How Do I Choose An Interior Colour Scheme
- Posted by:
- Admin
- Tags:
- Paint, Colour, Inspiration
- Posted date:
- 24-01-2022
This article looks at how to choose an interior colour scheme. Find out more about finding colour inspiration and how to formulate colour palettes.
Finding Paint Colour Inspiration
There are many ways to find paint colour inspiration for their houses or properties suitable for walls, furniture, skirting boards, and door and window treatments. Choosing the right colours to suit you and the rest of your home is the biggest priority.
A good resource is through magazines and catalogues; many interior design publishers are accessible in paint stores, online and even in your local hairdressers.
You don't even have to stick to interior design; you can find beautiful, attractive paint colours in fashion, pop culture or television magazines, so get creative!
The internet allows us to have access to many pages worth of inspiration; you can use social media sites like Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr and Pinterest and create mood boards of the colour schemes you like all in one spot.
You may also wish to search through retailer sites for room vignettes or look for wallpaper with a design and colour scheme that you think you could successfully turn into a complete room design, whether for a living room, dining room, bedroom or kitchen. Paint brands can also provide you with lots of inspiration and insight into skilfully using paint within your large or small spaces.
Fabrics To Formulate Colour Palettes
You can also start by utilising print fabrics to formulate a colour palette that you like. Search up or go out and find bedding, table linen, curtains, throw pillows with patterned fabric, etc., that will provide you with a foundation.
For those looking to create an accent or feature wall, select the boldest colour in the print and choose it to cover the walls so that you have a focal point.
However, if you're looking for a subtle shade or a softer appearance, you may wish to select the colour used in the more subtle, small details of the fabrics or patterns you've chosen.
Once you've chosen, take a swatch of the material to the paint or home interior store so that you can choose colours that complement it or contrast it.
For those looking for a new colour scheme and who have no clue where to start, you may want to appoint a colour consultant to guide you and provide solid advice, tips or an array of colour schemes.
The consultant or interior designer can discuss your vision with you and then begin suggesting colours they think may suit the style you're looking for or perhaps even provide fully formed palettes for you to select from or get inspiration from.
Colour Terms To Get Familiar With
It is good to get more familiar with the technical terms utilised in the interior design field. These will help you during the research process of designing and speaking to painting professionals in paint stores or online.
You or professionals cannot recreate primary colours by mixing any colours or paints. Examples of these include red, yellow and blue.
Secondary colours are those you can recreate by mixing two or three primary colours. These colours are oranges, purples, greens, etc.
Tertiary colours consist of six shades that you can make from mixing these primary or secondary colours. On top of that, you can then choose to add white, black or grey, which changes the tone, shade or tint.
The tone is a descriptor used to refer to the deepness or brightness of a colour in the palette. You can achieve different tones by mixing grey with any one colour, which will affect the colour. Tone will allow you to curate warm colours and cool colours.
The tint is a word that refers to the shade of a colour; if you add white to a colour, it ultimately changes the hue. Adding white to deep blue will tint it from a dark colour to a light colour.
Shade refers to the darkness or lightness of the colours you're working with. For example, we often use this term to refer to similar colours like the many shades of blue or a darker shade of red. Mixing black paint or a black medium into colour will alter the shade and provide darkness or shadow that it didn't have before.
Choosing a Colour Palette for Your Home
Choosing Your Colours
If you don't have any colours in mind, you must first begin the process by looking at the colour wheel; you can do a simple web search online to find one, or if you prefer having one up close/in-hand, you can find one in a local paint shop.
That way, you'll be able to quickly find primary, second and tertiary colours that will help you create a scheme or palette.
Primary colours cannot recreate by utilising other colours or various shades, such as reds, yellows, and blues.
You can easily recreate secondary colours by combining two primary colours: green, purple, and orange.
Tertiary colours are primary and secondary colours and products mixed together to create hues and tones. Often you can use white and black to create different shades, both lighter and darker.
Creating A Colour Scheme
Once you've picked your colours, it becomes a great deal more straightforward to begin developing your home's colour scheme that's suitable for your current home decor and the style you enjoy the most.
There are various styles and distinct colour schemes that you can choose for your rooms, whether that be kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.
The first is a Monochromatic scheme. Such a style utilise several different tones and shades of the same colour across entire rooms or household spaces.
You may have deep blue walls or ceiling colour, a slightly lighter blue shade for the sofas, furnishings, other surfaces and softer blues for your ornaments or wall canvases and abstract artwork.
The next is a more Analogous palette. Another method of choosing interior paint colours for your colour scheme is selecting colours that sit beside one another on the colour wheel; for example, you may choose orange, yellow with green or red.
These create a soft, soothing gradient that is both colourful and interesting to look at whilst not being too aggressive.
Contrasting colours is another way to curate a palette creatively. The trick here is to select colours on the opposing side of the colour wheel.
For example, you may pick red and purple or green and blue. It is a bold choice; however, selecting the right accent pieces and decorations against the background colours will make the room pop.
Lastly, you may choose a Complementary colour scheme. To achieve this look, you will select a palette of colours known for complementing one another, for example, neutrals like brown, beige and creme, blue and orange, pink and green, etc.
The best way to create a colour palette that suits your room is to begin by selecting a suitable wall colour. After this, you can move on, choosing other accessories, decorative elements and furniture that fit your scheme, such as rugs, lighting, ornaments, pillows, lampshades, etc.
Adding more minor items that suit the colours inside is much easier once you have the essential, more significant home decor pieces and more extensive accents.
Assess the amount of natural light that seeps into the room as a way to decipher what shades, tone and tint your paint should be; you may require artificial light in the room to make the colours appear brighter.
Using Different Colour Tones
It can be essential during the designing process to consider your colour scheme and the specific tones involved, especially when selecting decorative accessories, lighting and furniture pieces that match your walls or flooring.
Your scheme can apply three-to-five colours; however, it can make for an exciting design to add different tones of the colours involved.
An example of this may be; if the colour pink is a part of your palette, you may want to add light pink and dark pink accents or different shades of that light or dark pink.
You can do this by varying the tone of your pillows, ornaments, etc. Using this method, you can utilise your favourite colour in many ways so that your home aesthetic is still interesting to look at.
You may also want to start decorating by matching the tones with the surroundings or area you live in, such as homes with ocean views, selecting sandy tones for accents on furniture, by windows, etc.
Please take a closer look at the architectural features and natural elements and analyse what may suit them; for example, mid-century modern homes may fit specific colours more than traditional designs.
The primary rule of thumb to remember when playing with different tones is that you should strive to pick mid-tones for large pieces of furniture, like rugs, seating and wardrobes, etc. and pick the brighter tones for minor decoration and accessories, like frames and pillows.
In a way, adding different tones and shades into your space or home can create depth and is also more interesting to look at instead of a wash of one shade altogether.
Hull Interior Designer Services
Do you require interior design services for Hull and East Yorkshire? Contact us today to start the journey to your perfect interior designed by us.