Play with materials as well as color

While using the 60-30-10 decorating rule with color creates immediate and obvious impact, in other spaces, you can get clever with the theory and adopt the rule for material instead. We do use the 60-30-10 rule, but I think we have been doing this unconsciously!

We apply this to kitchens in terms of materiality, as we find with more and more family homes adopt a open plan living/kitchen layout, we find there is often a need to zone areas of the room, so they don’t all blend into one lost space, particularly for lots of built in joinery/storage. So for large kitchens we apply this rule.

It’s a great method for balancing the room, yet keeping it tied in together and adding some interest into the space,’ says Catherine Dal of Cat Dal Interiors. Our ’10’ rule would not necessarily be a color, but something unexpected. or playful to create a little tension in the space.

In this modern kitchen, the cladding in light grey represents 60, walnut insert of kitchen counts for 30, and burgundy is the accent color, seen on the bar chairs and open bookshelf.