How to bring color into your home interior
Rarely has the phrase “a matter of taste and color” felt more accurate than when it comes to choosing the palette that will elevate your interior. Color gives a room its unique atmosphere and reflects your personality—even when it's deliberately absent. Whether introduced in subtle touches or bold statements, color helps structure the space and highlight the hidden potential of your property. While choosing the right shades can be a fun and creative process, it also deserves thoughtful consideration. To guide you, the architects at Maison Kyka share their expert advice.
Why incorporate color into your interior design?
Beyond aesthetics: what does color really bring to a space?
At Maison Kyka, color is never a neutral decorative choice—it’s a language. While it’s a constant in most cultures, its meanings and symbolism vary greatly. Take red, for example: in the West it may evoke passion, while in China it symbolizes prosperity, and in India, purity. It’s no surprise, then, that on an individual level, our relationship with color is highly subjective—and even physiological.
Color perception involves both the eyes and the brain, and depends on photoreceptor cells called cones, which are sensitive to different wavelengths of light. Studies have even shown slight differences in color perception between men and women, with women generally exhibiting a greater ability to distinguish subtle variations. These nuanced differences only deepen our uniquely personal connection to color.
More than anything, color influences our emotions and moods—making it essential to choose shades that align with your personality and lifestyle when renovating your home. Energizing and warm, orange tones bring cheer and optimism, while khaki and brown offer a sense of comfort and reassurance. If you tend to feel anxious or have trouble sleeping, soothing, cocooning shades like dusty pink or velvety blue are ideal choices for a bedroom. Those who are naturally homebodies or sensitive to the cold may feel most at ease surrounded by warm, rich colors such as mustard yellow or terracotta. At a time when interiors are increasingly pared back and vivid tones often give way to sterile whites and muted greys, Maison Kyka embraces a confident, colorful aesthetic.
Color is a key component of well-being and plays an essential role in personalizing each project. Our architects take the time to understand not only the character of the space to be transformed, but also the psychology and vision of its owners—crafting a home that truly reflects who they are.
Choosing a color for your interior: a deeply personal decision
When it comes to the colors you want to bring into your interior, the first advice is to listen to yourself. Trend books and other sources of inspiration are great for opening up your horizons, but they can also distract you from your own timeless and unique vision in favor of often fleeting trends. And although, in theory, there are no hard rules, since the space you’re designing is ultimately yours, some practical tips can help you achieve a harmonious color scheme.
First, use a color wheel. This tool organizes colors according to a spectrum based on the decomposition of natural light. It arranges the visible colors for the human eye between primary and secondary hues, warm and cool tones. The color wheel is, of course, just a starting point, as each color then has hundreds of shades varying in saturation and brightness. Three types of color combinations allow for harmonious results:
- monochromatic harmony, which plays on variations of a single color: light, dark, saturated, or desaturated shades,
- analogous harmony, which combines three colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel,
- contrasting harmony, which, as its name suggests, is based on pairing colors opposite each other on the color wheel—especially warm and cool tones.
The balance between the different colors you choose mainly depends on their proportions. If this is your first time tackling this for your interior, we suggest limiting yourself to three colors distributed as follows:
- 60% of a dominant color—the one that acts as the visual thread and sets the overall mood, like the soft pink in Charlotte’s apartment,
- 30% of a mid-tone color,
- 10 % of an accent color,
- to which you can add neutral tones like white or black.
If after this introduction you’re still hesitant about bringing color into your future interior, don’t worry—there are countless ways to enhance a room decorated in neutral tones like beige and white. Rather than opting for dull or overly uniform shades, Maison Kyka encourages you to explore off-white, warm creams, or textured greys such as anthracite and greige. Our interior architects are by your side throughout the renovation process, helping you dare to make the bold choices you’ve dreamed of for your new home.
“Bertille, the interior architect, truly understood our tastes and offered us a renovation and decoration that we absolutely loved." Danièle Bonnet
Adding color to spaces with paint
What factors should you consider before painting a wall?
Painting walls is the most effective way to introduce a touch of color into your interior. Just a few coats can transform the character of a room. While hiring a professional is highly recommended for a flawless finish, this method remains accessible even for those who aren’t brush experts.
First, the wall must be properly prepared, especially when applying intense colors, as they reveal any imperfections once dry. After thoroughly cleaning the wall—removing dust, old paint traces, and debris—make sure any cracks are filled, the surface smoothed out, and a primer (or a tinted undercoat) has been applied.
Beyond the color itself, the type of paint is a key factor in ensuring durability and the desired finish. For interiors, acrylic paint is the preferred choice over oil-based (alkyd) paint. It’s fluid, easy to apply, doesn’t release harmful solvents, and tools can be cleaned without much hassle.
There are five types of paint, which should be selected based on the desired aesthetic and the room to be dressed:
1. Matte paint. It absorbs light and adds depth to dark shades. Its chalky finish creates a soft, elegant atmosphere, making it a very trendy and popular choice for renovations. However, it’s not suitable for all rooms or lifestyles. Use it to add color to ceilings or to decorate bedrooms and living rooms. Avoid using it in bathrooms, kitchens, or on doors. Being delicate by nature, matte paint is sensitive to humidity and condensation, and it’s not washable, so it can easily show marks and splashes.
2. Velvet (eggshell) paint. An excellent alternative to matte paint, velvet paint is highly versatile and suitable for all rooms, including hallways and children’s bedrooms. Its partial light absorption helps to hide most surface imperfections while creating a very subtle sheen, especially in darker shades. However, be mindful that it is generally not washable.
3. Satin paint. The perfect choice for darker rooms, satin paint offers a warm finish and reflects even the smallest ray of light, regardless of the color. It’s resistant to shocks, stains, and humidity, making it highly recommended for wet rooms such as bathrooms, kitchens, and toilets. That said, satin finishes tend to highlight surface imperfections, so thorough surface preparation before application is essential.
4. Glossy paint. If you want a bright and luxurious finish, opt for glossy paint. Besides brightening walls and furniture, it subtly highlights often overlooked architectural details like moldings or picture rails. Its high durability guarantees colors that last over time and resist wear despite frequent cleaning.
5. Lacquered paint. At the extreme end of the gloss spectrum is lacquered paint, whose finish is almost mirror-like due to the intense light reflections it creates. Best suited for smaller, flawless surfaces, it’s also ideal for wet rooms and floors. Lacquered paint is the most durable over time and withstands washing exceptionally well.
Paint is no longer the only option to bring color to your walls. Wallpaper, making a strong comeback, is increasingly popular in our interiors. It captivates with its rich patterns, textures, and the unique character it adds to a room—a must-have for the Maison Kyka studio, which has made it one of its signature aesthetics.
Playing with patterns and room layout
Painting a wall in a solid color is far from the only way to bring color into a room. Carefully chosen areas alone can transform the ambiance of a space while maintaining its balance. For example, painting a wainscot can elegantly structure the space visually, while an accent wall, a niche, or even the ceiling add depth and character. Architectural elements like exposed beams, door frames, or baseboards also offer great opportunities to introduce color in small touches. For the more adventurous, painted patterns, stylized arches, or built-in colorful furniture can complement this palette of decorative options without ever weighing down the overall look. Perrine’s apartment and its mural perfectly illustrate a controlled use of color, where curves and shades applied in touches create a poetic atmosphere ideal for relaxation in the bedroom.
Studying the direction of natural light will give you guidance on the type of paint to use and the colors to prioritize in order to highlight the painted elements.
Optimizing space with color
More than just a decorative element, color allows you to rethink volumes, reveal the potential of a room, or conversely, soften its flaws. The "box effect"—a uniform coat of color applied across walls, ceilings, doors, and other architectural features—creates a cozy, enveloping sensation, perfect for a bathroom or a hallway. The deep green chosen for the corridor in Éloi’s apartment, a deliberate favorite of the owner, beautifully illustrates this: it stylishly emphasizes the flow from one space to another. A vibrant color can energize a narrow, dark room, while a deeper shade can help rebalance a ceiling that’s too high or a seemingly endless corridor.
Color can even be used to define a specific area where a partition wall would otherwise reduce the available space. This is an interesting solution for open-plan properties such as lofts and small apartments, where every square meter counts. Anton’s 27 m² attic studio is a perfect example of optimizing a challenging space through color. The kitchen, tucked under the sloping ceiling, stands out in the living room thanks to a monochrome block of color, enhanced by a glossy black backsplash. It becomes the centerpiece of the graphic and contemporary universe of this highly functional apartment nestled in the heart of Paris’s 4th arrondissement.
Used wisely, color becomes a real asset in renovating your property. So, what if your next project was painted in colors with Maison Kyka?
Introducing color beyond the walls
Extending color throughout all rooms
While walls are the primary ambassadors of color in an interior, they are by no means the only surfaces to be adorned. Kitchens, bathrooms, and toilets are increasingly embracing bold palettes. Far from the cold, uniform aesthetic that once dominated these spaces, vibrant and assertive hues now flourish, creating effects that are both decorative and structural.
In the kitchen—a true living space—cabinet fronts are dressed in deep or vibrant colors, from petrol blue and sage green to a trendy matte brick red. Wall tiles also become a canvas for expression: colorful zelliges, graphic-patterned faience, and pigmented backsplashes enliven the clean lines of functional layouts.
Color asserts itself in the bathroom too: on tiles, faucets, or even sinks, often chosen in soft, mineral-inspired tones like the warm rose quartz seen in Constance’s bathroom. As for toilets, they completely break free from neutral norms: painting walls and ceilings in rich hues, or opting for a colorful designer bowl like those from the Trone brand, adds a real touch of whimsy and transforms this transitional space into an aesthetic capsule.
Pair these bold colors with materials such as chrome, brass, and bronze to enhance the character of the room and elegantly stamp your interior design.
Playing with colorful furniture and decor items
Introducing color here and there is an equally effective way to enliven an interior, while leaving room for your evolving tastes. Furniture, everyday objects, and textiles offer endless possibilities to shape an atmosphere without undertaking major renovations.
A saffron yellow armchair, a midnight blue bookshelf, a graphic rug, or a poppy red side table become focal points that bring rhythm to the room. Hunting for vintage furniture and objects is a great way to stand out. Beyond being sustainable, this approach allows you to acquire often unique decorative accessories in colors sometimes unavailable from current brands. Bedding, curtains, cushions, and throws also add easy-to-refresh colorful softness throughout the seasons. Even tableware—dishes, glasses, placemats, and tablecloths—can bring contrast, warmth, or character to a dining room or open kitchen.
These scattered touches of color tell a coherent story: that of a space thoughtfully designed down to the smallest detail, vibrant, elegant, and deeply personal. It is also through these elements that Maison Kyka translates its clients’ desires into sensitive and unique worlds.