Interior Design, Pink Curtains, Ready Made Curtains, curtains

Far Away Design Inspiration – Shanghai Nights

What can you not love about some far away design inspiration to bring some change into an otherwise ordinary life and living space. A touch of the orient is a super stylised way to change the look of your home and in our feature on Shanghai Nights – we are going to be taking a detailed look at some ideas in terms of colour, furniture design, the use of fabrics.

You are going to feel fabulous each and every time you retreat into your home – add to that the wonderment it will create for your guests. Everyone is going to want to hang out at your place!

The Impact Of Gold On Black:

Taking inspiration from Shanghai nights should mean that somewhere you will want to introduce a little gold on black. You will pull this off a lot easier if you have large rooms, a lot of natural light in the day and the right lighting for the evenings. This colour scheme is very dramatic and has that oriental ‘lacquered’ look. So if you want to go with black walls in any room of the house, make sure that it is a matte emulsion and set it off in style by painting woodwork in a water-based eggshell – white or taupe.

To really make things interesting you could get happy with stencilling some gold design onto one wall – try a cherry tree, dragon or bamboo. Other colours that go dramatically with black are bold reds, pinks and green.

Flooring and Furniture Design:

Wooden floorboards will be the best option and you might find a better match to black with a lighter or medium wood. In kitchens and/or bathrooms, go for marble flooring in a coffee colour or an imitation marble which would be cheaper. Use lightweight rugs on the floor in colours such as tea green or moss green.

You could re-vamp existing wood furnitures by sanding down doors and giving them a darker stain. Then use some gold leaf to add a pattern of your choice – perhaps a circular design with Chinese symbols within them. Jazz up the dining room by giving dining chairs a makeover – recover existing material with a silk in hues of rich red or pink.

Fabrics That Ooze Luxury:

No Shanghai nights design would be complete without the addition of some luxurious and rich fabrics. Use a mixture of both block coloured fabrics and patterned. Stay within your original colour choices which will likely be reds, pinks, greens and with a touch of gold or copper.

Shot silk will highlight larger items of furniture such as the sofa – this is a woven silk that often uses two colours and gives an iridescent appearance. Silks can be used in bedding, sofa cushions and even curtains. When decorating the window, use one of the lighter colours from your design such as pink curtains or blinds. You will need this to allow for plenty of natural light to filter through.

Finishing Touches:

A unique touch to a Shanghai nights design would be to make a feature wall – perhaps taking one wall to decorate with a printed wallpaper and placing a few parasols in a line or other shape. Better still, if you use parasols, their fine material would allow for a soft light to shine through them.