Róisín Lafferty’s Five Rules For Using Color

TL;DR

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In an interview with Livingetc, Irish interior designer Róisín Lafferty outlined five principles for choosing and using color in interiors. Her advice centers on deciding the mood first, committing to a palette, and treating color as part of a room’s architecture; the source does not provide independent research or evidence that the approach suits every home.

Interior designer Róisín Lafferty has shared five principles for using color in a home, arguing that choices should start with a room’s intended mood and have a clear purpose. In an interview published by Livingetc, she described color as an architectural tool that can shape how a space feels and how its proportions and boundaries are perceived.

Lafferty’s first principle is to decide how people should feel in a room before selecting colors. She suggests that a bedroom might call for a soft, restorative palette, while a dining room could support a richer or more theatrical one. Hallways, experienced while moving through them, may offer room for a stronger treatment. Her point is that the desired atmosphere can guide color choices across the space, not just on its walls.

Her second principle is to commit to a chosen color rather than rely on a small accent. That does not require painting every surface the same shade. Lafferty describes extending color across walls, ceilings, doors, or joinery to create an enveloping effect, and combining related tones or contrasts instead of matching every item precisely. She cites a hallway in deep burgundy and a staircase in cobalt blue as examples from her practice.

The remaining principles, as presented in the supplied Livingetc material, frame color as a way to influence perceived space and as something that can begin with materials and references beyond a paint chart. Lafferty says palettes may take their cue from stone, landscapes, artwork, travel, or memory. She also says color can draw the eye through a room and alter the perceived relationship between rooms. The available source extract does not include the complete wording of all five rules, so their full list cannot be verified here.

Color as a Design Decision

Lafferty’s advice is relevant to homeowners and designers making choices that affect more than a single painted wall. A palette carried across ceilings, doors, and built-in elements can change the visual continuity of a space, while a color choice based on a stone surface, artwork, or textile may give a room a wider set of references to work from.

Her approach also offers a practical way to organize decisions: identify the intended feeling, then consider where color and material can support it. That is a design perspective, not a universal rule or a guarantee of a particular result. Room size, available light, existing finishes, and personal preference can all affect how a palette reads in a specific home.

Lafferty’s Approach to Color

In the Livingetc interview, Lafferty says she does not believe in fixed rules about which colors should or should not be paired. Instead, she says each choice needs a reason. Her starting points are often not paint charts: she names veined stone, landscapes, artwork, travel, and memories as possible sources for a palette.

She also describes color as something that can continue beyond a wall. In her account, using it on ceilings, doors, skirting, or joinery can make a person feel surrounded by it, while differences in tone and texture keep a room from relying on exact matches. The supplied material identifies Lafferty as the founder and creative director of an Irish design studio, but provides no project dates or independent assessment of its work.

“There needs to be a reason for every choice.”

— Róisín Lafferty, in an interview with Livingetc

Details Missing From the Source

The supplied Livingetc extract does not contain the full text of all five rules: it includes discussion of the first three, with the third section cut off before its examples and the remaining principles. It is therefore not possible to report the complete five-rule list from this material alone. The source also offers Lafferty’s professional views and examples, not comparative testing or evidence that these techniques produce the same effect in every room.

The source material does not specify when the interview was published, provide full project details for the burgundy hallway or cobalt staircase, or identify how the advice might change for particular lighting conditions or room types.

The Full Five-Rule List

Readers seeking the complete list can consult the original Livingetc interview, which is the source of Lafferty’s comments. The material provided here does not announce a follow-up, a new project, or a scheduled next development. Further reporting would be needed to confirm the wording of the final principles and obtain details about the cited interiors.

Key Questions

What is Róisín Lafferty’s main advice about color?

She says color choices should have a clear purpose. In particular, she recommends deciding how a room should feel before selecting its palette.

Does Lafferty recommend using one color on every surface?

No. She describes carrying color across several surfaces, but says this does not mean every surface must use exactly the same shade. She favors tonal layering or contrast over precise matching.

What can inspire a room’s color palette?

Lafferty says a palette may start with veined stone, a landscape, artwork, travel, or a memory, rather than a paint chart alone.

Are all five rules included in the supplied report?

No. The supplied Livingetc extract does not give the complete wording of all five principles. The third rule’s discussion is incomplete, and the remaining rules are not included in the material.

Source: rss