Interior designer Lisa Feiler’s advice on colour and textiles

Many who have a clear vision of furnishing and design suddenly become insecure when it comes to colour. Even if many have a desire for more colour in their homes, they want to be sure they don’t get tired of it after a short time. This is when experienced interior designers like Lisa Feiler come into play.

Since the beginning of the year, pretty furniture and fine textiles from her store Lisa Feiler Intérieur have embellished our store windows in Bern, Switzerland. She has a long experience of consulting customers regarding interior design and has shared some tips when it comes to colour, textiles, and accessories.

Lisa, how important are colours in your profession as an interior designer?

Like Bookbinders Design, we are all about colours, shapes, and materials. Wall colours in particular play a major role for us. They round off the interior, dress the room, create a mood and, together with the furniture, create a whole.

How do you find the right wall colour for a room?

The choice of colours depends primarily on the exposure of the room. Where does the light come from – from south or east? Based on that I already know whether to choose a colour with a cool or a warm undertone. Rooms with lots of light benefit from cooler tones, and rooms with limited light benefit from warmer tones. The floor material also plays a big role in the choice of colour – is it made of wood or cast? And, of course, I also include the existing furniture and new furniture in the process.

With strong, dark colours you can create very nice accents. For example, you can emphasise a fireplace or a back wall for the bed, showcase or set the scene for a stylish desk or an old piece of furniture. These accents become eye-catchers. If entire rooms are painted in a bold hue, it creates an incredibly mesmerising effect. A room can look dramatic this way or even calming, warm and intimate. Painting rooms with subtle tones creates a more subtle mood and allows you to move from one room to another and be calmed by the colours.

How brave are customers in general when it comes to choosing colours?

Customers have become much bolder in recent years, or let's put it this way: they really want change, are more likely to say goodbye to standard colours and want to make rooms more individual – with a new wall colour, a colourful piece of furniture or even with accessories in strong colours.

Which colours are currently being used the most?

Various shades of green, subtle shades of pink and powder, and light shades of blue and turquoise are particularly popular with us. With the Nordic living trend, the colour trends are also moving in this direction. All colours that are calming and soothing are very appreciated. The new seasonal colour "Linden Flower" from Bookbinders Design picks up this trend very nicely.

How do you use accessories when decorating?

Accessories complete the home decor and give every home a lively and personal touch. This can be, for example, assorted, colourful pillows and a plaid on the sofa. A beautiful vase and tea lights on the table or on a console. I also like working with the handmade boxes from Bookbinders Design. Not only do they offer storage space for odds and ends, which, as you know, are always lying around somewhere, but they’re also lovely colour accents. The boxes’ distinct and square shape is wonderful combined with organic shapes.

You also work with natural fabrics?

Yes, our love for textiles also connects us to Bookbinders Design. We’ve been selling and processing wonderful linen fabrics for 24 years. We mainly choose semi-transparent fabrics. They play with the light and match our wall colours perfectly, so we can use them to create very attractive concepts. It's interesting that customers are more daring when it comes to coloured walls but tend to be more reserved when it comes to the colours for the curtains.

What kind of fabrics do you prefer to use?

The very classic linen weave fabrics that let the light shine through are my favourites. Luckily, they come in so many great shades. If the warp and weft are different colours, it gives a lovely shimmer to the fabric. But of course, a dense, lush linen curtain is great too. However, the most important thing with curtains isn't to skimp on the amount of fabric. That's the only way to make them fall beautifully and really furnish the room.

How do you feel about working with Bookbinders Design?

This collaboration couldn’t be more fitting for us, as we share a love of textiles, beautifully selected colours, and craftsmanship. The products from Bookbinders Design also accompany us in our everyday life, because those who love linen don’t want to be without everyday work tools, such as notebooks or folders.