When it comes to decorating your home, one of the most crucial decisions is selecting the right paint colours. The range of paint colour styles is extensive, and each choice can profoundly influence your home’s ambiance. It’s essential to have a clear vision of your desired style before making any decisions, ensuring that the chosen colours harmonize with other elements in your décor. If you’re unsure about how to choose the right paint colours, this blog post will guide you through this extensive task.
What Do You Want Your Home To Say?
In the latest edition of Interiors, Jeff Andrews, known for making sophisticated, clean-lined interior designs, says, “Now more than ever we are all wanting our surroundings to reflect a sense of peace, comfort, and energy, as well as beauty.” Sounds simple enough, right?
The truth is, there are so many ways to approach coloring a liveable space, and so many elements to take into consideration, such as the size and layout of your home, the natural light, and the existing decor. You must consider:
- The tone you want to set in your home
- The purpose of each room
- How to balance exterior and interior themes
This is the first step in choosing how to decorate. Knowing what mood or feeling you are going for will help guide your decision-making process, especially when it comes time to choose paint colours. It’s often recommended that this should be done before any other decisions about decorating are made.
The Effects of Colour
Color is powerful. It has the ability to influence moods, emotions, and even behavior. But the effects of color depend on their context. If you’ve watched a scary movie, you know: red means scary! Yet, there’s nothing scary about a rose in a garden. When choosing colors, it’s important to consider the effect they will have on your unique space.
This table should give you an idea about the different impacts of colors:
- Red = Excitement, Passion
- Green = Growth, Wealth
- Yellow = Happiness, Energy
- Blue = Peacefulness, Calmness
- Purple = Luxury, Creativity
- White = Purity, Cleanliness
- Black = Sophistication, Mystery
Knowing which feelings or moods you’d like to set in your home will help guide the choices that are made. For example: Do you want a warm and cozy setting? What about a vibrant space for entertaining friends?
Using Colors
A list of your favorite colors may not go well together in a single space. Color theory is a complex topic that can be overwhelming. Luckily, there are plenty of helpful guides out there for first-time interior designers. Here’s a glance at some of the ways colors can be used together.
– Monochromatic schemes are made up of tints, tones, and shades within the same color family. This often creates a subtle look with lots of texture.
– Analogous colors lie next to one another on the color wheel. These are often chosen because they look harmonious with one another.
– Complementary colors lie opposite each other on the color wheel, for example: yellow and purple or blue and orange. This pairing is best used sparingly, as it can create a jarring appearance if too many complementaries are included.
Exteriors: Creative Finish and Texture Can Elevate Traditional Colors
A building’s charm is not simply its color. Using color in tandem with your home’s material will create a memorable look.
One of the most powerful techniques for this approach is exposing brick through the process of whitewashing. Romabio, a renowned manufacturer of mineral-based paints, describes the effect of lime washed brick as having, “a charming Old World feel with a freshly painted look.” Limewash paint is applied to a surface and then hosed away in sections to reveal the natural colour of the material. This technique is popular for homes that have brick exteriors and can be used in combination with bright colours to create a unique look.
Final Note
When it comes to deciding how to choose the right paint colours for your home, there’s a multitude of factors to take into account. Delving into various techniques that pique your interest, like experimenting with colour combinations or exploring options like limewashing, can empower you with the knowledge and confidence needed to tackle your project. While personal colour preferences are subjective, achieving the desired mood and atmosphere in your home is an objective that can be skilfully realised.
