Choosing a color palette for your interior walls can be that easy. Color therapy solutions can sometimes be easier than you think. Discover 10 tips to help you explore your color preferences and say bye to your white walls.
Start with the Formal Areas of the House.
The living room, dining room and entry way will usually be the formal areas of your house. Choose a color scheme for those main living areas first. Then start pulling one color from the scheme into the other rooms. For example: take the green sofa and tone it down (say, to sea foam green) for an accent in other areas of the house like the den, bedroom or office.
Let the Room Live.
Living rooms are where the stories of our lives are lived. The easiest way to revise those stories is with color. Bringing updated color into your decor is all about adding that unexpected “wow” with an accent wall or cushions, rugs and other accessories.
Go with the Architecture.
If a small room needs color in your house, don’t paint it stark white to make it seem bigger. Instead, make it cozy and welcoming to its architecture with a deep rich, warm color scheme. Let your big rooms expand with light, and your small rooms wrap you up and nurture you.
Select a Color Scheme from the Largest Pattern in the Design.
If you have patterned upholstery, an Oriental rug or large piece of artwork, select the colors you like from the pattern. To select a neutral wall paint color, look for the pattern’s whites and beiges.
Decorate your Space from Dark to Light, Vertically.
A unique way to make any space look good without much risk is to use darker color values for the floor, medium color values for the walls and light values for the ceiling. This is a safe solution for any room, but select a color palette that works going dark to a lighter ceiling.
Add Some Bling.
A little glamour goes a long way in a room and can bring unique color. A crystal chandelier over the dining room table or an ornate gilded mirror over the fireplace mantel can transform a room with silver, gold or metallic accents.
Use the Color Wheel.
In most cases, similar color schemes — like colors next to each other on the color wheel, such as blue and green — are more casual and relaxing, and work best in home spaces. This is a good strategy for a bedroom, where you want to rest and recover.
Study the Colors your Wear.
We all buy clothes in colors we like to wear and think we look good in. Likewise, you should decorate your rooms in colors you look good in. If you don’t wear yellow, don’t get a yellow sofa. If you don’t like to wear drastic colors, don’t use drastic colors in your home. You’re going to get sick of it.
Whatever color scheme you choose, McCauley advises to put something black in every room. “The black clarifies all the rest of the colors in the room,” he says. Try a black lampshade, a black vase or a black picture frame.
A Basic Rule.
Divide the colors in your space into components. 60% of a dominant color, 30% secondary color and 10% used for accent color. Walls are Majority, upholstery would represent secondary and the room accent would make up the rest. The colors are properly balanced and there is a shot of color (the 10 percent color) for interest.
Follow your personal style.
If you decorate honestly, other people will appreciate it because it’s you, even if they’d never decorate their own house in the same way. That means if you want to make every room in your house red, white and blue, go for it. You can make any color look good as long as it’s your taste.
