Interior design: How to create a vibrant colour scheme for your home

We sign up for a masterclass to discover how to create the perfect colour scheme for every room

Fri, 05 Sep, 2025 - 13:49

Carol O’Callaghan

I am a huge fan of short courses, a day or evening to initiate me into a topic, having enough foundational information to inject a booster shot of confidence, preferably with some hands-on activity.

Last week I had a glut of two, the first of which introduced me to the basic workings of my hitherto, near-ornamental sewing machine, whose only function up to that point was gathering dust on a shelf, and the other pushed me to do something out of character: Learning about using colour in home décor which equated to a sharp shove out of my comfort zone of white, warm white and milky white.

Colour and textures used together make for a visually pleasing and finished result. Picture: Jysk

In-person learning is my preference, although I happily took several online classes during lockdown. But there’s nothing quite like a classroom where you can interact, have a cup of tea and a biscuit while sharing the aspirations for your interiors project, and, in this instance, experience the excitement of creating a mood board.

This prospect got me signing up for a course called Interior Design Masterclass: Designing with Colour, presented by interior architect, colour consultant and lecturer Ger Cooney of Ger Cooney Design in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork.

Colour pops in a single piece of furniture, like an accent chair, can elevate the look of a room. Picture: Covet House

Perched at a desk at the front like the class swot, I joined a group of women and one brave man, all contending with a variety of colour queries and challenges.

Among us were a couple redoing their house who had opposing views on colour to overcome; some had renovation projects, another wanted a fresh approach to painting her interior after her children had grown up, and a colour-drenching aspiration meant figuring out how to cover two different tints of coral and a gleaming white ceiling with a single colour uniformly.

It was reassuring to know how many challenges were faced colour-wise, but it also begged the question, why are we suddenly so interested in the detail of choosing colour? “I have often been asked by clients and students about the possibility of creating a workshop,” says Ger. “As I lecture in interior design, I have seen people’s initial reaction to the thought of choosing and applying colour in their schemes. I felt that colour is an area that people are often nervous about initially, particularly as it has an instant Impact.”

Interior architect, colour consultant and lecturer Ger Cooney of Ger Cooney Design.

Each of us was presented with a chic black box, a practical equivalent of the goodie bag, containing some tools of the trade for the evening, including a handy colour wheel to see the results of mixing colours together and a swatch book showing the development of different families of colour from pale to dark. “A larger swatch will show you how the colour will actually look on your wall,” says Ger, holding up an A5-size sample, along with the equivalent tiny square on a colour chart. The latter was noticeably darker.

This soundbite of insider information was revelatory, as were some big takeaways of the evening, including how natural and artificial light changes wall colour and even informed Ger’s choice of venue for the class. “One of the things I liked about it was the wall colour. It’s a sort of biscuit colour,” he says, inviting us to say how we would describe it.

Colour doesn't have to be bright or eclectic. It can also be subtle, chic and relaxing. Picture: Next

My choice of words was dreary, neutral to the point of being bland, but when Ger had us observe how daylight and artificial light impacted it in different areas of the room, creams and greys became clearly visible.

The exercise was a reminder of the value of taking your time, to test out a colour on different walls and observe it at different times of day.

All of this and many questions and discussion points later got us to the making of our individual mood board,s which involved picking a photo from a selection provided and using it as inspiration for choosing our colours.

I anticipated mine would be all neutral, but I found myself choosing a dining room photo and building a scheme of paint, tile and flooring in mocha and chocolate shades with some peachy accents, and collaborating enthusiastically with another student on a blue scheme.

It was far from a Damascene moment with a sudden conversion to colour, but I have been unwittingly coaxed away from white and cream to something with a bit more depth and personality and not quite thinking colour is the enemy.