Picking the Right Colour Scheme for your home – Rugs Direct
Choosing the right colour scheme for your whole house can be an intimidating task, but it just takes a bit of planning. With so many colour schemes to choose from, where do you start? Which colours make you feel warm, which shades and tones leave you all relaxed? With our tips and advice in this article, you’ll walk away with a few ideas to make decorating that little bit easier.
Tips for whole house colour schemes
When picking colour schemes within the house, there are two ways to look at it; combinations for the whole house and an individual palette for each room. We’ll firstly focus on how to find the best colour blends with the whole house as one canvas.
Go with your instinct – With all these tips and advice from experts, magazines as well as friends, finding a colour combination to suit you is never easy. So, at first, just go with your instinct. Which colours bring you joy, which give you relaxation when you most need it? Even go with the colour schemes you use with clothes. This may sound odd, but you chose those garments for a reason, why can your home not follow suit? We believe it certainly can.
Start with key room – Start creating your home’s colour scheme with the boldest area of the home. Whether it’s your living room our hallway, this will generally be the hub of your home and will instigate colour combinations throughout it.
See which rooms are connected – Depending on the floorplan of your home, you may well have rooms visibly connected. In this situation, it would then be ideal to have complementing palettes for these linking rooms to bring the home’s core together. The same colour rugs in both rooms, for example the living room and Dinning room helps connect the space
Open plan house needs one colour scheme – for anyone with an open plan home where the kitchen meets the living area and the bedroom looks over the dining room, having a base colour will connect all the rooms.
Connecting space to be neutral – In a home where there are hallways, landings and receptions, you can build your palette by using the same shades of hue. Painting the first neutral area of the home can lead on to the next and so on until the home is connected.
A dash of black all over the place – By adding a hint of black throughout the home, you will clarify each of the room’s key colours. Black is a very dominant tone so use it in moderation to add a touch of class in your living room, kitchen or dining areas.
Upstairs and downstairs are clearly separated – More often than not, homeowners choose to separate the upstairs and downstairs. The main reason for this is that it makes the task of decorating more manageable, while the two floors also have differing functions.
Tips for room-by-room colour schemes
Colour scheme follows the largest pattern in room – If you have a large piece of furnishing in a room – for instance, a sofa or rug – then form the style and colour combinations from that piece. If three colours make up a rug, then use these three colours as your base palette for the room.
Dark to light vertically – By decorating your room from dark to light, you’re essentially recreating the outside world. Colours relating to the darker tones of the earth through to the lighter shades of the sky will be pleasing to the eye.
Rule of 60 30 10 – You may have heard of this rule before, but what does it mean? When decorating a space, split the colours into three main components. 60% should be the dominant wall colours, 30% for upholstery and 10% of an accent colour for accessories. This brings the correct balance to a room.
Contrast cool and warm – Using a combination of warm and cool colours in a room gives an otherwise neutral space a little more oomph. Although still staying subtle, using a smattering of summery yellows and oranges with subtle greys and whites will give any room an attractive balance.
Use dominant colours in small spaces – People often believe using a neutral colour scheme for a small room is a no-brainer as it makes the room feel larger – think again. In fact, the best practice is to allow your big rooms to flaunt light while the smaller rooms are there for interest and intrigue.
Black and white are timeless – Black and white have forever been a timeless combination that never goes out of style. Like black on its own, this classic pairing of tones should be used in moderation. A black and white cabinet, for instance, can look classy and premium.
Limit space to three colours – One of the oldest rules in the book but is still used today, using just three colours to decorate one room gives it balance and longevity. Combinations like yellow, blue and green are a win, win.
Test the potential palette – Once you have a colour in mind make sure to test a variety of shades in the room you’re decorating. Sample cards are helpful, but there’s nothing like seeing the paint in the room you’ll be decorating.
Personal touches go a long way – Not every room in the house needs to blend into the next perfectly. If your home doesn’t truly reflect the people within it, then add some personal touches. Paintings, photographs, flowers, it’s up to you, as long as the décor introduces you to guests.