Top ten tips: Redecorating in colour
Wednesday, 28 March 2012 9:10 AM
By Phil Scullion Follow philscullion
Redecorating your home? Here's ten tips on how to go about choosing your colour scheme, provided by Abacus Estates.
1. Initially you need to choose a colour that suits the mood of the room you wish to paint. Colour creates moods, think of a calming turquoise bathroom, a cheery yellow breakfast nook, or a pink bedroom for a girl.
2. Bear in mind the size of the room. Darker shades make a room seem smaller, whereas light shades open rooms up.
3. The use of bright colours can be daunting, try painting a feature wall in a bright colour, and paint the remaining walls in a softer but complimenting colour or tone.
4. Colours do a lot to a person psychologically. Colours in the red, orange and yellow families are referred to as ‘warm’ colours as they evoke images associated with heat. As a result they make us feel warm in psychological sense. Meanwhile ‘cool’ colours such as, blues, greens and violets mimic the colours of pastoral landscapes and oceans. When we look at these colours they elicit feelings of peace, tranquillity and relaxation.
5. Use the colour wheel. This can be a helpful reference tool. Much loved by interior designers, the wheel explains the relationship that exists between different colours and can help you make decisions about your scheme.
6. If you are looking to create tone within a room, use several tones of one colour. To create a tonal bathroom you may want to paint and add accessories in various shades of blue ranging from a lighter blue to dark.
7. Harmonious shades sit next to or close to each other on the colour wheel such as purple and pink, or green and yellow. This is similar to using tone but is a little bolder as you are using two colours.
8. If you want your decor to make more of a statement, choose two contrasting colours. These are located opposite each other on the wheel. You could team zesty orange with cool blue or soft lilac with apple green.
9. If you are not brave enough to paint in colours, you can always use your room as a canvas, paint it in neutrals then add various bright coloured statement accessories such as cushions, lampshades or pieces of art.
10. Always pick up a tester of the paint colour you are interested in, often the colour on the pot or in the brochure does not look like it does when on the wall!
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