Choosing your Interior Colour
Your home environment is your sanctuary that should inspire or relax you and transform the personality of a room. Choosing which colour to paint your house is a big decision and knowing how colour works is a good place to start.
Handy Tips for Choosing a Colour Scheme
Firstly, limit your colour palette to 1 to 3 colours that complement each other. Too many colours will be confusing and clashing colours will not look stylish. Look at the base colour and find tints and shades to give that colour variation.
You could either have one colour with different tones, complementary colours, contrasting colours or analogous colours.
The Colour Wheel
Analogous colors are any three colours which are side by side on a 12-part colour wheel, such as yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange. Usually one of the three colours predominates.
Complementary colours are any two colours which are directly opposite each other, such as red and green and red-purple and yellow-green.
Mood of the Room
Another consideration is the 'feel' and function of the room you are decorating - what kind of mood are you trying to achieve? A relaxing space or an active dramatic space? This will help you choose between a neutral and a bright colour palette.
Even neutrals can handle a contrasting colour to lift them and add to the design feel without losing the relaxing mood of the room - try pairing greys or a beige with a deeper grey such as charcoal.
Match your colour to a feature piece
Find a bright colour that matches a striking feature piece of furniture and you have the basis for your colour palette choices.
Choosing colour in your home in your light
It is essential that you take your colour cards or colour chips home to see the colours in your own environment, as colour is affected by light and light reflecting off its surrounds. The Peel n Stick product from CCIA allows you to test a large square of colour in your room on the wall and it can be stuck on and easily removed later in any room.
Remember check to see how the colour changes at different times of the day and levels of light.
Good luck making your home your colour castle.