Colors you should try to combine: Tips from designer Katrine Vendelbo

How to figure out what colors you should use for your home? 🌻🌸 Katrine Vendelbo definitely looooves colors as we do! She is combing them in many ways. 🍭 There is no right or wrong in choosing color combinations for your home, the most important is that it feels right to you. The following tips from Katrine will help you to choose and make your space beautifully special with your very own character. 🙂 Don’t miss her inside tips and check out her Instagram account @kluddermor_

Katrine, your decor, colors and contrast in your apartment are sooo cool. :) What are some of your favorite color combinations to work with, and why?

“I love to combine as many colors as possible. But I especially love the combination of pastel yellow and pastel purple. Yellow and purple are complementary colors, so they are on opposite sides of the color wheel. It creates maximum contrast and the colors appear brighter and more prominent, but still in a subtle way because I have chosen pastel versions of the colors.

I also love to combine pastel pink with pastel yellow and baby blue.

Right now I am also crushing over a pink and red color combo. And dark green combined with yellow. It think it looks really cool. Sometimes you just have to experiment and play around - try to combine two colors you would never have imagined would look cool together. You would be surprised!.”

How do you use color to create a particular mood or atmosphere in a room?

“I prefer using a lot of different colors in all of the rooms in my apartment. I could never just choose one or two colors in a room - I sort of have to have them all 🙈 I am a “more is more” kind of girl. Or at least I have to have as many colors as possible! But one color I would never choose is grey. Grey makes me feel dead inside 🥲

I always think about combining dark colors with pastels. And my walls are white, so my furniture and decor get to pop and get the attention they deserve. I love my dark red dining table. It creates such a playful and lively atmosphere. I have kitchen and living room combined so I have tried to divide the room into three using different colors. My kitchen cabinets are light blue to create a calm, but still creative mood - I have used foil to cover up the boring white color. And my dining room table is red - vibrant and playful. And my couch is brownish to create a more earthy and relaxing atmosphere.

My bathroom is probably the room where I have given most thought into creating a vibrant atmosphere. Because it used to be a really boring and anonymous room. I live in a rental so I can not make many changes. So I have used dark green foil to cover up the cabinets. And I have made a funny mirror with polyurethane foam from the hardware store. Covered the foam with white spray paint. And then painted black spots to make it look like a cow pattern. I call it The Muh Mirror.”

Where do you shop your decor accessories? Any online shops?

“I mostly find my decor accessories at second hand shops. Or handcrafted items that catch my eye on Instagram. I love to search for accessories that stand out. I don’t really like to buy mainstream items.

I also like to get my hands on unique decor when I am traveling. Especially the handcrafted kind. For that reason I have decor from many different countries - Mexico, Amsterdam and Italy.” 🌈

Rugs - we loooove rugs. How do you choose the right one?

“I just think you have to follow your intuition. Which one makes you happy to look at? But I also focus on finding patterned rugs. Because it is a nice way to make the room look more dynamic.

For example I have chosen a dark blue rug with a wavy line on it - it lays under my couch. My couch is one colored, so the rug makes it look more interesting. If I had chosen a simple one colored rug, it would not have been the same. It would have been more boring to look at, I think.”

How do you incorporate recycled or repurposed decor into your designs?

“I like to get my hands on old wooden furniture that I can paint and bring back to life.

I love my multi colored cable drum, which I use as a table. It was disposed and pretty worn out, when I found it, but sandpaper and paint did the trick. Now it reminds me of a circus or a candy shop. Puts a smile to my face when I look at it.

I found my dining table at a thrift shop. The wood smelled like 1000 cigarettes - probably because of a past life at a bodega. So I had to deep clean it, then use a special primer to make sure that the smell of cigarettes would not return. Then I painted it red. When I was younger I always hated the color red, but now I found it quite playful. It is vibrant and reminds me that life should be fun.

I also enjoy spotting decor accessories at second hand shops. Colorful vases, lamps and cool glass objects. I think it is such a easy and cheap way to bring color and personality to a room.”

When you redesign a new room or entire home - what are your top 3 tips?

“First tip: How do you want your room to feel? Should it be playful, elegant, minimalistic or humorous? Make sure you choose a style that creates just the right atmosphere. I can recommend creating a mood board where you can experiment with inspirational pictures of furniture and different colors.

Second tip: Pick the right furniture to create balance. I have often picked furniture that was too big for the room. But I have found that the room has to have balance. So my tip is to build around the furniture that you have space for. If you have to redesign a large room, I can recommend establishing areas for different activities.

Third tip: Think about proportion. If you want a more relaxed and natural-looking result, I think it is important to avoid too much symmetry, when you decorate the room. Think about the visual weight when you place your furniture. Proportion is key.”