7 Tips for Choosing a Colour Scheme for Your Home
Choosing a colour scheme for your home might seem easy, but it's actually quite a difficult challenge. We don't have an overall theme for the whole house. We like to do something different for each room. Even the floors are different in every room (other than the bathrooms).
We want to put a different stamp on it, so no two rooms are the same. But that still didn't mean that we didn't come up with a colour scheme for them. As someone who's spent the last five years of her life coming up with colour schemes for her home, I thought I'd share my top tips for doing it successfully.
Just remember to inject your own style and personality into everything you do. But there are a few rules you can apply that makes sure the balance is right and the style is impeccable. So, no matter the size of your home or your personal style, here are some tips for doing it right!
1. Consider the mood you want to create
Mood and ambience is paramount when it comes to choosing a colour scheme. You need it to feel comfortable and inviting no matter the time of day. For instance, our living room feels fresh and modern in the day, but warm and cosy in the evening.
The same goes for our kitchen. it's crisp and contemporary in the day, but inviting and comforting in the evening - perfect for enjoying an evening meal. think about how you want the room to feel, and consider that paint colours can look different in the day to how they look at night.
2. Use existing furniture as inspiration
Furniture is expensive, so you don't want to keep repurchasing perfectly good items every time you redecorate or move house. Instead, take your existing pieces and theme the room around those. Not only does this save money, but it's also a great starting point for inspiration if you've fallen flat yourself.
3. Know the importance of natural light
Windows and natural light has a huge part to play in deciding on a colour scheme for your home. Darker colours in small rooms isn't the way forward. It can make a room feel a lot smaller and more enclosed.
For small, dark rooms, go for lighter colour schemes and for larger rooms with more light, push yourself to be more brave with the colours you opt for. Our living room has a big window in it, so the room is naturally very bright.
As a result, we chose a navy blue colour for the entire back wall, which is the wall facing the big window. This creates quite an impact! We've offset it with white accents, like coving and glossy white skirting boards. But overall, the look is quite effective and we're very happy with it.
4. Follow the 60-30-10 rule
The 60-30-10 rule is an interior design ratio that's used to proportion colours in a room to make it look more cohesive. 60% of the room should be the most dominant colour, often referred to as the base. 30% of the room should be the secondary colour, or the support, as it's also known. The remaining 10% is the accent colour, otherwise known as the spark.
In our living room, the base colour is an off-white shade, the secondary colour is the navy blue wall and the accent colour is white, included in the coving, skirting board, window sill, window panes, hearth and some white trinkets on our alcove shelving. It's all part of making a room feel balanced and put together, without swamping the room with a colour that feels too overwhelming.
5. Only choose colours that work together
The colours you choose need to be very the same colour palette, ideally. For example, blues often go with whites and greys and other cool tones. Yellows go with off-whites, oranges and beiges. Browns go with beiges, creams and bolder colours like burnt oranges and burgundy reds.
Don't be afraid to mix two seemingly different colours together if they're in the same colour palette. Also, don't restrict this to paint colours or wallpaper choices. Apply this to furniture like statement sofas, tables, chairs and sideboards, for example. Don't forget tiles, either.
6. Don't be afraid to use bold colours
This is a follow on from the point above. Don't write bright or bold colours off just because you're not sure how it will turn out. If you follow the 60-30-10 rule, and then choose colours that work well together, even if they're at opposite end of the spectrum, then there's no reason why you can't choose bold colours as part of the colour scheme for your home. Remember, if a colour doesn't work out, you can always change other things, or paint over it and start again.
7. Test, test, test!
I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Test the colours you want to use before you paint entire walls with it. If you want to use wallpaper, get samples before spending money on an entire roll, which can be expensive. Never take the full plunge without testing if it works first.
Paint always looks different on a wall than it does on paper or on the tin. Also, leave it up for a few days before making your decision. Look at the samples in different lights and at different times of the day before committing.
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I hope you enjoyed this blog post and that you found it useful. Let me know in the comments below how you choose the colour schemes in your home and I'll see you all again soon with some brand new content!
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