Guest post by Daniela Buxton

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the effect our kitchen décor has on our guests when we entertain. We all know that colours can affect the mood, and that a tidy home is said to equal a tidy mind, but what do we need to do to ensure our guests feel as relaxed and comfortable, yet upbeat as we’d like them too?

I think the most important thing is the style and colour scheme of your kitchen, as this forms the base pallet for your furnishings and table settings, and can even influence the food you serve and the type of entertainment you provide. After all, I’m sure you’re less likely to be inspired to serve up a hearty country stew in an uber-modern kitchen than in a room styled like a country farmhouse!

The best way to ignite guests’ interest and imagination is with colour, and the latest way to introduce not just a pop of colour, but a veritable fizzy drink full of so many different pops of colour your kitchen becomes an explosion of rainbow shades, is with tiles. Take inspiration from these images of Moroccan-inspired cement tiles then head to a retailer such as The Tile Depot, where mosaic tiles in all different styles and colours can take your kitchen from drab to fab. Next just pick out certain shades from the collage and echo them in kitchenware and furnishings. As I said before, you might want to coordinate your table dressings, but with a multi-coloured room there are no limits!

Another factor that could influence your guests’ enjoyment of your home is clutter. You want them to feel like you have room for them; not like you’re just cramming them in among the pots and pans! To make the most of your kitchen space, make the dining table as much a central feature as possible and allow a clear space around it. Mount shelves above kitchen units to extend your useable space upwards instead of outwards. It’s OK to have food items on display; just place pasta, flour and rice in attractive jars. With your new vibrant kitchen you don’t need to match colours, but similar styles do give a neat and tidy finish.

As a special treat, decorating with color guest post by Polly Vaughan

Distressed-effect shabby chic or high-gloss minimalism – whichever way your home décor inclines, it’d be easy to assume that the default-option colour is white. Flick through any glossy interiors mags, Pinterest boards, style blogs and catalogues, and you’re confronted with shades from swansdown to snowdrop, chalk to cotton wool; it’s a bit like the audience at fashion shows where everyone’s wearing black.

I’m beginning to find this a little boring – but can’t quite bring myself to break open a tin of coloured paint and redecorate.

I’m slowly daring to deviate from mindless monochrome by introducing small and inexpensive splashes of colour – graphic-print cushions, vases, a teapot, a small striped throw – and am debating whether to go a stage further and paint my wooden kitchen chairs in primary shades. Well, I can always slap on another coat of thick acrylic eggshell if it all goes wrong.

If you’re going to get colourful, then you might as well go as bright as you dare – there’s no point in playing around with mimsy pastels. And clear, strong hues are fashionable this summer, apparently; themes at the latest design fairs and interiors trade shows have included acid yellows, grass greens, scarlets and orange (“Tangerine Tango” is the Pantone Colour of the Year 2012.)

Even purple, if you’re brave enough, will really enhance a retro look. If you’re really keen to experiment, think about colour for key items of furniture; cupboard doors, perhaps, or bookshelves – IKEA’s famous best-selling Billy bookshelf is now available in yellow, for example, and made.com is stocking some wonderful upholstered armchairs in lime green, plum purple, poppy red and turquoise.

There’s another advantage, too, to bringing some colour into your home life; keeping an all-white house clean and shiny is a real chore, with every filthy finger mark, footprint or food splodge showing up to stark effect. Don’t even think about trying to keep a white sofa pristine if you’re more of a slummy mummy than a high-maintenance cleaning freak, and if you’re forever wiping up after messy kids, mucky men or muddy dogs, then why make your life difficult with white floorboards? Paint them and your life will instantly become less stressful – honestly.

When you’re overhauling your house, don’t forget the boring stuff. Once you’ve got that paint out from under your fingernails, remember to look through your paperwork and check that you have adequate home insurance.

PS: dont forget to enter the Adobe Lightroom 4 giveaway, a $150 value!! 

images: pinterest board

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