Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen advises

Our interior design expert offers advice on using colourful patterns to transform a large room

 
'We're currently having building work done on our extension and I'm keen to start planning the decorating scheme to make it feel homely. As you walk into the room, you're faced with an enormous wall, although the vaulted ceiling is being lowered to normal height. At the moment, the room is very plain - jasmine white all round - and I want to introduce colour or even, dare I say it, bold wallpaper. Where should I start?'

                                                      

Mandy Brenchley, by email

 

Laurence says:

I'm so pleased you got in touch, if only to prove that rooms can often be too large. By the look of it, yours is quite a barn, so it will be tricky to make it feel snug and cosy.

However, let me please encourage you in your flirtation with wallpaper as this airy room would be the perfect space for it. And don't stop at one wall. You need wallpaper to wrap right around you for that lovely enclosed, comforting feel.

 

Since your room opens onto the garden, I'd be tempted to suggest one of those exquisitely romantic bird and bough wallpapers, which would bring the outdoors into the room. Take a look at Thibaut's range for some lovely examples that are fresh and spring-like.

 
With the rest of the space, make sure you set your furniture out around
a large colourful rug in the middle of the room. And when hanging pictures, choose sets of framed prints or photographs that you can use to create a symmetrical arrangement on the walls.


Large floral frame, £10, Matalan

The Old Oak's Last Dream, £130, Bodie and Fou

Thibaut's Augustine wallpaper (above), £74 a roll, the Historic Homes collection, William Robinson

 

Isabelle Morello wallpaper (below right), £30 a roll, Graham and Brown and Monsoon Home

 

Subscribe - SAVE up to 40%