Favorite Things Influence
A Decorating Color Palette

The array of options available when planning a decorating color palette can be daunting, but it doesn’t need to be. The trickiest part is identifying the hues that you like and want to use.

Fabrics, furniture, floor coverings, works of art, and accessories all are ways one can introduce color into a room.

Allow a favorite item or possession to serve as a starting point when planning your scheme.

Any piece of fabric, (I’ve used a customer’s vintage draperies as part of a mixed fabric sofa) work of art or painting, a favorite collection are ideal beginnings. I have another client who was inspired by the box her note cards came in!

Look to nature for inspiration. Have you ever noticed the variation of greens in an evergreen tree? There is more than just the pine green color. There are blues too.

Do you have a favorite painting or have you been to the art museum lately? Use the colors of a painting or print you purchased from an art exhibit to draw inspiration for your decorating color palette.

A house works best when rooms flow, visually linking one room to the next, but each room should have its own personality. Otherwise, every room in the house would begin to look alike.

The placement of color is as important as the color scheme. It will dictate the balance of your room. Repeat the major color within the room to create the rhythm a room needs.

Stick to three colors and no more than four for use in your decorating color palette.

Go to the paint store and select color chips that match your pattern, or the object of your inspiration. Use them on your inspiration board to see how the colors work together and in your shopping journeys. When you come across a great find, you’ll need to know if it matches.

Start with a light, medium and dark color tone from your pattern to form your foundation. How you use these color values can affect the overall appearance of your room.

An easy guide would be to use the light as a background, (walls) the medium as furniture and the dark as accents.

The medium tone on the upholstery and windows should blend with the wall color you’ve chosen and will give the room a foundation, and the dark accents will serve to catch the eye with drama and can be easily distributed around the room to create rhythm and balance.

Another option, look outside. The earth is dark on the ground, medium on the horizon and lighter skyward. Adapt the same theory indoors. The floor is dark, upholstery and windows are medium and the ceiling is light.

If you are doing the whole room from scratch choose all of the fabrics you like and that work in your color palette before deciding where to apply them. The fabrics will dictate where things need to be placed.

One fabric you choose may be an awesome pattern but in reality there may not be a piece in the room that it could be applied to. (For example, the pattern is too busy for the sofa and too large scale for the ottoman.)

When deciding on a decorating color palette, the color wheel can be a useful tool to use as a guide.

There are four main schemes to the wheel.

Monochromatic: Tints or shades of a single color, monochromatic schemes enlarge the space, and most colors will work in shades from the same family. Reds go with other reds, blues with blues.

Analogous: Colors that live next to each other on the wheel, in the case of red, for example that’s orange and violet (For example, with the evergreen tree mentioned earlier: yellow green, green, and blue green on the wheel. )

In general, analogous color schemes are more casual and relaxing and work best in informal rooms or for a bedroom, where you want to rest and relax.

Triadic: Three colors equal distance apart from each other: for example, yellow, red, and blue, which are colors easily identified of the provincial style.

Complimentary: Every color has a natural complement on the opposite side of the color wheel. Red and green, yellow and purple, as examples.

You would probably not use them in the purest form, but in a version toned down of claret and pine or straw with lavender. Warm colors have cool complements while cool colors have warm complements.

Complimentary colors provide more definition and tend to make rooms more formal and exciting.

Whatever decorating color palette you choose, follow your own personal style.

It is a good idea to always put something with a touch of black in a room. It could be a black picture frame or a little black accent on the coffee table. The black grounds and strengthens the rest of the colors in the room.

Here are a few examples how color influence’s mood.

• White: clean and sharp, enlivens all other colors
• Black: dramatic and authoritative, strengthens other colors
• Brown: natural, passive and calming
• Red ( bright ) vibrant, stimulating to appetites, passion and love
• Reds ( dull ) sophisticate, rich and respected
• Yellow ( bright ) cheerful and stimulating
• Yellow ( dull ) intellectual, and clear thinking
• Blues ( pale ) calm, tranquil, refreshes and cools
• Blues ( navy ) secure, conservative
• Green ( kelly ) nature, safe, comfortable
• Green ( light ) balances, new growth
• Green ( dark ) secure, good judgement
• Orange ( pale ) comfortable and stress reducing
• Orange ( dark, dull, rust ) rich, earthy, strength
• Purple ( pure or dark ) creates mystery, intellectual
• Purple ( light pale ) sensuous, feminine

The whole character of a room can be changed, made to appear smaller or larger with the decorating color palette chosen. Rich deep colors make rooms more intimate, and going softer and lighter will give the illusion of space.

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