The age-old question of how to decorate a Roman domus or a modern suburban domicile has always revolved around color:
Do you like it soft and clean, or do you want it to pop?!
Always consider the effect color has on people’s senses when designing the atmosphere of a room.
Red creates passion, love and anger while orange is energetic and is a happy color. Yellow is also always cheerful and energetic.
Green is of nature and can be considered neutral at times. Blue is calm and peaceful, while purple is a regal color.
Black can be elegant and bold, but I sometimes consider it neutral as well. The color gray is conservative, but doesn’t always create a somber atmosphere when combined with the right accents.
Consider the colors you see in public spaces. Orange and yellow are used in fast food restaurants.
Those colors make you want to eat and run!
Blue tones are generally used in spaces intended for a person to relax, meanwhile black and purple combined in the color scheme are used when a large statement is to be made.
Color is so very important in your design decisions. Sometimes, it is what pulls a space together, and sometimes it can be somewhat alarming to create attention. The choice is yours, so choose wisely!
It is important for you to consider if you want a calmer space or if you want drama.
Color really does help set the tone of a room, especially where interior hues are concerned. Many people like to use a neutral wall color for walls and that allows for more options when you start furnishing and accessorizing a room.
Also, neutral tones can be easy on the eye and provide a calm and relaxing atmosphere.
Beige tones were popular 15 years ago; but gray tones have taken over where neutral is concerned and doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. Over time, the more blue or yellow gray colors have turned into a gray-beige, or as I like to call it “Greige.”
With neutral wall tones, you can continue the palette with more neutrals of a slightly different shade, making it more about texture and pattern helping you create a more organic environment.
Tone-on-tone does not need to be boring if you create focal points like adding wallpaper, stone or maybe applied moldings.
Let’s say you would like to add a “pop” of color; consider then a focal point in your space. Maybe that focal point is an abstract painting, which is really hot in today’s interiors.
Consider pulling colors from the painting into your pillow and other accessory selections. The point is to make the room look well thought out.
Maybe even your pop of color begins with a rug. It is okay to be creative and even wild if you wish.
Don’t hesitate to use a contrast of color using an accent wall. Accent walls are still very popular. This treatment should always be used on the focal wall in your room.
The fireplace wall, should you have one, should always be the focal wall in a room; otherwise, I suggest you make the “focal wall” the farthest wall from the point of entry.
Let the color pull you and your visitors into a room.
“Color blocking” has become very popular. This is when you paint the walls and trim (baseboard, door trim, wainscoting, etc.) the same color. This might be a room like a dining room or home office, usually a secondary room, to create a bold statement that you won’t get tired of too easily.
Don’t forget the ceiling!
Most ceilings are painted white. However, I sometimes recommend painting a ceiling the same color as the walls, but in half strength in paint color. It continues the theme, but is a bit softer to the eye.
A porch ceiling in a pale blue adds a nice touch and, according to legend, supposedly wards off evil spirits!
When working with my clients, most of them tell me, right off the bat, the colors that they dislike. It is very helpful to know your likes as well as your dislikes starting out as it creates an easier path to designing the perfect space.
One tip I love to share is the importance of a third color. A single color is clean, two colors are nice and create contrast, but a third color creates an extra special touch. Artwork, a rug or fabrics can pull these three colors together to create a perfect and inviting space.
The nice thing about paint is that it can transform a room, and it is inexpensive as many people can paint the rooms themselves which makes it an easy and inexpensive design element!
