HOW TO CREATE AN EYE-CATCHING SPACE AND MAKE IT CHRISTMAS-READY THE ENTIRE YEAR

Make red your primary accent colour and keep everything else neutral – The important thing is to create a neutral base, such as painting your walls white like in the bedroom pictured below or a very light shade of grey or beige like in the living room shown above. And then use one holiday colour consistently throughout the space, such as green or in the case of this interior, red. Not a big fan of red? Neither was I at the beginning, but I tried it for a while and was completely won over by it. Red is one of the most dynamic and eye-catching colours one can use. Plus, at Christmas all you need to do is add some green elements like a real or artificial tree, wreaths, a cedar garland, and evergreen cuttings to decorate your fireplace mantel and window ledges to make your home look all festive and joyful.

Get a bedframe that’s painted a festive red and then complement this with some red nightstands – Most designers will typically advise people to get serene and restful colours for their bedroom, and that is really good advice. But if you want to spice things up, then there’s nothing wrong with doing something completely unpredictable and getting a coordinating red bed frame, pair of red nightstands and even some wall art with some red accents in it. I would stop there, though, and refrain from putting more red on the walls or on the floors (via a red area rug). The secret to implementing a bold and strong colour such as red (or even a milder one like green) in one’s space is to know when to stop. And this is enough red for one space. Make sure everything else is calm and quiet like using white on the walls and dark brown for the floors to add a rich earth tone. And then layer on some green during the holidays by putting a simple wreath over your bed.

Continue the red in the kitchen by painting only the bottom island cabinets red – The thing with using an eye-catching colour like red is knowing when, where, and how much of it to use. Take this kitchen pictured above. Only the bottom part of the island is painted red. Everything lese is white including the walls, floors, and countertops to give the red accent colour a chance to stand out (but not too much). The red footstool is another nice accent, and so are the additional bits of red on the floor, which has incorporated some broken tiles in a very light, almost washed-out shade of red and a complementary pink so that it’s not too overwhelming. When you’re showcasing an accent colour as bold as red, you want to be careful how much of it to use, which is why you may want to enlist the help of an interior designer to help you decide on how much of an accent colour to use and where to put it. You can have some fun, but not too much. Otherwise, the space can get overpowered by your chosen accent colour.

Get red-upholstered dining chairs (with the option to add more red underneath) – Like in the dining room pictured above, I also bought some red dining chairs which created the same kind of strong visual drama like in the picture above. People immediately noticed it and commented on how contemporary and interesting my home looked (I also had the same type of black and white abstract painting like in the dining room shown above and my table was jet black and not brown). Red tends to bring a freshness and dynamism to any room, especially if you incorporate neutral elements around it like a grey tiled floor and a white sideboard. You may or may not add a red area rug to spice things up further but keep in mind that you have to constantly vacuum it if ever you decide to put one under a dining table as food debris can accumulate there quite quickly and pretty often.

Use only one red element in the bathroom –While it’s possible to buy red fixtures, tile, and even bath towels I would suggest toning things down in the bathroom and creating a split dynamic of serene and vibrant at the same time by keeping things predominantly white, and then incorporating just one red element, like a deep shade of red in a lacquer finish on just a single wall. Not only will that make it easier to clean, but the high shine finish also adds a nice and unexpected visual punch. And keeping everything else around in a neutral white colour maintains that sense of calm and order. The red element just spices things up and keeps things interesting but doesn’t detract people from just wanting to relax while they’re soaking in the tub.