Give colour to your interior furniture

The colour of the furniture should match the kitchen theme colour. Photo by Rachel Mabala

What you need to know:

Experts believe colour evokes different emotions in people. And how you feel could be determined by the colour in a room. We share how you can spruce up your interior furniture with different colours.

Different people have different things they want to see look extraordinary and beautiful in their homes. It takes creativity, good choice and love to create a unique picture in your home. Many house owners concentrate on beautifying walls, ceilings and forget to give their furniture colour. Here is how to give your interior walls colour to create a uniform look in your house.

Sitting room and bedroom
The sitting room mainly comprises chairs and tables, which also need to be given colour to match the other features in the house.

Chair covers
Besides protecting the chairs from dirt caused by constant sweeping, spills of food or people sitting on them with dirty clothes and legs, chair covers also give colour to the furniture and sitting room.
According to Annet Nakidde, a tailor in Kiyembe, Kampala, these come in different colours, sizes, fabrics and shape. “You can choose a material and we make for you good chair covers. The beauty with these is that you can make as many as possible and change over time. This helps reduce monotony in the house.”
In case you choose a bright colour, clean them constantly to avoid permanent stains.

Paint
Paint has the power to bring a new look to furniture in a thousand ways, have your furniture shine by choosing a good colour that matches the theme colour of the walls. Sharifu Mwesigwa, a painter, notes that most people opt for brighter colours to brighten the dull features in the house. “Colours like pink, white, blue are used to bring life to the walls, which are usually painted with dull colours. The beauty with paint is that it’s not a permanent feature, you can have it changed any time,” he adds.

Cushions
People have invented a number of colourful cushions that will give life to your dull seats hence setting a shine for the entire room. There are those meant for the sitting room and those meant for the bedroom.
Nakidde notes that some chairs can’t have chair covers but also need glamour. “Cushions can be used in the bedroom to brighten the bed as well. After laying the bed, you can spread them on top to enhance the bedsheet look and increase the general house look,” she adds.

Bathroom and toilet
According to Mary Namukose, an interior designer, these are among the most important rooms in a home.
However, they are usually neglected when beautifying homes.
The furniture in here can be painted and also complimented with a few items for it to look good.
Before painting, the cupboards in the bathroom, declutter the entire place. Give the furniture the best of colour. And do not forget the toilet paper handles. They too, can be given a colour for uniformity.

Kitchen
Mwesigwa adds that the kitchen cupboards should also be given good colours that can put up with dirt since there is a lot of activity that goes on this room. “Preferably if the owner can go for dull colours such as orange, grey among others because these don’t get easily affected by dirt and also don’t often show patchess,” he advises.

Some of the costs
Chair covers in Kiyembe: Labour is about Shs50,000
The whole set of an eight seater is between Shs250,000 and Shs300,000 when you have your own material. The price depends on the fabric to be used and your bargaining power. It can be slightly higher or lower. On the local market, a metre of silk material starts from Shs15,000 and other materials like fibre start from Shs50,000 or higher than that. A five seater will take 18 metres and the eight seater will take 20 to 25 metres.
Cushions: Three go for Shs50,000 or less depending on the material and where you buy from.
All these can be got from shops around the city and other parts of the country.

How to take care of chair covers

Mary Namukose an Interior designer shares tips on how to care for chair covers:
• Clean a stain immediately because the longer you take the more they turn into permanent stains especially the cotton textures.
• In case of materials like silk, avoid contact with fire because they can easily catch fire.
• Avoid putting hot things like tea, food, or flat irons on the covers as it burns them.
• Wash them more often.

Compliment the look with plants
Nothing will complement your furniture better than plants. These bring a natural feel to the house, a cool breeze and beauty at the same time.
In case of tables and cupboards, plants can be placed on top in good looking containers that match the furniture colour to bring out uniformity.
Indoor plants that can do this work well are boston fern, bamboo palm, air plants among, other plants.