What's your 'Red Thread'

Not sure what a red thread is ? Well let me help you...

A 'red' or sometimes called a 'golden' thread refers to a common theme that runs throughout a home in interior design. Clever really! We should never plan our homes one room at a time. If we do that, then there is a danger that they feel disjointed and there isn't a flow to the house. When we walk around a house, we want to feel like we are going on a journey, and one that makes sense to look at too. So, one of the first things I do with my clients is put together a concept board for the whole house. That way, whichever room we are looking at, we make sure that we are being consistent with our approach, and creating a cohesive look.

Here's an example of a concept board...

This is a concept board from m y own home!

There are more than one 'red threads' in our home, but the consistent colour present in every room is blue. We have different variations on the colour, but they all tie in together and compliment each other. Another colour which is in most of the rooms is yellow, and neon pink. Jazzy huh? Let me talk you through our thought process.

The pink is inspired from the wallpaper with the flamingoes in it, their legs inspired us to have some bring pink accents throughout the house. They take the form of lampshades, lamp stands, staircase spindles and on internal doors. It isn't in every room but there is enough of it to feel like it is purposeful in the house. Yellow is also another present 'red thread' throughout our house. We have it on our bookshelves in the kitchen, in wallpaper, photo frames and rugs too. It's more present that the neon pink, and it's pretty much in every room in some shape or form. If it's not in a room, then it doesn't look out of place, because that strong blue presence is the colour that ties the whole house together.

Master Bedroom

Master bedroom showing blue tones, and yellow accents in bed linen, wallpaper and lampshade.

Kitchen / Diner

Kitchen/ Diner showing blue tones with yellow accents.

The purpose of a 'red thread' comes from a Swedish idea for something that follows a theme. The idea of a 'thread' isn't new. Think of Greek mythology when Theseus followed a red thread given to him by Ariadne to find his way out of the Minotaur’s cave.

Thinking about your home as a whole - you probably do this already, perhaps without thinking about it. Sometimes it can be subconscious but mostly it's planned and thought out. I'd love to know what your 'red threads' are. Drop me a message on social media and let me know. You can find me on facebook, and instagram on laurenmayinteriors. Your 'red thread' can be a colour, a type of light fitting, a print or pattern, or maybe even an animal or icon that's really special to you.

The point of a red thread is that is can be anything, but it must be there. Whether it's planned or accidental.

Here's another example below which shows a concept board. Generally speaking this should be done from a collection of images that the client wants to evoke in the space, and how they want the space to feel, rather than actual items. For this client, the idea of travel, collecting curiosities like keys, and old picture frames was important to them. They wanted an eclectic but curated feel to the house, and this evoked colours like velvety fern greens, and luxurious teal blues. We wanted to have fun with the colour scheme too and add in a dash of bright orange to give a nod to the client's love of tigers and a recently acquired tiger print lampshade given as a thoughtful housewarming gift. The client wanted it to be inspired by nature and the great outdoors, so this was our concept board and colour scheme which i'm really pleased to say the client loved! Our next steps would be then taking a closer look to identify which actual products we can achieve this look with, now we have the 'feeling' we want to create. It's always about the feeling!

I hope you found this blog post useful and interesting and it's shed a bit of light on what is meant by the 'red thread' and that you may have learned something new today.

Remember if you need help with designing and planning a room scheme then i’d love to help. You can email me at hello@laurenmayinteriors.com or call/ text on 07712185467 and let’s get started. You can find out more about my services on my website www.laurenmayinteriors.com and see examples of my portfolio too and hear some client testimonials.

I can’t wait to hear from you and learn about your project. Have a great week

Lauren X