Whether you’re looking to do an interior overhaul or make minor adjustments, reevaluating your home’s colour palette is a key part of your design project. A little thought and inspiration can pull a room together around specific colour choices and make the whole house a beautiful, cohesive space.
There are endless options when it comes to colour schemes, but if you go in with a plan, redecorating won’t be as overwhelming.
Account for Your Space
Knowing what you can’t change is just as important as knowing what you can change. Take stock of the space you’re working with, including lighting (natural and indoor) and windows – these can drastically change your chosen colour scheme.
It’s also important to look at your flooring, furniture, and appliances. What colours are there already? Can you work with what you have or do you need to make some upgrades? Make sure each of these not only fit but contributes to the overall appearance of your home.
Look For Inspiration
Now you get to do the fun part – looking for inspiration. Log into Pinterest, grab some home and lifestyle magazines, or even check out a design show. While it’s fun to create something completely unique, you can also do very well by copying another design.
See how the pros use colours to tie together rugs, pillows and drapes, for example. You can bring several colours together in a room as long as you have a consistent colour theme that ties everything together.
We like to keep an eye out for colour palettes whenever we visit a friend’s house, home store, or anywhere else. You never know when inspiration will strike!
Use a Colour Scheme Calculator
Colour theory is very important when decorating, but you don’t need to go to design school to implement it. Analogous, complementary, tetradic, and triadic colour theories are hard to keep straight without some help.
If you’re creating a unique colour scheme rather than copying one from another design, put it through an online colour wheel to ensure it will work together in a room.
Once you have your colours picked out, make sure to include a mix of light, dark, bright, and soft colours in your décor. It will add texture and depth to your room and keep it from looking too harsh or one-dimensional.
Start Small
Especially if you’re testing out a new palette, you don’t need to make colour a long-term commitment. Be intentional with the pieces you pick out to ensure the space has the vibe you’re going for.
Buy smaller accent furniture like side tables, lamps, or shelves. You can also try textiles like rugs, throw pillows, or blankets. Art and tabletop accessories make great statement pieces as well.
One tried and true method of selecting colour for a room is to start with a favourite piece of art or furniture. It may be a rug that you love that features a vivid pop of red, or a shelving unit that makes a statement. Start with what you love and build around it.
If you’re looking for a new place to try out your interior design ideas, check out our Properties page.
