Frederiksberg, Denmark
Photographer: Laura Short
Interior designer and Colour consultant Nadia Olive Schnack shares how she views colours in the kid's room, gives her tips on how to get started adding colours to your own home – and how many colours to work with at a time – and reveals her own two favourite colours.
Nadia in the living room, where colours range from pink to red to blue.
I would describe colours as a tool
similar to woods, textiles etc. that affect the mood and interior of any setting.
The best thing about colours is that they have the ability to bind everything together. They can also symbolise a change – that you're moving through a home and going from one room to the next.
In my opinion, the best thing about colours is that they're extremely useful to set the tone and decide the mood in a room – exactly how you want it.
My childhood home's interiors was characterised by
my mother's upbringing in the Soviet Union, where her mother, my grandmother, decorated their home with heavy curtains, drapes, and lots and lots of little decor items. To contrast this, my mother decorated her home, my childhood home, with white walls and furniture made from wood and leather. I remember finding this terribly boring, and I would go on to find paint pots and start experimenting with paint already then. This didn't always please everyone at home...!
To add colours to a home – or any interior – I would recommend
to start off with painting a smaller room, such as a guest toilet or a hallway. In this way, the change is less dramatic and things are easier to revert back in case you change your mind.
Having said that, I would personally prefer to have a plan for the entire home to ensure that things work together as you move through the space. By having a bigger plan, we are able to create more conscious choices for each room that also creates a connectedness as you walk from room to room.
Rule of thumb when working with colours
is to work with three colours at a time. This includes furniture, lamps, cushions etc. Three colours create the best balance, beauty and depth.
Colours everywhere you look from homemade drawings with red lips and and flowers in bright red and deep purple.
Painted floors in rainbow colours add a base for the office.
There are no rules when decorating a kid's room –
anything goes to create a joyful, happy room. In my opinion, the kid's room is a room where play is free and creativity should flow. Also, mess should be allowed – and toys in a vast array of colours.
Depending on age, I find that smaller kids prefer bright colours and older kids like darker colours. My advice is to listen to your child's wishes and go with this – they know which colours make them feel most comfortable.
A colour such as Pitch Blue from Farrow & Ball has a tendency to make all other colours from toys to bedding to lamps etc. become more bright and clear and somehow – as if by magic! – create a sense of calm and balance in the room. I'm telling you, those kids know what they are talking about! Also, I've never understood pastel colours in a kid's room or nursery.
My own favourite colours are
red and orange. I've been obsessed with these two tones since Covid. I think this came about because I needed something positive and inviting in my life after months of alienation and isolation. Red and orange give me joy and make me thoroughly happy and are both very inspiring to me.
The best book I have read this year
is "Sult" written by Knut Hamsum. A choice I haven't regretted, and I would recommend to anyone. Such language!
The best souvenir I have brought home from a vacation is
a giant wooden Pinnochio that we bought in Greece years ago. The shop was very touristy, but this purchase is high on my list of best buys over the years.
The best Christmas present I have received is
my yearly present from my husband. We always give each other a vinyl, and oh the excitement to see what he's found this year!
I also highly cherish homemade presents. My daughter Maggie loves to create and wrap her works of art in beautiful paper. I love the quality and uniqueness of each of her creations.
Nadia in the conservatory that is attached to the house.
View to the kitchen where pink, purple and red make a joyful colour combination.
Art plays a huge role in Nadia and husband Adam's home and add colour in the same way as furniture, paints and textiles.
The stairs leading upstairs in an unusual but wonderful mix of turquoise, dark navy and red.
"Sult" by Knut Hamsun on a chair covered in a beautiful purple fabric.
Wallpaper is used through the home as a contrast to painted walls, but blend in seamlessly although sometimes vibrant.
Favourite souvenir Pinocchio brought home from a vacation to Greece.
A heavy, wooden cabinet in Nadia and husband Adam's bedroom – where colours deliberately are kept dark and deep.
A bright blue shelving system from Montana is placed in the office.
Details in the office against the bright blue shelving system from Montana include homemade creations by daughter Maggie.
The conservatory with its white walls that are unusual for this home, but with floor, furniture and plants kept in tones of green – and dashes of yellow.
"There are no rules when decorating a kid's rooms. This is a room where play should be free and creativity should flow."
— Nadia Olive Schnack