Choosing Paint Colors for Your
Home
One of the first decisions you should make when
redecorating a room is your choice of color...
The color you choose will affect the overall "mood" of your
room - whatever style you choose. If you want a room, such as a
bedroom, to be cool and serene, you choose blue or green. These
colors promote a tranquil feeling; a reminder of blue skies and
lovely lakes.
Do you want to really energize a room?
Paint it red! Red is an excellent choice for children's
playrooms or exercise rooms. Burgundy, an offshoot of red,
gives a feeling of richness and elegance - especially when
mixed with gold.
The different shades of yellow bring sunshine into our rooms,
even on a dark day. Kitchens seem to be a popular room to paint
yellow. Maybe because it helps wake you up to cook breakfast?
Yellow also makes rooms look bigger than they are.
Pink is also a popular color right now. The shades of rose and
mauve bring a warm, cozy feel to your rooms.
Most people choose white paint for their rooms. It's a "safe"
color that will expand the walls. Modern décor lends itself
well to white walls, with bright accents.
Neutral earthy color, such as brown, beige and taupe are good
"transition" colors for entries or hallways. They don't clash
with other brighter colors that may be near to them.
Whatever colors you choose to paint your rooms is, of course,
your own personal choice. Each person has certain colors he/she
seems to prefer above others. This should be taken into account
when you paint a room. What if your husband despises blue? It
would not make for a happy home!
Each color has variations from light to dark. The way the
colors are "married" together also affect the look and feel.
When decorating, remember that colors appear stronger in larger
areas. Use a color one shade lighter than your first
choice.
There are four basic schemes, based on the color wheel (as
shown to the right of this paragraph).
*
Monochromatic: Uses only one color, usually with different
values of that color. For instance, light green walls with
progressively darker colors of green for the furniture
upholstery and accessories.
*
Related Colors: These are comprised of the three colors that
are next to each other on the color wheel and that are in the
same color family.
*
Complementary: This scheme pairs the two colors that are
directly opposite each other on the color wheel, such as blue
and orange. Be sure to allow one color to be the dominate color
and use the other as the contrast color.
*
Split-Complementary: One color on the color wheel is used in
combination with the two adjacent colors directly opposite of
that color. Again, use one of the colors as the dominate color,
and the others for accents.
Using the above guidelines should take some of the mystery out
of color schemes for your decorating projects. Taking the feel
of colors and considering the color schemes will set you on
your way to a beautiful room!
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