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For starters isn’t the word Zesty just great! It brings a feeling of vibrancy, tastes like lemon and smells likes oranges. It takes me to a visual of lemon trees in Sicily and that colour of vibrant leaves, warm yellow sun and fresh blue seas. It’s summer in a word… and I am here to explain why we feel like that and how adding punchy colours can lift the mood of your interiors instantly.
Lemon & Lime
I am unsure on how many of you have tried to choose a yellow paint in a room, and have completely failed? It is truly such a difficult colour to get right!
However, Lemon yellow, according to Adobe is said to be the near-perfect colour of yellow. It isn’t so bright that its off putting like fluorescent but it’s vivacious, fresh and sweet enough to incorporate into Interiors. Mainly used as an accent colour, due to the brightness, this hue is well combined with blues, greens and neighbouring oranges to form a refreshing colour palette.
Sitting nearby on the colour wheel, we spin over to Lime! A similarly high energy and lively colour, which promotes more feelings of nature within its personality. I like to think of Lime as the risky sibling of Lemon, stemming from the same category of Zesty, but somehow Lime is more daring, higher energy and demands that any brand or interior using this colour should “look at me!”
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How to use these colours in your home?
So, with such bold personalities, should we use these colours in our home? The questions I’d first ask is, are you a lemon or lime kind of personality yourself? Our homes should be a reflection of who we are and what we love. So with the upmost respect, if subtle, relaxed and laid back is more your trait, you would wonder why these colours are for you?
I did touch on above, how usually we see lemon and lime being used as accent colours as part of a wider schemes. As much as they’re beautiful, they can be slightly overbearing if used too much. Some rooms I would seriously consider using these colours in kitchens, bathrooms or even home offices too.
There are so many different ways to incorporate an accent colour, most commonly through soft furnishes like cushions or a pouffe. However, I would dare you to try a piece of furniture or alcove. Little nooks in the homes, are great places to create a little drama, whether you have an alcove with a side board or a shelving unit. Have you considered how a bold paint feature on the small visible walls can add some much fun to your space? I would of course ensure there are notes of the colour speaking through artwork or fabrics too, so it’s a considered approach and doesn’t look like a random act of wild behaviour.
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Can Zesty work in the Autumn/ Winter too?
When designing your home, I wouldn’t worry too much on the seasons. Yes, this is a summer time blog calling out on the colours Lemon & Lime! However, that doesn’t mean we only use lemon and lime during the summer, it’s simply that this colour takes us back to feelings of sunshine and being outside. Perhaps this is a feeling you wish to have all year around, many people use their orangeries or garden rooms for an outdoor-in look, and adding in colours of nature are usually the first point of call.
Lime can also be often seen in may Ikat prints too, which takes the edge off the colour slightly, and softens it into a pattern which can be used as a feature wall or even feature seating in a room. Using these colours within patterns and textures, not only softens them and makes them more versatile but sometimes combined with complimentary colours, gives you a wider choice of which colour you’re going to emphasise that little bit more.
So will you or won’t you?
It never has to be a lot, but easing yourself into new colours can siply be a new pirce of art, a vase or just a jar of lemons on the counter.
Take your own pace, and find the colours that speak to you and your current scheme too. There’s so much joy in adding bouts of energy through colour into a home, whether they’re zesty or more subdued. Give it a try!
Preet x
