Choosing a color for a room, how do you do it? This is actually a loaded question. Color is personal and can be difficult to choose the right hue can be a challenge. So how do you choose a color? First off don’t in a painter, and expect the first color chosen will be perfect.
Choosing a Color
If you really have no idea what hue will make your room desirable I suggest starting with an inspiration board or “drawer.” Look at items that inspire you.
Look at different objects and their colors. It can be a vase, packaging colors (yes think cereal boxes…), a piece of jewelry, a flower, a color of shoes or a flower- use your imagination. Collect these treasures that you are partial to in one area. Another great inspiration area is to go online and look at picture rich sites like Instagram, Pinterest, and Houzz. Save images that you like. Eventually, you will see a repeating pattern of color from the assortment of objects.
Other areas to choose a color for a room
Consider fabrics either in pillows or drapery. There are so many colors, patterns and “feelings” that can be translated from one to the next. Sometimes this is the “inspiration” alone, the jumping off point that stimulates the design of the room. If the fabric has a bold print I suggest using the lightest color as the predominant one in the room. Some of the brighter ones can be used in accessories and accent pieces.
Rugs are another source to pull colors from. If you have a patterned rug in the room this is a great source to pull color inspiration from. Many times I will begin designing a room from the rug working up from there to create the style.
Next step to choosing the perfect color
Once you have determined which hue you like then move to the tint, tone, and shade of the color. Tint lightens a color, think of a pure color and adding white to lighten it. Lighter colors open up a space and reflect the light in a room. The tone of a color usually will mute its brightness down. These are considered complex, subtle and sophisticated. They tend to be very popular now in decor. Last would be a darker shade of a color. Dark shades are beautiful if they are balanced with whites.
Color is complex and this is where clients tend to get intimidated. If you determine how light or dark you want your wall color to then take note to notice the undertone is showing up in your choices. From the objects, you have chosen determine what prominent undertone is displayed. Pick a color that has similar undertones and paint a small sample on your wall. Observe it in all types of light. The light will change how a color appears and by testing it you will be able to determine if you need to go lighter or darker.
I always tell a client that painting the walls is the last piece of the puzzle when designing a room because all major paint brands have an endless array of colors.
Spending the time to get the elements together might seem complicated at first but the time will be worth the results!
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