Palette pops

This relaxed reading nook with its grown–up English country vibe shows how far your choice of hues can go in creating interest in a room.

Restful, receding colours were used for the backdrop, with the main wall in Resene Lola and a return wall with tongue-and-groove panelling in moody and brooding Resene Jurassic, to create an inviting space to wind down with a book. These serene shades have been punctuated by pops of bright fluoro, including the plant pot in Resene Porsche and the small vase in Resene Citron, injecting an element of cheeriness in a small yet peaceful way. These highlights play off of the colours within the two original artworks, which were also created using Resene paints.

A stripe of Resene Jurassic follows the shape of the Resene Concrete floorplate and takes the colour off the wall and out into the room, its straight lines contrast with the flowing curves of the chair, lampshade and large painting. It also moves the eyes around the room, forcing them to take their time and soak it all in – similarly to a painting. Plus, the lightness and neutrality of the Resene Concrete floor helps balance the darker Resene Jurassic panelling to keep the space from feeling heavy.

When you choose more than one piece of artwork to go in a space, mixing up their scales is one way of creating contrast between works that share colours in common. These two pieces are also similar in their brushstrokes and how their layers were formed, so even though they are of different styles, they still carry a sense of continuity between them. The swirls of the paintings are picked up in the shape of the chair. Although it’s a large piece of furniture, its permeable structure ensures that it doesn’t dominate the space. In the same manner, a long bench in Resene Cab Sav does the work of a shelf. It offers plenty of space to hold books and decorative accessories, but it keeps sight lines lower to the ground to leave more visual space for the artwork.

A mixture of different textures – shiny, matte, rough, smooth, hard, soft, knit and woven – bring tactile interest, adding to the cosiness of the nook. While bringing in a completely new colour to your palette can also add interest, bringing in new textures that match colours already in the room is a more subtle strategy to break things up without drawing too much attention away from more important elements – like the artworks.

When you do want to draw the eye to an area, pick colours up from the painting and use them in two other places in the room. If your artwork uses quite a few different colours, match the ones you find more interesting and are naturally drawn to. In this painting, it was Resene Citron and Resene Corvette that fit the bill. But because they are especially eye-popping hues, they’ve been limited to smaller surfaces and accessories. The key, though, is to space these items out within the room, and to feature them in odd numbers – which subconsciously come across as more balanced in our brains – so that you keep those eyes moving about the whole space, taking it all in.

Other colours to try with an atmospheric lilac like Resene Lola are moody blues like Resene Bali Hai, steeped beiges such as Resene Tea and creamy whites like Resene Bianca. Or, go for a tonal look by layering it with similarly dusty lilacs and lavenders such as Resene London Hue, Resene I Do, Resene High Tea and Resene Innuendo.

Styling by Kate Alexander. Photography by Bryce Carleton. 2020