I almost feel sorry for the colour brown. I mean, how often do you hear someone declare their desire to have a brown colour scheme in their home? Pretty close to never, unless they’re still stuck in the seventies.
But there’s a shift in the air, and brown is making a comeback. Why? Well, in some ways brown is the “stealth” colour of the spectrum. In all its shades and tones, it’s one of the most used colours in interior design.
How? Natural materials. Think of wood – what colour is it unless it’s painted? Stone – often brown. With earthy, natural materials forming a big part of current interior design trends, there’s a lot of brown appearing – but it flies under the radar.
In some ways brown is like a warm, comfy hug. Because of its frequent appearance in nature, it feels secure and down to earth. There’s a reason environmentally friendly products are often packaged in brown cardboard, and it’s not just to avoid the use of bleach.
In fact, brown is everywhere. But painting walls in your home? Not so much. Which is fine, because in many ways brown is better as a less solid colour. A wooden floor looks stunning, not because it’s one shade of brown, but because of the various shades of brown contained within the wood grain.
So maybe that’s the secret to using brown in your space – use it in ways where you take advantage of the variations in natural materials, rather than as a solid colour. It’s also great as a styling focal point, such as cushions, when blended with other rich colours.
And if you really want that seventies vibe, add a little apple green and burnt orange to boot. Although there’s probably a very good reason that colour scheme didn’t make it into the eighties…