When it comes to colour schemes, my basic rule of thumb is to keep the paint pale to maximise light, then go to town on colour in your furnishings and accessories.
Credit: House & Garden - Tom Howley
That said, of course every room is different, and everyone has their own personal preferences and belongings. I'm not a fan of making everything neutral - I want to feel that a home reflects the people who live there - but there are a few principles and things to consider if you want to ensure the colours in your rooms work well together and enhance the space.
A simple guide to having a 'pleasing' scheme is to ensure the biggest areas in a room - that's walls, large pieces of furniture and carpets or other floor coverings - are tints, shades or tones of the same colour (a 'monochromatic' or 'tonal' scheme) or colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel (a 'harmonious' or 'analogous' scheme).
If you want to add a bit of flair, you can accessorise and accent with complementary colours - those that sit opposite each other on the colour wheel. Just make sure that one colour is dominant so the contrast isn't too aggressive.
What colours work well together?
I like to think that there are no 'wrong' colour combinations. That said, you do need to be careful your room doesn't look like the inside of a kaleidoscope! Not only can too many different colours be visually jarring, it can make the room appear smaller and often messier than it actually is.
Monochromatic schemes tend to feel more calming, but make sure you include tones from both ends of the spectrum to avoid it looking bland. Bear in mind that darker colours will tend to draw the space in and make it feel cosier, while lighter shades and tones will reflect more light and open up a room.
And if you have a fantastic view or striking architectural details, keeping the colour scheme neutral or in pale tones can allow those features to shine. Alternatively, you can use a contrasting paint colour to help create a particular focal point.
Meanwhile, if you're fortunate enough to have high ceilings and spacious rooms, stronger colours can make for a striking effect.
If you'd like to understand more about colour terms and creating colour harmonies, take a look at this article by Jessy Kauldhar.
Which direction is the daylight coming from?
North-facing windows will let in cooler, clearer light while south-facing ones will have a warmer, softer light, so bear this in mind when you’re choosing paint for the walls.
You can go into a huge amount of detail about warm and cool colours but, as a basic guide, those with a yellow/orange/red bias are considered warm, while those with a blue/green/magenta bias are considered cool.
So, if you paint a north-facing room in a cool blue, it’s likely to come across as super chilly! And if you paint a south-facing room in yellow, it should heighten the impression of warmth. Those examples seem obvious.
But what if you like blue for your sitting room and it happens to face north? Well, you could choose a reddish or yellowish blue for the walls, but I’d be tempted to go for a warm cream paint and simply splash out on furnishings and accessories in warm blues, turquoise, etc.
Credit: Materials specialist, Michael Townsend, 'Defining Warm and Cool Colours: It’s All Relative’.
Finally, when you're thinking about a new colour scheme, don't forget that the natural world can be a fantastic and very reliable source of inspiration. Just looking out of the window can give you your whole palette!
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