Trend Focus: Decorating with Pastels

By Amber Clery 11-07-2012
Trend Focus: Decorating with Pastels

Unless you've been living under a rock the last while you will have noticed the explosion of colour appearing on everything lately. We are especially loving the subtle pastel colour palette that's fast becoming the trend of the moment. This is a really fun and pretty trend that can be adapted easily into any style home whether you prefer contemporary or more traditional  styles. For the latest issue of House and Home we went out and bought a mouth-watering box of macaroons to take inspiration from (the things we do for you!)

You can go for a full-on colour clash mixing lots of colours together or you can opt for a more subtle approach.

This amazing living room shows a more subtle approach to this look using soothing milky lavender, mint green and pastel blue against a backdrop of crisp white. The books and accessories displayed on the built-in shelving add little pops of stronger colours. Try Cool Ice from Johnstone's Paints for a similar shade on the walls.

Of course you can also incorporate the pastel trend in your home with prints and patterns in pastel tones. Here's the Kimono Blossom collection from Designer's Guild which offers a delicious array of prints and patterns in contrasting delicate colour palettes. The key to this look is keeping the walls pale and layering with stripes, checks and florals - be brave! Designer's Guild collections are available from Charles Newhaven in Castledermot. 

There's a few of us here in the office with serious room envy over this beautiful contemporary living space. The pastel trend is all about balancing colours and shades rather than having one very definite colour contrasting with another. Here, the soft lavender chaise works in perfect harmony with the mint green upholstery on the painted Louis style chair. But instead of covering the entire chaise in lavender which may have been overkill, the base and seam detail have been kept white for a clean contemporary look. The lamp base and accessories on the coffee table provide extra touches of colour but the whole scheme is perfectly balanced. The white walls and drapes enhance the light airy look of this living room. Mirrored and glass furniture work really well with here to further enhance the sense of light and space. 

You can always introduce the pastel trend in smaller ways around your home by painting the top half of a kitchen chair in a strawberry pink shade. Try Rosebud from Johnstone's for a similar shade.

So, will you be introducing this look into your home? We would love to hear what you think below.

Images via www.thevintagehome.net, www.designersguild.com, www.pinterest.com

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