Tips For Selecting Colour Palette
Tips For Selecting a Colour Palette for your Interior
When refurbishing or redecorating your home, how you use colour can either make or break your room. Thanks to a wide range of colours, hues, tones, and textures, your choices are now virtually limitless. Some of the world’s top interior designers and architects say that colour is the single most important element of decorating a room.
Don’t Skimp on Researching Inspiration
First step is to get a colour wheel –spending a small amount of money on one of these interior design essentials could save you money in the long run. They help you visualise tones and colours, and how they might work together, or clash. Even if you have a colour wheel, you should leave no stone unturned in your search for inspiration.
- Always start with existing furnishings, art, and upholstery unless they’re being replaced too. Use them as a basis for your inspiration
- Use the full range of available media: Pinterest, magazines design blogs, and even online interior design tools like Houzz
- Consider a mood board to visualise your potential colour palettes
- Create several palettes just in case some turn out unworkable
Your Colour Choices Should Be Personal to You
our colour scheme will be with you for years, so you should carefully consider whether you like all the colours you intend to use. Those that go together don’t always look right to you. The main mistake many non-professionals make is getting too hung up on what is trendy now. Colours that speak to you are timeliness while this year’s “in vogue” colours will be out of date in two years. The same is true of the colour wheel. It is a useful guide to what colours go together, but ultimately it should be your choice and the scheme that suits what is most visually appealing to you. Also, don’t forget how colour impacts mood. It is why we go for certain colour schemes in certain spaces. They either cool or warm or create a formal or informal space. You want calmer tones in your living spaces, for example, and cooler tones in warmer rooms such as a conservatory (they get the most sunlight and so will typically be the warmer area of the home).
Make Sure Colours Fit with the Architecture
It’s a good idea to consider the interior vibes of the elements you can’t or don’t want to change – fixtures, structure, architectural design. Only then should you match your intended colour scheme(s) to what is already present to ensure everything fits together. The main reason is that there is such an array of paints for fabrics and paints but for those extant interiors, there is a far greater limitation. They’re also expensive to replace and so you should use them as a base. Don’t forget to use those materials in your mood board(s) and use scale and space to good effect.
Use Reinforcement Techniques
No matter what you’re doing to upgrade your interiors (painting the walls, replacing soft furnishings) the best thing you can do to reinforce your colour palette is use items of the same colours and tones. Dashes of colour through accessories is simple, effective, and relatively cheap. You don’t need to spend a lot, but typically the items would be throws, fabrics, cushions, and draped linens. Again, use your colour wheel and mood board(s) to see how these might work together. The overall effect you should look for here is cohesion. Even when rooms use different colour schemes or tones, some uniformity between rooms add familiarity. The best way to do this is through complementary colours between connecting rooms.
Consider Colour Proportion
A colour wheel highlights which colours go together. The boldest colours should always be used in moderation. If you go too heavy on bold colours, or mix patterns too much, it is not pleasant to the eye. You may be surprised to learn just how much the room(s) chosen specifically for the colours and patterns you like suddenly become an eyesore. The reason is that they begin to compete with each other – and not in a good way. You won’t know where to look. Use such bold visuals purely as focal points to enhance the aesthetic instead of dominating it. When using blacks, use plenty of neutrals so that they don’t end up overbearing.
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