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Sometimes trying to decide on a new colour scheme for a room in your home can be daunting. The reference books tell us about accent colours, focal points, warm colours, cool colours, and light and dark spaces. It can make us afraid to decorate for fear of getting it wrong. Here are a few tips to inspire you and ensure you get it right the first time.
Contents
Which Items Have to Stay?
Firstly, work out what you need to keep in terms of furniture and furnishings. Few of us are lucky enough to replace every item in a room when we decorate. Do you have to keep an existing carpet, sofa, curtains, or blinds? Are these items neutral enough to be included in any colour scheme, or are you restricted because they are very colourful or highly patterned? If it is the latter, then your options are more limited, and the scheme will work better if it is designed around these items.
Secondly, remove all the accessories from the room apart from those you want to keep such as hanging pictures, ornaments, keepsakes, and heirlooms. This is also a good time to declutter and sort out.
Find a Starting Point
Now take a look around the room, and try to use an artist’s or photographer’s eye. Something will stand out, it may be a rather obvious red sofa or a chocolate brown bathroom suite. It may be a favourite framed print or a newly purchased cushion, but your eye will rest on something. Use this as the basis for your scheme. If you don’t actually like this piece then consider moving it to another room, or selling it, and try again.
In the case of the red sofa, you will need neutral walls and floors as red will be your accent colour, but you can decide whether you want to soften the room, for example with cream, or go for a dramatic effect with black and white.
Adding colour
If all your existing items are neutral or you are indeed starting from scratch, then you’re either in for a very exciting time, or you’re hopelessly lost, depending on how you view this opportunity. You need a starting point. Cast an eye around the rest of your home and do the same while out shopping. Look at how colourful items are displayed.
Check out pictures, cushions, duvet fabrics, linens, book covers, and crockery. If you find a colour or colours that you like, try to visualise them in your home. Remember, at this stage, you are just looking for inspiration. This colour, or a hint of it, may only end up on one wall, or only on one cushion, but it’s a starting point.
Be Inspired by Nature
Sometimes nature helps us a great deal when looking for colour schemes and is a much better source of inspiration than a paint chart. Use the charts at the end of your search when trying to match your exact final colours. Nature rarely gets it wrong.
Look around your garden or flower shop, or even at the vegetables in the supermarket. See how colours and shades vary. Lavender ranges from palest blue to deep purple, with white and pink varieties too. Often you can get some idea of the finished mood of a room depending on the flower/ vegetable you choose. Certain adjectives have long been associated with particular species of plants. For example, it is natural to assume that a lavender room would feel relaxing, a rose room would be soothing, and a red chilli kitchen would be hot and vibrant.
Of course, there are many shades and you may have to tone down the intensity of colour in large areas. Not many people would appreciate a grass-green carpet with tulip red walls, but maybe a pale green carpet with cream walls and soft tulip curtains would work well. Display a few different flowers or fruits in your chosen room and see how they look.
Think about textures
If you want a more neutral scheme, then try to introduce several textures too. This could be by way of art, sculpture, varying types of wood, or a wall hanging. Again look around for ideas. Spend some time at the beach, and see how contrasting pebbles, shells, and driftwood look on the sand. Polished stones and wood carvings can also provide you with some great display pieces.
It might take some practice to perfect your room, but by allowing yourself to take inspiration from new sources, you will open your eyes to the delightful variety of colours and you’ll soon have the home you always wanted.
Photo Credit: unsplash.com
