Colouring rooms
| Published: 13th June 2007 15:09 |
Colouring Rooms
Colour co-ordinated - a good guide is to base decoration on three shades drawn from, say, a rug.
Many homeowners are colour blind when it comes to interior design. Some clash and mash colours together; others play it too safe with a bland palette that dulls the visual senses.
Any trip to your local paint store will dazzle you with a colourful spectrum of paints. But don't be daunted. Pause and try to think like a designer. Interior designers have a honed foresight when it comes to selecting colour schemes.
In Changing Rooms or 60 Minute Makeover, you often hear home owners say, "I would never have thought of putting that colour on the wall, but I love it." Every element of design needs a little experimentation, but if you are worried you are going to get it all wrong, as, indeed, did some of Changing Rooms' disastrous makeovers. There are simple methods and ways to pull a colour scheme together.
Almost every room has a pattern in it, whether it's in a picture, a rug, the bedspread or on an upholstered piece of furniture. It is much easier to start with the pattern than to try to find a pattern to fit into a given colour scheme later on. From the colours in your pattern, you can create the palette for the room.
From within your pattern select three colours that work well together; a light tone, a medium tone and a darker tone. These three colours will form the foundation of your colour scheme.
Colour your walls and floor with a soft version of your light colour. Before you paint, remember that it is best to have your floor colour a bit darker than your walls and ceiling. This helps to ground the room.
Window coverings and large furniture pieces should take the mid-tone colour, especially if it has a tinge of the wall or floor colour mixed into it. Now sprinkle in the darker colour on the accessories and small furniture pieces. Use these for impact and distribute them evenly throughout the room.
By rotating the three colours you can place a greater emphasis on the background or furniture. Your eye typically will gravitate towards the darker, brighter colours.
Different schemes
The feeling of a room can be created by using different combinations of colour. Choosing your three colours should also take into account the mood they create and the mood that you are looking for...
For a calming room, select a neutral colour and apply different shades of that colour to the various elements of the room, from light through to dark. This is a popular approach as it allows you to vary the look of the room by changing the accents and accessories. Add interest to a monochromatic room by adding a variety of textures on floors, walls and furniture.
For a relaxing effect, select a colour scheme composed of related colours: greens and blues or reds and oranges are two examples of this approach. Buy a colour wheel from a craft shop to help you select related colours or use the paint manufacturer's colour guides, which group related colours together.
A stimulating, lively environment is created by using colours that are strongly in contrast with one another. You can select related colours in their dark, vivid hues, or select complementary colours. These are opposite one another on the colour wheel.
Once you have decided on a colour scheme, bring samples home and view them at different times of the day, in both natural and artificial light. Also compare them with any remaining furniture pieces in the room, including wood finishes.
