Decorating With Color

Decorating With Color

In decorating with color the challenge of finding and deciding on just the right colors to choose for your decorating is an ever present issue for home decorators. Decorating with color is easy once you have a complete understanding of color basics.

Basic Color Terms

HUE is simply another word for color. Hues can be affected by light, shadows, nearby colors and even the paint sheen. The word, hue, is usually used to identify a specific color such as sea foam green, candy apple red, or tangerine.

INTENSITY refers to a color's clearness or brightness or its color saturation. Adding white, black, or a complementary color to a pure color decreases its intensity.

VALUE is the lightness or darkness of a color. Pale blue is a light value while navy blue is a dark value. Your typical paint chip card from your local paint or hardware store offer variations of one color from light to dark.

SHADE is a color with black added to it. For instance burgandy is a shade of primary red. Look at your paint chip cards for colors at both ends of the paint cards.

TINT is a color that has white added to it. An obvious example is pink is a tint of red. Look for tints at the top of your paint card or in a separate collection of whites.

Components of The Color Wheel

Scientifically red has the longest wavelenth and violet has the shortest wavelength. The progression of color on the traditional color wheel is arranged from the longest to the shortest wavelength. Within this wheel you have three primary colors, three secondary colors, and six tertiary colors.

PRIMARY COLORS Blue, red and yellow are primary colors. These are pure colors and can not be created by mixing other colors. All other colors are created with primary colors.

SECONDARY COLORS Orange, green, and purple are the secondary colors or hues. They are created by mixing equal amounts of primary colors. Yellow and blue make green and yellow and red make orange.

TERTIARY COLORS Mixing a primary color with the secondary color next to it creates a tertiary color. With each new creation the hue becomes less vivid. Yellow and green blend to make apple green.

Temperatures of Color

When decorating with color think of the colors you are attracted to and the overall purpose of your room this will help in deciding on a "room temperature." Warm colors are energizing and work well in high-activity rooms. Cool colors are relaxing making them perfect for rooms where escaping and unwinding are encouraged.

WARM COLORS Warm colors are considered advancing hues, they come towards you. They inspire conversation, increase appetite, energize a space, and even heat a north-facing room. Because the energy warm colors emit they can make a small space or object seem larger. These active colors can be too energetic for bedrooms where relaxation is wanted.

Warm colors are dominated by red and yellow. Like fire they are stimulating and exciting.

COOL COLORS Cool colors remain quietly in the background of a room. Calming and soothing they are perfect for bedrooms and private retreats. In a cold climate blance these cool hues with a shot of warm color within your accessories.

Cool colors are dominated by blue. Like sky and water they are cooling and restfull.

Decorating with Color

Emotions of Color

In decorating with color, whether through the use of paint, wallpaper, fabrics, and accessories color creates an emotional response. Once these emotions are understood your color decisions will be easier.

Blue Relaxes, refreshes, cools, and creates a tranquil mood.

Red Empowers stimulates, energizes and dramatizes.

Green Balances, refreshes and like plants encourages growth.

Purple Comforts, spiritualizes and creates a sense of mystery.

Pink Soothes and creates feelings of love and affection.

Orange Cheers, energizes and stimulates appetities.

Yellow energizes expands and brightens.

White Purifies, unifies, and brighten all other colors.

Black Strengthens and stabilizes.

Choosing Color Schemes

When decorating with color choosing paint color can be intimidating for first-timers or persons with commitment issues. Thankfully paint is the easiest decorating accessory to fix without a heavy investment, so don't sweat it.

The easiest color combination is the use of white plus color. The end result can never go wrong. Strong contrasts between light and dark colors create energy, while subtle variations quiets the mood. White showcases these colors.

Pale colors recede which gives a sense of spaciousness to a room. When using light colors on walls anchor the room with a few dark pieces of furniture and accessories for balance.

Strong bold colors can stop the eye and make you feel as though they are coming toward you. Too much bold color can feel heavy and overwhelming make sure you balance with extra lighting, pale lampshades and light colored accessories throughout the room.

Creative Color Scheme Inspirations

When decorating with color the choice is more often than not staring you right in the face. A little awareness will bring the right color to you.

1. Find a picture you like; a large piece of artwork can dominate a room. Use the colors in your art to set the room's tone. If you have several pieces of artwork look for shared colors within the pictures and use these to accent a neutral palette.

2. Simply use your favorite color. Then add varying shades of intensity from dark to light. Light and mid-range shades are easy on the eyes, use dark tones to add some pow.

3. Find a pattern you like whether in fabric or wallpaper and even if you do not use it within your decorating a simple swatch or sample can give you great color schemes that work and compliment.

4. Nature is right outside, look at flower gardens in full bloom and feel what you are drawn to. Even in the off season fall leaves can provide great inspiration to complimentary colors.

Decorating with color does not always mean paint. Temporary changeable, seasonal color gives you a lot of freedom. You can explore trends or change with the seasons just by adding color accessories such as throws, painted canvases, pillows, glass vases filled with anything from fresh fruit to rocks to shells to twigs to fresh cut flowers all set against a neutral back drop can immediately add color and feel to a room.

The key to great "color decorating" is create a room that not only pleases the eye but also obtains the emotional feeling you are after.

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