In stark contrast to decades of muted interior design trends, this year’s biggest trends have involved some of the boldest and brightest colour schemes we have seen to date and an audacity not seen since the Regency.

Of course, with brave design choices comes bigger risks, and as anyone who has attempted Barbiecore and adopted its hot pink sensibilities can attest, whilst bright colours can work with planning and foresight, they can also go quite badly wrong and make the room less enjoyable to be in.

It is fine for a risky design not to pay off, but in order to avoid having to either redesign an audacious space or grin and bear it for a few months, here is how to incorporate bold colour schemes without immediately regretting it.

Always Test

Look at samples of a colour and paint in situ and buy a small tub of sample paint before you commit to any design. You can apply it to a less conspicuous area of your room and see how it reacts to both natural and artificial lights, both of which can affect how the shade looks in practice.

Sometimes it can be worth buying a couple of shades lighter and darker than your desired colour, as so many factors can affect the final result once it dries in your chosen space.

Placement Is Key

Sometimes it is less that a vibrant colour is wrong for the room but it has been used in the wrong place or in the wrong way. Bright shades can be distracting in a home office or a bedroom, for example, and may not be the best choice to completely saturate the walls.

However, sometimes it can be made to work with the help of fixtures, fittings and furniture, either by turning the primary colour into an accent alongside something more muted or by adding other elements to the ceiling, floor, wall art, decorations or by adding luxury furniture to complement that style.

When In Doubt Consult A Colour Wheel    

Typically, when designing a colour scheme for a room, you want colours and shades that either complement or appealingly contrast against each other, and if you are struggling with how to marry certain bright colours together, using a colour wheel can help a lot.

Start with your main colour as a base, you can see which colours might work well within a scheme, whether you want analogous colours that complement and create a harmonious colour scheme, or contrasting shades that stand out against a bright colour.

To use hot pink as an example, the primary shades that complement it are purples, blues and reds, but an effective contrast would be green, which is a reason why a lot of rooms that use pink as a primary colour often have plant features and naturalistic imagery to counterpoint it.

Once you have your general colours to work with, the next step is seeing which shades work best against each other in your room, and sometimes that involves painting a set of test swatches.