TL;DR
Get decor and gifts delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
Interior designer Róisín Lafferty has shared five principles for using color with intention, rather than following fixed rules about which shades belong together. Her approach starts with the mood a room should create and treats color as a way to shape architecture, atmosphere and movement through a home.
Interior designer Róisín Lafferty has shared five principles for using color to shape a room’s mood and spatial character, in an interview and design advice article published by Livingetc. Rather than prescribing combinations of shades, Lafferty says every color choice should have a clear reason, with its effect considered across surfaces, materials and the relationship between rooms.
Lafferty describes her approach as instinctive and architectural: color, she says, can alter how people perceive proportions, boundaries and connections between spaces. In her view, it is not simply a finishing touch for walls. It can continue over ceilings, doors, skirting boards and joinery, creating an immersive effect.
Her five principles are to decide how a room should make someone feel before choosing colors; commit to a color rather than limiting it to a small accent; use color to influence the perceived shape and flow of a space; build palettes from relationships among color, materials, light and texture; and give each choice a clear intention. The supplied Livingetc material gives details for the first three principles and describes the broader approach to palette-making, but does not provide the full text of the final two rules.
Lafferty says a palette may begin with veined stone, a landscape, artwork, travel or a memory, rather than a paint chart. She also favors tonal layering or deliberate contrast over trying to match every element precisely. Examples in the article include hallways in her deep burgundy paint, Moves Like Jagger, and staircases in cobalt blue; those are examples of her own work, not general requirements for a successful interior.
How Color Can Shape a Room
Lafferty’s advice matters to readers planning a renovation or refresh because it offers a way to make color decisions before buying paint or committing to a scheme. Starting with a room’s intended feeling can help distinguish between a soft, restorative bedroom palette and a richer, more theatrical dining room, as she suggests. It also broadens the choices beyond wall paint: a rug, light fitting, artwork or stone surface can set the tone.
Her emphasis on carrying color across several surfaces challenges the common assumption that a strong shade is best used sparingly. Lafferty argues that a more complete application can feel calmer and more enveloping than a small, isolated splash. That is her professional perspective, not a guarantee: the result will depend on the specific room, its light, materials and the colors selected. Her central practical point is to make choices deliberately and evaluate how they work together.
interior paint color samples peel and stick
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Lafferty’s Approach to Color
The Livingetc article presents Lafferty as the founder and creative director of an Irish design studio working on interiors internationally. The supplied profile describes the practice as combining interior architecture, art and innovation, with projects across Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. The source does not provide independent documentation for its promotional descriptions of the studio or its awards.
In the interview, Lafferty rejects rigid rules about which colors should or should not be used together. She says she is more interested in the reason behind each decision and in how color relates to material, light and texture. Her examples include extending color from walls onto ceilings, doors and joinery, as well as taking cues from a colored stone and repeating related tones in upholstery, glass, lacquer or lighting.
“Color has always been completely instinctive for me.”
— Róisín Lafferty, speaking to Livingetc
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Details Missing From the Source
The supplied source material does not include the complete wording or explanation of all five rules. It gives detail on the first three, alongside broader comments about how Lafferty develops palettes and why choices should be intentional; the exact fourth and fifth rules cannot be confirmed from the text provided. No project budgets, measured outcomes, client responses or independent evaluations of the design advice are included.
The source also does not state when the article was published. Its descriptions of how color affects mood and how color-drenching may feel are attributed to Lafferty’s professional experience; they should not be read as universal results for every home or occupant.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Applying the Principles at Home
For readers considering a change, Lafferty’s account points to a sequence: decide the feeling a room should create, identify an existing material or object that could anchor the palette, then consider how colors and textures relate across the space. Her examples suggest testing a color in context rather than judging it only on a paint chart. The Livingetc source does not announce a product launch, design project or follow-up event tied to the article, so no further milestone is confirmed.
Before making a large commitment, homeowners can assess samples under the room’s lighting and alongside the intended finishes. That is a practical step, not a further claim by Lafferty. The available source leaves the full details of the final two rules open, and the article’s published advice is the only development confirmed here.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
What is Róisín Lafferty’s main rule for using color?
Lafferty says every color choice should have a reason. She does not endorse fixed rules about which shades can sit together; instead, she focuses on the intended mood and how colors relate to materials, light and texture.
What should someone decide before choosing a room’s colors?
According to Lafferty, decide how the room should make people feel first. She gives a soft, restorative bedroom and a richer dining room as contrasting examples of how a room’s purpose can guide its palette.
What does Lafferty mean by committing to a color?
She recommends giving a chosen color enough presence to shape the environment, rather than using it only as a small accent. Her examples include extending color across walls, ceilings, doors or joinery; she says it does not require every surface to be exactly the same shade.
Does the source list all five color rules in detail?
No. The supplied material explains the first three principles and discusses Lafferty’s wider approach to building palettes, but it does not include the complete text of the fourth and fifth rules.
Source: rss
Halloween Picks
halloween
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
