Interior Redecoration: When You Want Changes but Not a Renovation

There are homes where literally from the door any visitor understands: people living here are full of creativity and very vibrant imagination. Interior stylist from Leroy Merlin, Alena Podmasco tells how to fill interior with colors without breaking harmony of comfort and style.

Alena Podmasco — interior stylist at Leroy Merlin. Decorates spaces, works as a decorator, loves using bright colors in interior design

What is redécorating?

Redecorating a room means adding accents to a familiar interior, without radical changes or re-planning. Redecorating is needed if you want to refresh the atmosphere and prepare the space for new furniture or decor items that you'd like to buy and perfectly fit into the interior.

How to decide on changes?

If you want changes but are scared of a major overhaul, limit yourself to a small area. A hallway, bathroom or balcony would be perfect to try an accent color. In other rooms, the color can still be supported with decorative items.

When a bright color dominates in a room, it's best to minimize patterns, ornaments and complex shapes. Choose wooden or metal furniture and lamps with simple geometric forms.

Principle of Combinations

Vibrant walls and textile accents work best with neutral furniture. That way, you get a characterful but stylish and restrained interior.

Proportionality

To avoid a too busy look, limit color choices for interior design to a maximum of three. They should combine in the following proportion: 60% — main color, 30% — second and 10% — third. The floor should remain neutral, for example, the color of white wood. Color wheel by Johannes Itten helps to find the perfect color combination and avoid blandness. A great example of color mixing is blue, yellow and violet. These will fill your home with joy, warmth and positive energy.

Zone Division in Redecoration

In small spaces, color spots help define different functional zones. In a kids’ room, they can highlight rest and study areas, in a studio apartment — sleeping area, kitchen, friends’ gathering space and reading corner. The colorblock technique can make a room look visually bigger and break the usual perception of flatness. Simply paint one wall white, hang white frames on it, place a white cabinet and, on top of everything, draw a bright blue rectangle on the frames and furniture to make people wonder where is what. We spend more time decoding, so the space feels larger.

Let there be Light

For a vibrant interior, choose neutral or cool lighting as warm lighting usually distorts colors, making them muddy and dark. More light can be added with bright table lamps from the 'Just' collection, resembling Tetris figures. A white electric fireplace from the 'Diamond' collection will beautifully complement a large living room. It becomes a gathering point for family and close friends, a cozy corner for engaging conversations and hot tea time.