Decorating with Color: 5 Steps to Create a Beautiful Color Palette for the Home

 

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.

Here is what one of my customers wrote after our color consultation:

“Maria- The room looks wonderful. I won’t make another decorating decision without you!  I’ve bragged about you to all my friends. Thank you again, I wanted to make sure you knew what a great job you did"   -Aleta                                              

 

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 such as fabrics, rugs, a painting, an antique vase or a tapestry, can give us a clue on what colors to consider the room. Below is an example of how I used the blue from the toile fabric, which is also found on the rug, for the adjacent walls.

 

 

 

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 approximate 25”x 20”in. in wall, apply 2-3 coats of the color until there is no bleeding from the original color underneath. Live with the sample on the wall for a couple of days 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 combinations. 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.

You could use a palette of similar colors: one color or hue with different values in tone:

 

 

 

Or one of different colors with the same value in tone:

 

 

 

Another option will be a contrasting palette, which is created by using opposite colors in the color wheel; you can select two or three colors at a time and play with the 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, beiges 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.

 

 

   

 

 

Required Reading

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Credits.-

Every attempt has been made to give credit for the images in this post where credit is due. If you are the author of any of these images or have the copyright, please contact me immediately to include your name and/company name in the credits. 

1-iStockphoto. 2-Casa Maria Designs. 3-Casa Maria Designs. 4, 5, 6-Color Palletes, Casa Maria Designs. -7-Red Sitting Room, David Hicks. 8-Purple Foyer, Jane Hess. 9-Magenta Foyer, Jonathan Berger. 10-Orange Living Room, Ned Marshall.  11-Yellow Living Room, Mario Buatta. 12- Light Blue/White Home office, Unknown. 13- Lilac Bedroom, Kim Gilhool from California Paints. 14-Green Dining Room, Kathy Abbott. 15-Green Bedroom, Domino Magazine. 16-Brown Living Room, Patrick Wade. 17-Brown/Taupe Living Room, Unknown. 18-Black Bedroom, Unknown. 19-Black Living Room, Mario Buatta. 20-Grey Living Room, Ken Fulk.

Color Palettes created by Maria Hidalgo-Ferretti at ColourLovers.com

 

  

Tagged as: black, blue, brown, color, decorating, decorating trends, decorating with color, green, light blue, lilac, magenta, orange, purple, red, turquoise, wall colors, walls, yellow