At Ian Snow, colour is at the heart of everything we do. From handwoven textiles to vintage furniture, our collections celebrate individuality, craftsmanship and joyful colour. Twice a year, we refresh our studio space to reflect this, and it’s taught us a lot about how colour can transform a home. Here’s how we approach colour, and how you can use the same ideas in your own space.
We believe colour has a direct impact on how a room feels. It can make a space feel calm, energising, cosy or creative often without you realising why. Rather than following strict trends, choosing colours that suit how you use a room will help create a home that feels personal and welcoming.
Just like our handmade homewares, the best interiors aren’t uniform, they’re layered, expressive and full of character. While every home is different, certain colours tend to work well in specific ways:
Warm tones such as terracotta, rust and ochre add warmth and comfort, ideal for living rooms and dining spaces.
Blues and greens create a calming, balanced feel and work beautifully in bedrooms or quiet corners.
Yellows and oranges bring light and positivity, perfect for lifting neutral spaces.
Pinks and purples can feel playful or luxurious depending on how they’re styled
Neutrals provide a backdrop that allows colourful furniture and accessories to stand out.
When refreshing our studio, we start with mood rather than matching. We often look first to our new incoming products, using the colours we already work with every day as a quiet guide. From there, we consider new collections, seasonal shifts and how we want the space to feel. Our studio has six walls (we paint each wall a differen colour!) giving us flexibility when shooting different products. We usually try to choose a palette of colours that all work really well together. There’s almost always a warm, pink-leaning tone in the mix, alongside a blue or green, and then one unexpected colour to bring a bit of energy and fun, and 2 or 3 other colours that are more tonal to complement all of these. When shooting vintage pieces for example, we often find these pieces lean towards cooler blues and greys, so pairing them with a warm-toned wall creates contrast and helps the pieces stand out in a really satisfying way.
At home, this approach translates easily. Instead of starting from scratch, we begin with what already exists, artwork we love, a well-worn armchair, a vintage rug, and allow those pieces to set the tone. Drawing colour from furniture or art helps them stand out while naturally shaping the mood of the room. From there, paint becomes a supporting layer, bringing balance and contrast rather than perfect coordination. Using one colour in different tones for example, on walls, skirting boards or doors, is also a lovely way to add depth and quiet interest. Mixing warm and cool hues, alongside an unexpected colour, gives spaces personality while keeping them considered, relaxed and lived-in.
Alongside choosing the right colour, the quality of the paint itself is really important to us. We’ve found that well-made paints not only create more interesting, nuanced shades, but also give a beautiful depth and finish that lasts. A lovely, thick, paint makes such a difference, often meaning fewer coats and very little touching up over time. We are also conscious of the ingredients used in the paint, and prefer to keep things as natural as possible. We have a few favourite brands we return to again and again, this time around we are particularly looking to use @littlegreen, @farrowandball and @earthborn, for their exceptional quality and thoughtfully developed colour palettes.
Here are our top 2026 colours we've picked this year!
Dayroom Yellow - Farrow & Ball
Green & Blue no84 - Farrow & Ball
Flora's Tale - Earthborn Paints
Adding Colour to Your Home with Handmade Homeware
You don’t always need to redecorate completely to refresh your space. Introducing colour through accessories is an easy, flexible way to experiment:
Handwoven cushions and throws add texture and depth to sofas and beds. Throwing one of our large colourful throws over your sofa will make an instant change without much effort at all.
Decorative mirrors and lamp shades introduce colour while enhancing light
A single colourful vintage find can soften a space and make it feel warmer, without reaching for paint.
Trust Your Instincts
Choosing colour for your home should feel enjoyable, not overwhelming. Trust your eye, start small if needed, and let your space evolve over time. Colour doesn’t need rules, it just needs confidence!
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