Colour Bursts Out In Homes

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31231, 1 December 1966, Page 2

Colour Bursts Out In Homes

Bright colours, absent from decorating trends in the last few years, are bursting out all over and flooding back into our homes. Colour combinations which would have shocked, perhaps blinded, our ancestors are now highly acceptable.

There are two basic schools of thought about colour: you have neutral walls and bright furniture, or you do things the other way round, writes Stella Bruce from London. Stark new-style furniture cries out for colour—and gets it.

Wooden frames of furniture are emerging in high-gloss

polyester coatings which make them as glossy and hard wearing as kitchen cupboards. In contrast to the highlycoloured wood, the upholstery is usually in neutral shades or in black and white.

If you prefer your colour in walls, curtains, and carpets, you’ll find plenty of designers happy to oblige. Blue walls will be the thing next year, I’m told, combined with green and orange. Upholstery and curtain fabrics are veering toward orange, pink, yellow and red. Patterned wallpaper is obviously out when you go in for colours of this intensity. Off-white walls, in fashion for the last two or three years, are giving way to a warmer egg-shell, a restrained brownypink and a faded yellow. All these marry well with the most ferocious oranges or pinks. Dark blue, almost black, wallpaper provides a wonderful foil for startling design and colours. It’s expensive if you buy it the orthodox way. A friend of mine, reluctant to spend a small fortune, came across an excellent substitute, dark blue matt-finish wrapping paper, bought by the roll. It cost a fraction of the price—and looks as good, if not better, than the real thing.