The colors in a room are as essential to its style as the architectural elements, furnishings and fabrics. Selecting colors for your home can be one of the most exciting parts of the decorating process. It can also be one of the most intimidating. While most of us know instinctively which colors we like and which we don’t, choosing just the right shade of any given hue and mixing it with other colors in a room can be overwhelming, as the options are virtually limitless.
To take the stress out of selecting a wall color, paint companies often come up with cohesive palette collections to help consumers choose colors without fear. These color groupings often include contrasting or complementary colors that harmonize in tone and value—and they can be enormously helpful in minimizing the time you’ll need to spend testing different shades on a wall. That said, following a prescriptive approach to color keeps you from creating personal spaces that truly reflect your own tastes and values. It’s important to trust your instincts. There’s a reason why you like what you like—and surrounding yourself with hues that please you will put you at ease.
While choosing colors that inspire you is essential to creating a room that makes you happy, artfully mixing different colors is equally important. A lot of elements—chairs, rugs, art, walls, accents, pillows—compete for attention in a room. Using too many colors or colors that don’t harmonize will make a room feel unsettled.
helpful rules of thumb
1. Keep color under control. To create serene spaces, one helpful rule of thumb is to limit the number of colors in a room to three or four, with two of the colors in a palette serving as accents. Softer neutrals on walls result in more soothing rooms, introduce color with rugs, art and accents like pillows and lamps. Still, painting your walls is a great way to experiment with color. You can minimize your risk and your expense by painting a single wall a bolder, brighter or richer color. Similarly, you can paint the inside of a closet or bookshelf a stronger hue to work in color that can easily be changed with minimal expense and disruption if you tire of it or decide you don’t like it.
2. Use strong color in small doses.
Whether you’re adding color with paint, fabric, accents or art, complex colors, such as brick red, slate blue, pear green, or ochre, are easier on the eye than bold hues or primary or secondary colors, which are better deployed in small doses (or in bright, sunny locations).
3. Limit contrast.
Another helpful tip to create harmonious color schemes is to use colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. They keep a room cohesive by minimizing contrast. You can mix lighter and darker shades of similar hues to keep things interesting. And be sure to sprinkle accents around the room, rather than group them in one place, to keep the eye moving and the scheme balanced.
4. Use shots of pattern.
A final key to creating a pleasing palette is to use mostly solid blocks of color and limit pattern to smaller furnishings, accents or art. To create a soothing flow from room to room, keep the palette consistent throughout. You might switch the dominant hue from one room to the next for variety, but sticking to a unified palette in spaces that visually connect will keep them from feeling disjointed.
