Decor Ideas — Simply Home

Create a Simple Colour Palette

Colour Free All Rooms

A room with no colour logic — pieces from different periods or purchases added without reference to each other — can feel unresolved even when everything in it is individually pleasant.

Why this may help

A limited palette ties different pieces together. It does not require everything to match — it requires that pieces relate to each other through a shared colour logic.

How to try it

Choose one base colour (usually the wall or floor), one secondary (largest furniture piece), and one accent (smaller objects and textiles). Aim for the accent colour to appear in at least two or three places in the room.

What to consider

Pale colours read differently in north- and south-facing rooms. Test paint or fabric samples in the actual room before committing.

Try this first

Choose one base colour (usually the wall or floor), one secondary (largest furniture piece), and one accent (smaller objects and textiles). Aim for the accent colour to appear in at least two or three places in the room.

Common mistake

Introducing too many accent colours — three or four competing accents cancel each other out.

Easier alternative

Start with only two colours — one base and one accent — until the room feels coherent, then introduce a second accent if needed.

Rental-friendly

Choose accent colours that can be introduced through textiles and accessories rather than paint.

Repeat One Accent Colour Around a Room

Colour Low All Rooms

A single cushion or accessory in an accent colour often looks like an accident. The same colour appearing in three or four places looks deliberate.

Why this may help

Repetition creates the impression that the room was put together with intention. The eye moves from one instance of the accent to the next, which gives the room a sense of continuity.

How to try it

Identify the accent colour already in the room or choose one that works with the existing furniture. Then place it in at least three locations: a cushion, a small object on a shelf, a lampshade, or a small artwork.

What to consider

The accent does not need to be identical in each location — the same colour family in slightly different tones still reads as repetition.

Try this first

Identify the accent colour already in the room or choose one that works with the existing furniture. Then place it in at least three locations: a cushion, a small object on a shelf, a lampshade, or a small artwork.

Common mistake

Repeating the accent so many times that it becomes the dominant colour rather than the accent.

Easier alternative

Start with just one cushion in the accent colour and one small object. Add a third if the room feels right for it.

Rental-friendly

Fully rental-friendly — all objects are moveable.

Make a Bedroom Feel Calmer

Colour Free Bedroom

A bedroom that holds too many visual demands — bright colours, many objects, visible storage, multiple competing patterns — rarely feels restful regardless of how attractive individual elements are.

Why this may help

Visual simplicity in a bedroom reduces the number of things the eye has to process before rest. Fewer competing colours, less visible clutter, and a settled palette support a calmer atmosphere.

How to try it

Identify what is currently contributing to visual noise in the bedroom: laundry in view, open shelves with varied contents, cables, bright accessories. Address the most visible one first.

What to consider

Bedrooms tend to work best with a limited palette of two or three colours. Adding pattern should be done carefully — one patterned element against simpler surroundings reads better than pattern everywhere.

Try this first

Identify what is currently contributing to visual noise in the bedroom: laundry in view, open shelves with varied contents, cables, bright accessories. Address the most visible one first.

Common mistake

Addressing the visible clutter but not the underlying storage — so it returns within days.

Easier alternative

Clear the top of one visible surface and keep it clear for a week. Assess how the room feels with one fewer visual demand.

Rental-friendly

Fully rental-friendly — focus on textiles, objects, and organisation rather than structural changes.

Use Dark Colours in Small Amounts

Colour Low All Rooms

Dark colours are often avoided entirely in homes — particularly small ones — for fear of making a room feel smaller. Used in small amounts, they can do the opposite.

Why this may help

A single dark piece — a chair, a shelf, a cushion, a picture frame — against a lighter background creates depth and contrast that can make a room feel more interesting and visually resolved.

How to try it

Introduce one dark element in an otherwise lighter room. Black picture frames, a dark green plant pot, a charcoal cushion, or a dark side table each add contrast without closing in the space.

What to consider

If testing a dark paint colour: paint a large section of wall first and observe it for a full day across different light conditions before committing.

Try this first

Introduce one dark element in an otherwise lighter room. Black picture frames, a dark green plant pot, a charcoal cushion, or a dark side table each add contrast without closing in the space.

Common mistake

Assuming any dark element will make a room feel smaller. One or two dark accents against light surroundings typically do the opposite.

Easier alternative

Dark picture frames on a light wall are the simplest way to add a dark accent without any room-level commitment.

Rental-friendly

Objects and frames are fully rental-friendly. Dark paint requires landlord permission.

Work with Existing Flooring

Colour Free All Rooms

Flooring is usually the most expensive and least changeable element in a rented or owned home. Working with it — rather than against it — is more practical than fighting an undertone that is already there.

Why this may help

Most flooring has a dominant undertone — warm, cool, yellow, grey, red, or orange. Identifying it and choosing furniture and textiles that work with rather than against it produces more cohesion.

How to try it

Look at the floor in natural light. Identify the predominant tone. Choose rugs, cushions, and furniture in tones that harmonize with it rather than clash.

What to consider

A rug is often the most effective way to work with challenging flooring — it partially covers it and introduces a new tone above it.

Try this first

Look at the floor in natural light. Identify the predominant tone. Choose rugs, cushions, and furniture in tones that harmonize with it rather than clash.

Common mistake

Purchasing furniture in a colour that clashes with the floor tone and then feeling frustrated by the room.

Easier alternative

Hold fabric or furniture samples beside the floor in natural light before purchasing.

Rental-friendly

Rugs that work with the floor are fully rental-friendly.

Coordinate Adjoining Rooms Without Matching Everything

Colour Free All Rooms

Rooms that are visible from each other — a living room and hallway, a kitchen and dining area — need some visual relationship to feel like part of the same home rather than separate unrelated spaces.

Why this may help

Sharing one or two colours between adjoining rooms — even if the rooms themselves are different — creates a thread of continuity. This does not require matching rooms.

How to try it

Identify the main colour or tone in one room. Find an element in the adjacent room that shares a similar tone — even in a different form. A sage-green cushion in one room and a sage-green plant pot in the hallway is enough.

What to consider

Flooring that runs through multiple rooms provides automatic continuity. Paint colours can transition between rooms if they share an undertone.

Try this first

Identify the main colour or tone in one room. Find an element in the adjacent room that shares a similar tone — even in a different form. A sage-green cushion in one room and a sage-green plant pot in the hallway is enough.

Common mistake

Painting all visible rooms the same colour to achieve continuity — this can feel monotonous even though it is technically consistent.

Easier alternative

Place one object in each adjacent room that shares a colour or material with the other.

Rental-friendly

Object-based coordination is fully rental-friendly.