Colour colour colour

Probably one of the biggest areas I have found people are stuck on with design is choosing colour. It can be overwhelming to select a colour scheme, whether you are starting from scratch or just repainting the walls! There are certain things you should consider when selecting colours

Considerations

1. The existing decor - this is a no brainer if you are repainting walls your existing colours of the items you will retain will dictate in part what direction you take

2. Yours/your families personality - Its nice to have your home reflect who you are and one of the very dominant features will be colour.

3. Psychology of colour - If you want your 2 year old to calm down at night time (need I remind you of a certain popular book of late :)...) dont paint their room red! Colour has a psychological effect...not everyone believes in this but hospitals, retail, hospitality all use colour in a psychological context. Heres a great article on colours and their effect on the psyche - http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm Its good to keep in mind when you consider the function of a room...is it a calming room? Somewhere that you would like inspiration & stimulation?

4. Warm vs cool colour - This almost falls in point 3 but worth a seperate mention. Warm advances, cool recedes. Warm colours are welcoming and comforting, cool colours are calming and relaxing. Warm can make a room seem smaller, cool can make a room seem larger. All things worth thinking about when choosing a scheme.

Colour theories

To create a scheme you need to understand the basics of a colour wheel

Achromatic - Literally meaning without colour. Usually black, white & possibly shades of grey. This is a very bold statement and a very contemporary scheme.

Monochromatic scheme - is one taken from one colour with various tints/shades. These tend to be very calm.



Analogous scheme - Is a colour set taken from adjacent colours on the colour wheel. these are slightly more vibrant, still very harmonious though.



Complementary scheme - There are 3 different types of complementary: Direct, split & triad. These schemes are best to up the vibrancy of a room.
















Dulux has an easy to navigate site with great tools like the mycolour visualiser http://www.dulux.com.au/colour/mycolour.aspx you can upload a pic and recolour the walls yourself. Dulux also allows you to order A4 sheet samples of the colours you like....particularly handy as those puny sample chips dont really give you a good idea of how the colour looks. Saves you money on 10 different sample pots while you are trying to select the perfect colour!!

If you have a bigger project than that and you would like to see how it will look in your room, contact me and I will give you a cost for me to rendering.

Have fun!!