectural features

(Image credit: Future/Brent Darby)

Cottages are loved for their original features, from their rustic wooden ceiling beams and stone flagstones, to inglenook fireplaces. If you're lucky enough to have a property with beautiful architectural features, then it's a good idea to use them as the starting point for your interior design, creating a scheme around them that complements their aged patina. 

Taking center stage in this grey living room, these exposed Cotswold stone walls really sing when set against greyish blue tones.

2. Furnish with natural materials and textures

(Image credit: Future)

Intertwined with the landscapes which surrounded them, historic vernacular cottages are often built with the very stone they sit on or wood sourced locally, so what better way to pay homage to their origins than to furnish them than with earthy natural materials? 

Lay a textural sisal or seagrass rug and choose handcrafted furniture made from FSC timber, or cane and rattan, with seating upholstered in natural fabrics such as wool, cotton and linen.  

3. Choose an uplifting color palette

(Image credit: Vanessa Arbuthnott)

As spaces to relax and unwind in, it's important that a cottage living room has a calming, uplifting living room color scheme. Fabric designer Vanessa Arbuthnott explains how blue and yellow make a great pairing for cottage living rooms. 

'Lemon yellow and soft smoke blue complement each other so perfectly. The tone of each of these colors is gentle which draws you into a room. This shade of yellow (above), which I call Hay, is so fresh, making you feel happy, full of hope and sunshine. On the other hand blue if often seen as peaceful and secure.'

4. Create a cozy feel with a woodburning stone 

(Image credit: Future / Kasia Fiszer)

If there's one thing a cottage living room can't be without it's a living room fireplace. The cozy heart of the room which everyone gravitates towards, the fire is the perfect place to kick your boots off, put your feet up and relax by after those long country walks.  

5. Choose comfortable, traditional sofas 

(Image credit: Future / Johnathan Gooch)

A sofa is a big purchase – it's where we unwind after long days and is the centerpiece of the living room, so getting the balance of comfort and style just right is important. 

To create a classic, cozy cottage feel consider a traditional Howard-style design with a soft curves and a dropped, scroll arms. Choosing loose feather-wrapped foam cushions will give that comfortable sink-in feel and relaxed look without the constant need to fluff up. 

6. Mix up modern and vintage furniture for an eclectic look

(Image credit: Stefani Stein)

Cottage living rooms are places to relax and unwind but also to socialize and entertain, so factoring in an array of versatile seating options to accommodate guests is a good idea. 

Mixing up styles and materials is a great way to achieve a layered, homely look, as interior designer Stefani Stein explains. 

'I prefer a space that has a bit of the unexpected and that means you can mix a shelter arm piece, a channel tufted item, a button tufted element and some great vintage finds. And, don’t be afraid of allowing the space to be eclectic – it's perfect if a pattern or color doesn’t quite match with the rest. 

7. Use mirrors to maximize light in a cottage living room

(Image credit: Future / Brent Darby)

Hanging a series of mirrors is a great way to maximize natural light in small spaces, and can make for a stylish feature wall, too. For classic elegance, try white frames on blue walls – you can't go wrong with this timeless color combination. 

Don't miss our cottage lighting ideas for pretty, practical solutions for brightening dark spaces.

8. Create a cozy window seat

(Image credit: Vanessa Arbuthnott)

Cottages are all about feeling relaxed and cozy, and what could be better than curling up on a window seat with a nice cup of tea while you take in views of surrounding countryside?

'Window seats are super useful in a small cottage sitting room for extra places to be. The perfect place to sit to watch the outside world from and read a book,' says fabric designer Vanessa Arbuthnott.  

'Make sure you make a really good thick window seat and add lots of cushions to so that the space is really comfortable. Either dress the window with a blind or have curtains that draw back past the recess do they don’t interfere with the window seat.'

9. Layer neutral shades to keep spaces bright yet interesting 

(Image credit: Kate Lester / Lauren Pressey)

Cottage living rooms can be small and lack light due to small windows – opting for white or off white walls throughout is an easy way to maximize any natural light. However, it can leave a room feeling cold and empty. 

To counter this, ensure you furnish with lots of texture and neutral shades. Try wooden pieces in a washed, light grey finish with armchairs upholstered in an oaty, textural linen ticking fabric as pictured in this space.

For cottage kitchen ideas, don't miss our inspiring image gallery.

10. Bring a cheerful color pop with vibrant floral prints

(Image credit: Future / Kasia Fiszer)

Keeping cottage living rooms neutral is a great way of making them feel bigger, but it doesn't mean you can't introduce some bold prints. Try adding in floral prints through curtains and cushions to bring color and pattern to your space – they can be easily changed with the seasons and if tastes change.

11. Fit floor to ceiling bookshelves 

(Image credit: Future / Jody Stewart)

Fitting floor to ceiling book shelves are not only great for storage in small spaces, but will give cottage living rooms a snug, homely feel, too. While we love them, the irregular angles and lack of straight lines in old cottages can cause difficulties when furnishing, so getting a carpenter to build in bespoke shelving is a brilliant solution. You could even paint them to make a feature of them as pictured here. 

12. Add color, pattern and comfort with curtains

(Image credit: Future / Brent Darby)

Though they can be overlooked, cottage curtain ideas are an important finishing touch of any scheme – they control light, privacy and add a layer of insulation to cottage living rooms that can suffer from cold drafts.  

To make cottages cozy, homely spaces, curtains or fabric blinds – or both – are one of the best options; their soft pleats lend a relaxed feel to a space. 

What’s more, there are infinite prints to choose from, whether it be country checks or bold botanical prints. If you’re looking. to create a feeling of quintessential country charm you can’t go wrong with a faded floral linen such as this Roses design from Kate Forman .

13. Choose elegant and timeless sofas

(Image credit: Vanrenen GW Designs)

The key to mastering cottage style is about creating a relaxed, cosy atmosphere that will endure across the years, so be sure to invest in good quality, timeless pieces of furniture. Choosing traditional, Howard-style sofas with elegant curves and loose, sink-in cushions, is guaranteed to bring comfort, but are also perfect for creating a laid-back look.  

'These practical classic ‘go to’ sofa styles can be used in modern and traditional interiors,' says Sarah Vanrenen, co-founder of Vanrenen GW Designs. 'A fixed back is less messy and easier to maintain and the small arms also take up much less room and give more sitting space.'

'We chose the light blue for the walls as the room needed a pale, soft colour to bring in more light and this works really well, it’s brighter, soft and gentle,' she adds.

14. Embrace dark colors

(Image credit: Morris & Co)

Cottage living rooms can often be on the smaller side, and as a result we often lean to decorating with lighter colors, however, dark living rooms can look brilliant in cottages, helping to create a wonderful cosy and cocooning atmosphere. When decorating with deeper tones, be sure to introduce plenty of texture as well as some accessories in bright accent colors to lift the space suggests Andrea Childs, editor of Country Homes & Interiors magazine.

'Don't be afraid to use a deep color in a small cottage living room with low ceilings. This rich green shade – Wooded Dell by Morris & Co – is reminiscent of sitting beneath a cool, shady canopy of trees,' says Andrea Childs.

'To lighten the atmosphere for your interiors scheme, think about how the woodland floor contains texture and touches of bright color from wildflowers and ground-cover plants. This yellow cabinet and complementary cushions hit the spot to create a comfortable cottage living room inspired by the shades of nature.'

15. Decorate with antiques

(Image credit: Rikki Snyder)

Decorating with antiques is a lovely way to bring character to a cottage living room. Featuring distressed patinas and imbued with fascinating history, antiques can be beautifully decorative and help interiors to tell a story. In this neutral Southampton, New York home designed by Becca Interiors, antique fixtures, furniture and objects have been used throughout to bring texture and interest to the space. 

'We restored the living room space to its original layout, with the fireplace serving as the heart of the room. Although we could not reconstruct the original fireplace, we sourced an antique pine mantle, paired with hand picked vintage brick to frame the firebox and add an antique affect,' says Becca Casey, founder of Becca Interiors .

'A mixture of found vintage accessories are staged throughout, mostly sourced from vintage stores and markets in Connecticut and New York.'

16. Factor in plenty of ambient lighting

(Image credit: Kasia Fiszer)

Cottage style is all about creating a cosy, relaxed atmosphere, so be sure to factor in plenty of mood lighting in the form of living room wall lighting and table lamps.

'In my view lighting is key to the atmosphere of a room,' says interior designer Penny Morrison . 'I always light rooms with lamps only, except where there are very dark corners where I will put small down lights in the corners of the room on dimmer switches which can be used to gently enhance the illusion of daylight on a really dark day.' 

Many cottage have beautiful original walls, so when it comes choosing cottage lighting ideas for a living room, table lamps may be a preferable option over wall lights as they can be easily plugged in to create instant atmosphere without impacting the fabric of the building.

Pippa is Content Editor on Homes & Gardens online contributing to Period Living and Country Homes & Interiors print issues. A graduate of Art History and formerly Style Editor at Period Living, she is passionate about architecture, creating decorating content, interior styling and writing about craft and historic homes. She enjoys searching out beautiful images and the latest trends to share with the Homes & Gardens audience. A keen gardener, when she’s not writing you’ll find her growing flowers on her village allotment for styling projects.

Stylist tips on how to achieve the country cottage style

Colefax and Fowler, Neptune, and Pooky,

Quintessential country cottage decor conveys cosiness, charm, and rustic comfort. Regardless of where you live, the look can be achieved with a deft use of print and pattern, antique furniture, eclectic accessories, and quaint touches of the past. Here's how to achieve the dream cottage look in every room in your home. ..

Hallway

Hallways are often the dumping ground of the home. Create a perfect country-inspired space with a beautifully crafted peg rail to keep coats, hats and bags out of the way, and if you invest in one with a shelf, you can keep post and keys organised too.

And of course, a country hallway wouldn't be complete without a boot rack to store your muddy wellies - even if you don't live in the countryside, it's a charming nod to the great outdoors.

Living Room

Country Living

Choose a sink-in comfy sofa with classic detailing like curved armrests and a traditional button back, and pile on patterned cushions in similar tones to keep the look cohesive. Cottage style doesn't pay much attention to clever storage, so display your treasures, books and accessories on open shelves. Create a peaceful reading nook with a feature armchair, soft task lighting that can be adjusted for ease of use.

Kitchen

A cottage kitchen is the heart of the home. Traditional country kitchens can have low ceilings or heavy beams, that need brighter whites and creams to offset some of the darkness, but achieving a cottage look in a modern kitchen is a bit more forgiving. Deep blues and forest greens work wonders, alongside creamy natural porcelains or marble. Keep your cottage kitchen busy with open shelves for cook books, hang copper kitchen utensils or bunches of fresh herbs, and pile mismatched vintage crockery into display cabinets.

5 best paint colours for country cottage style

Bring nature inside with this calming green shade, Aquamarine 138 absolute matt emulsion, £42/2.5L, Little Greene (1 of 5 below)

Dusky pinks are perfect for softly decorated guest bedroom, £53/2.5L, Neptune (2 of 5)

You can't beat a timeless off-white shade, Wimborne White No.239 estate emulsion, £43.50/2.5L, Farrow & Ball (3 of 5)

Soft blue is a classic hue for country cottage style, Smoke Blue, £60.00/2.5L, Fired Earth (4 of 5)

Add a cheery glow to your home with this pretty yellow, Concord Ivory HC-12 matt emulsion, £19. 50/0.94L, Benjamin Moore (5 of 5)

Country Living

Dining Room

Solid wood furniture is key in quintessential cottage dining rooms, as light pine, rustic oak, or painted wood bring a slice of the outdoors in. Traditional upright chairs can be softened with patterned seat cushions, or for a farmhouse look, invest in a matching table and bench (like the Country Living Trellis set at Homebase.) Finish off with white table linen and vintage china, and low pendant lighting for a softer ambiance when entertaining. Show off your crockery, glassware, and pretty linens in display cabinets.

Bathroom

Roll top baths are synonymous with cottage style, after all, a luxurious soak is a must after a long day in the countryside. Invest in fluffy towels, scented candles and beautiful trinkets to create the ultimate sanctuary, and use rustic ladders and stools for storing towels and accessories.

Bedroom

The beauty of cottage style is having carte blanche when it comes to print and pattern. Intricately patterned fabric, full of country-inspired botanical motifs add character when used in abundance in curtains, soft furnishings and upholstery. Choose a neutral base tone to your pattern to balance any density in the design. Colefax and Fowler is a great place to find fabric. Plain furniture in light woods, and simple accessories like glass vases and vintage bowls complete the look.

5 best country cottage style fabrics

Toiles are a popular choice and add character to a scheme, For The Love Of Rose fabric in dusky pink, whippet, 100% linen, £49.50/m, Vanessa Arbuthnott (1 of 5 below)

This summery print is reminiscent of meadows, Kasper Furnishing Fabric, Duck Egg, polyester/cotton mix, £45/m, John Lewis (2 of 5)

This classic print features speckled marans, Sussex hens and some rare blue and buff Orpingtons, 'Lay a little egg for me' hen fabric, 100% cotton, £24/m, Sophie Allport (3 of 5)

Cover the seat of a chair in this hardwearing cotton canvas, Wicket Stripe Deckchair Canvas, 100% cotton, £19. 50/m, Ian Mankin (4 of 5)

Quintessentially British, gingham checks go hand in hand with country cottages, Ebury Check Fabric in Vintage Blue, viscose/linen mix, £105/m, Colefax and Fowler (5 of 5)

Country Living

Selection of colors for the facade of the house: useful tips

Each building, like its owner, has its own personality, so the choice of colors must take into account many factors. It is necessary to take into account the architectural style of the house, the surrounding landscape, the compatibility of shades of decoration elements and, of course, the taste of the owner.

It is desirable to select the color of the facade at the design stage, so that other structural elements of the building, such as roofing, windows, doors, gutters, are in harmony with the appearance of the house. To do this, you can use special computer programs to visualize the project. 9Ol000 artistic taste, you can independently choose the design of the exterior decoration of the building. Architectural bureaus and manufacturers of finishing materials also provide such a service - experienced designers will make a sketch for you on paper or in electronic form.

Building facades are rarely monochromatic, more often they use a combination of several shades. They should be well combined with each other and create a complete image. If you need to change the appearance of an existing building, you should take into account the presence of existing structural elements that will not be replaced.

Tip! Roof material, as a rule, has a limited range of colors. Therefore, before choosing the color of the facade, you need to know what the roof covering will be. This will allow you to choose the perfect combination of shades.

Architectural style of the building

Each time and style has its own characteristics. This also applies to typical colors. If the house has a clear belonging to a certain historical era, the color must match the fashion of that time so that the image is harmonious.

Classical buildings are characterized by the use of pastels without sharp contrasts. As a rule, these are shades of beige and cream in combination with white. Modern styles provide more choices. But still, bright flashy shades should be avoided.

Fashionable minimalism today, for example, is limited to white and shades of gray, seeking expressiveness through the shape of the building. The purpose of the house also plays an important role. When decorating a country house, you can allow some liberties in choosing the color of the facade, while there are certain limits for a presentable cottage.

Ethnic style buildings are often decorated with natural materials. It can be wood, various types of natural stone, reed roofs, clay tiles. For the walls of such buildings, colors close to natural are more suitable. For example, alpine houses have many wooden elements in the facades, which go well with white or beige walls.

Surrounding landscape

It is important to consider that the color scheme should be in harmony with the surroundings of the house. In warm, sunny regions, light colors are preferred to reduce wall heating during hot weather.

In the mountainous regions, the houses usually have shades close to woody, so as not to merge with the snowy peaks. Buildings decorated with stone and wood look good in forested areas. If the house is located in areas of continuous development, its shade should be combined with the surrounding buildings, but not merge with them.

Tip! Note that the surroundings of the house change depending on the season, time of day, and even the weather. This is worth considering so that your facade does not suddenly merge with summer greenery or winter snow.

Traditional solutions

Most often, shades of yellow and beige are used in the color scheme of house facades. They are perfectly combined with additional elements made of wood, natural stone or brick. In addition, they are in perfect harmony with the roof of any color. Moreover, there is such a variety of shades that allows you to transform the building beyond recognition. More traditional light pastel colors. To make your home brighter and more eye-catching, you can choose, for example, a more provocative canary shade.

Practical advice

Here are some rules that will make it easier to choose colors for the facade of the house and help to avoid mistakes:

The facade of the house largely reflects the character and status of the owner. First of all, the impression that the house makes on others depends on it. Therefore, the choice of color and finishing material should be given special attention when creating a house project and at the stage of its implementation. If you take into account all the details and carefully consider the color scheme of the facade, the building will have a unique individual look.

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Top 7: trendy palettes for the home

High art

Whoever seeks will always find! Most often - in the most unexpected place. Those who have lost their feet in search of an interesting color scheme for home decoration should look through art albums and take a closer look at the works of Kazimir Malevich. Don't worry, we're not asking you to turn your home into a black square. This is not about abstractions, but about the figurative painting of this great artist - works built on a combination of open contrasting colors.

Pushing them together, Malevich achieved a powerful expressive effect - the most simplified figures on his canvases acquired volume and became almost physically tangible. Oddly enough, this is what many interiors lack: nondescript colors, mixed without any meaning, turn three-dimensional space into a flat picture. Objects dissolve against a featureless background, and the room becomes viscous, like a cold jelly.

An interior built on the contrast of bright bright colors will never look bland

With an interior that uses bright colors borrowed from Malevich, this will definitely not happen. Use them sculpturally, affirmatively - in order to emphasize the perspective, to reveal the shape of the fundamental objects, to sharply indicate the transitions from one room to another. Don't be afraid to make bold decisions! Arrange bright furniture and accessories against walls painted in bold colors. Here are a few examples proving that this is an unmistakable and very effective move.

Look at the orange Bertoia chair - it literally burns against a dark cobalt background. You can achieve a similar result by hanging empty dark frames on the wall or by painting door trims with a bold shade of paint. The colors that form the basis of our palette look quite in the spirit of Malevich: deep blue, black and rich red-brown as the base ones, as well as yellow, orange and light green as contrasting additions that will bring a feeling of freshness to the interior. If you still have doubts, repeat to yourself like a mantra: bright objects look best on a plain background. It is desirable that it be contrasting or darker.

Thinking for three

Take black, white and red, put them together and... you get the holy trinity worshiped by designers around the world. Why don't we follow their example? This daring and sexy combination is truly versatile.

Sometimes (now just such a moment) it is in high demand, but it never really goes out of style. Leading furniture brands greatly simplify our task. The latest collections by Vitra, Zanotta, Moroso, Cassina and Kartell are full of black, white and red items, and many of the items are presented in three versions at once, so they are easy to combine. It remains only to decide which color will set the tone in the interior. Believe me, a lot depends on this!

Black + red + white = timeless classic. This combination looks daring and sexy

Fans of clean minimalist solutions should go for white as a base. Such interiors are often reproached for being cold and sterile, but just a few contrasting touches (for example, black and white pillows or vases with scarlet poppies) are enough to make the space sound completely different. It will become much more cheerful, although it will not lose its severity.

Another option: increase the presence of red and black, use graphic ornaments, and you already have a pop art interior (see the photo on the left for an example). And if you paint the walls of the room in radical black and place red and white objects against this background, you get a dramatic theater space. A great option for rock stars and other outrageous lovers!

However, an interior dominated by red can look no less shocking. If you don't have the courage, opt for a royal scarlet carpet - it's hard to imagine a more luxurious option.

Pastel scenes

Tenderness or cloying? Modest charm of delicate shades or an exciting cocktail of colors? Grandma's chest or forever young Barbie's house? When it comes to pastel colors, we find ourselves in the grip of contradictions.

In order to stay on course, you need to choose the right tone - both literally and figuratively. So, forget about caramel, scoops of pistachio, mint or strawberry ice cream and colored toilet paper (surprisingly, some people associate pastel colors with it).

Put a bold cross on "white with such and such a tint". This phrase sounds meaningless: there is either normal white, or we are talking about a completely different color, and there is no third. We are talking about a pastel range of a new type, in which there is not even a hint of sweetness. Our palette contains subtle, rather muted, rather than faded shades of saturated colors.

Use lemon sherbet instead of sunny yellow, mud pink instead of fuchsia, warm beige instead of peach. When in doubt, imagine that the paint was toned down a bit and then a little warm gray pigment was added to it to give it a more restrained and sophisticated sound.

There is not even a hint of sweetness in the pastel range of the new sample. It will help create a sophisticated and noble interior in retro style

How best to use these new pastel colors? Only in combination! Imagine an entire room painted blue or pink. Horror! But if you make one wall pale lemon, lightly shaded with glossy white, and then place accents of dark wood and dark chocolate against this background, you will get a sophisticated look, devoid of any cloying.

(If we continue the game of association, then such an interior resembles Neapolitan ice cream with a chocolate wafer tube on a white porcelain plate). Keep in mind that your interior may look completely different, depending on the “dosage” of the color. To create a modern atmosphere, use all the colors of the palette, taken in equal proportions. If you want to get a stylized retro, focus on only one

Dance Marathon

There are two news. The bad news: autumn is just around the corner. Good: you can successfully deal with seasonal blues. Of course, with the help of color! No one in the world knows how to have as much fun as the Brazilians, so our "preventive" palette includes passionate and rich "carnival" colors: deep purple, cherry and turquoise. Mustard yellow, lilac and sky blue are called upon to shade the tropical madness.

Just listing these colors makes you hot! It's one thing the streets of Rio de Janeiro, dancing in unison to the rhythm of samba, and quite another - a house or apartment in the Russian middle lane. Our palette is reminiscent of the psychedelic rainbow of the 60s, so a reasonable question arises: wouldn’t all this look too colorful and aggressive? Will the inhabitants of the "tropical" interior experience a visual overdose? Let's put it this way: it all depends on what colors are used. They should not just be flashy and bright (this is too banal!), but carry a powerful energy charge. Look for an example in our photo: a sky blue sofa, a purple carpet, cherry armchairs and yellow accessories flaming against their background look great.

Furniture in rich colors, placed against neutral walls, will fill the house with Brazilian carnival energy.

The main thing is to choose the right background - neutral and cool, like a sea breeze, it will balance the riot of colors. Another important point: when we talk about a tropical palette, we do not at all urge you to fill the house with a sultry exotic spirit. No ethnic trinkets and handicrafts - with them your interior will really turn into a theater of the absurd! Furniture and accessories should be the most ordinary - European in form and spirit. Fortunately, in the Old World there have always been people who were not afraid of bold color schemes. Take, for example, the Dane Verner Panton and his famous installation Phantasy Landscape - a true labyrinth of passion! Or the Missoni brand with its colorful striped pillows and throws. There are plenty of examples to follow.

Golden mean

This color is beautiful, energetic and cheerful, but at the same time very capricious and difficult to use. He often deceives expectations and threatens to turn a decent house into a farce. I'm talking, of course, about yellow. Pale shades of this color delight us on the palette in the store, but in real life look painful. Bright yellow paint is even more dangerous - it will make the interior look cheap and flashy. But we are not looking for easy ways!

Therefore, let's try to make this insidious color work for us, especially since you can't get away from it anyway - it is now in favor with designers. The first thing to remember is that yellow is a very bright color, so it is only suitable for those objects and surfaces that really need to be highlighted and emphasized. Ayurvedic practitioners* and seasoned colorists claim that yellow is associated with food, happiness, confidence, and intelligence. This means that it is ideal for the dining room, living room or home office. But how do you find the right paint? Tip: Choose unconventional shades like those used by French artist Yves Klein* in his Monochrome series. Delicate and soothing (as if ash was added to the pigment), they exude sophistication. The palette can also include deeper, mustard shades of ocher (see wall color in our photo).

Yellow is famous for its capricious temper, but even it can be subdued and boldly used for interior decoration. Fresh tulips in a vase will be enough to create a light sunny mood in the room. It is necessary to choose the right accents for contrast. We took a gray vase and a pale, almost white clock, but a cheerful turquoise or chemical blue would also look amazing against a yellow background. Imagine the sky combined with a golden beach or a cornfield, and you immediately know that this is the right combination. And finally, to add a touch of cool elegance to the palette, use chocolate brown, sandy beige and delicate creamy shades. They should be taken for furniture and flooring. They will bring a sense of depth to the interior and help create a sexy retro look.

Offer intimacy

How to make your sexual life intense and dizzying? This burning topic does not let journalists writing for women's and men's publications get bored. And we are worse? We also wanted to say our weighty word on this matter. Only here's the catch - an interior magazine should not write about sexy lingerie and discuss the location of the G-spot. So we'll go the other way - let's talk about color. The role of the main sexual stimulus is rightly attributed to red. The symbol of irresistible temptation is a scarlet sofa upholstered in patent leather. According to the stereotypes, it should be reclined by a vicious blonde in a negligee with demonic makeup and blood-red manicure.

But stop! We were going to talk about sophisticated seduction, not a brothel, so don't go too far. Yes, red color stimulates sexuality, and at the same time - all other feelings. In high doses, it causes emotional overload, overexcitation and, eventually, fatigue. There is no time for erotica! Let's try to achieve the desired effect by less hackneyed means. For example, with the help of delicate flesh, energetic orange and thick chocolate shades, slightly flavored with shimmering gold. In sum, they give the right mood - a relaxed and sophisticated atomosphere, ideal for a leisurely but skillful seduction. (Note that this is much more interesting than frontal attacks on a partner.)

Not only beauties are sexy, but interiors too. Especially if they use flesh, orange and chocolate colors, lightly spiced with gold

Don't lock yourself into a monochromatic interior! The colors of our palette will only work in combination - taken individually, they will look too flat. The desire for diversity in your personal life must be supported by a variety of environments! Do not be afraid of a slight touch of theatricality. A whimsical alternation of glossy and matte surfaces, refined accessories, chic floral arrangements - all this will help create the perfect scenery for a romantic meeting. So, what do we have next in the scenario?

Exaggerate the colors

So far we have talked about color combinations that look interesting and fresh, but are still considered classics of the genre. They are time-tested and flawless from the point of view of color science. And now - an option for those who are ready to break the rules and crave radical novelty. The duo blue + brown has always been considered terribly unattractive, tasteless and even vulgar. But times are changing: first, this dubious couple made their way to the fashion scene, and then to the interior.

Now this is one of the trendiest combinations! So get used to it and learn to live with it. So, the first rule: no compromises and halftones. The blue color should be as concentrated as possible, saturated and certainly dark. Brown - very warm, like a plush to the touch (soft ocher and darker chocolate shades are suitable). You ask: would such an interior be gloomy, like a cloud? Don't worry - it won't.

Designer Karina Zadvina spoke very well on this topic (look for a report from her country house in the last issue of the magazine): “Dark walls envelop you like a warm cozy blanket!” We are in complete solidarity with her. Let's add from ourselves that using our palette, you can create a fresh and energetic interior in the spirit of the 70s.

The combination of blue and brown is no longer considered bad manners. If you shade this couple with white, yellow and aquamarine, you will get a cozy interior in the spirit of the 70s

The main thing is to place the accents correctly; then the blue and brown surfaces will play and vibrate. It is best to shade them with the color of the sea wave, a muted “powdery” shade of white and yellow, but not bright and open, but a more restrained lemon-ocher. (The combination of yellow and blue, until recently associated with the notorious kitchens 90s, rehabilitated and popular again.

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