Color is one of the most important elements when decorating a home. A fresh coat of paint in the right color will transform a room in a magical way. The possibilities are endless. Here I will share with you five steps you can take to create the perfect color palette for your home, taking into account design principles that will guide you through the process. Following these decorating tips, will help you transform the decor of a room.
1- Look for images that reflect your style: Find inspiration browsing through your favorite interior design magazines and decorating books. We fall in love with the pictures in the magazines, some of them will touch us deeper than others, inspire and give us direction. Discover the style that attracts you the most. Each decorating style has a range of colors that will complement its look. A French style will require a soft color palette of creams, grayish-blues, warm light yellows, and pinks. In contrast, a country cottage will look warm and cozy with earth tones, combined with greens, blues and reds, which bring in the colors of nature. For a modern environment, crisp whites combined with bright and vivid colors will create a dynamic look. A colonial home will look magnificent with a jewel color palette, and so on.
2- Decorative elements in the room: Decorative elements in the room such as fabrics, rugs, a painting, an antique vase or a tapestry, can give us a clue on what colors to consider for the room. Choose the color that you like the most from one of these elements and make it your dominant color, the background that will pull everything else together.
3- Light: Nothing will affect a color more than light. The same color can change shades and even hue depending on the light or lack of it in a room. It is imperative that before you paint a room, you paint a sample of the color of approximate 25"x 20"in. in a wall; apply 2-3 coats of the paint color until there is no bleeding from the original paint underneath. Live with the sample on the wall for a couple of days, noticing how it changes from day light to the artificial light used at night to decide if it is what you like. Keep in mind that the color in a little swatch from the paint store can look very intense and vivid once it is applied to all the walls in a room.
4- Combining two or more colors: When choosing colors to create a palette, you can refer to the color wheel to make your own combination's. Creating a palette will be easier if you first decide in a dominating color, the one that will be used the most throughout the room. Once you have decided on your dominating color, you have three options:
-Monochromatic palette: This means you will use one color with different intensity in its tint or shade. Example: From a dark blue to a light blue. This variation refers to the amount of white or black within the same color or hue.
-Palette of different colors with same value: This refers to two or more different colors combined, where all the colors have the same intensity, as in brightness or dullness.
-Palette of complementary colors: This option will use two colors that are opposite in the color wheel. For example: Red with its opposite green. Then you can decide on a third color that will look harmonious in relation to both. For example: ivory. Once you have decided on the two complementary colors to use, play around with a third color combination.
5- Mood: Lastly but never the least, pay attention to the feelings that different colors arise. It has been proven that colors deeply affect our mood and perception of the environment.
- Reds, purples and magenta are luxurious colors and will be very invigorating and provocative.
- Oranges and warm yellows will stimulate conversation.
- Blues and violets inspire relaxation for the mind and the spirit.
- Greens will bring a sense of ease and friendliness; note of caution: greens vary considerably depending on how much yellow, blue or black they have on the mix. A green with more black in it, will give an olive shade that can be very severe and dark.
- Browns, beige's and taupe offer stability and security, a sense of equilibrium; this are usually considered neutral tones, but you need to be careful in the amount of red or yellow in the tint.
- Black is the sum of all colors, applied as a grounding color or as a bold statement it can be elegant, playful, vibrant or mysterious. Some of the most beautiful blacks have more blue and red in their tint, becoming a very dark eggplant tone or a very deep night black.
-Gray or grey, a combination of black and white, is also considered a neutral color; with a bit of blue or green in its tint it will produce a relaxing effect. In its more neutral shade, it is a perfect background for bright or vivid colors.
