Choosing the Right Colors

Q: What's the most important role color plays in a room?

A: It sets the mood for a room. The color you choose is really about what you want the room to feel like.

Q: Do you tend to use one color scheme throughout the entire interior, or mix it up room to room?

A: In general, I feel it's important to have continuity throughout the entire house. I'll use one or two colors throughout the house, and then mix in other accent colors. That gives continuity, but at the same time allows the various rooms to have different personalities.

Q: What kind of classic color combinations do you think work best?

A: Blue and white, yellow and green for a kitchen, red and black for a very formal dining room. For a library, I would suggest chocolate brown and camel or dark green and navy blue. I like burgundy and khaki, navy and khaki, or dark green and khaki. And grays and blues look really great together.

Q: What kind of guidelines would you suggest if someone wants to use bold colors?

A: You need to be aware that you will likely get tired of bold colors very quickly. If you really want to incorporate a strong, bold color, use it as an accent. Bold colors are often attractive because they are the color of the moment; this can quickly date a room.

Q: How should the homeowner account for different lighting in choosing colors?

A: Select three shades of the color you want: where you think you want to be, and one shade lighter and one shade darker. Do this with paint, wallpaper, or fabric swatches. Put the samples in two places: next to the window and in a darker corner. Look at them at different times during the day and at night. Then make your decision.

Q: Is a neutral color scheme always appropriate?

A: No. It totally depends on the house, the location, the architecture, and the personality of the homeowner. It's about trying to keep a balance. An entire neutral house can be boring.

Q: How do you use color to affect relationship and the relationship with other decorative elements?

A: Color is key to how the decor is perceived. If it's a big room, paint it a brighter, warmer color to bring the walls in. Paint a smaller room a cooler color to push the walls out. Color also establishes visual weight and balance. If you put a bold primary-based piece of art in a pastel room, it's probably not going to seem right. The colors of the art should balance the colors of the space.

Q: What are the challenges homeowners face in choosing colors and color schemes?

A: Sometimes people are scared of color, especially dark colors. Ultimately, people should really follow their heart: If they love a color, test it, and like it in place, they should not be afraid to choose it.

How To Choose The Right Colors for Home.

How to Choose a Color Scheme

Discover your color preferences with eight tips for picking perfect color palettes.
 Pick a color, any color.
If only choosing a color palette for your interiors was that easy. It can be, thanks to designer Mark McCauley. The author of Color Therapy at Home: Real Life Solutions for Adding Color to Your Life, he offers eight tips to help you discover your color preferences and take on white walls.
Tip #1. Choose a color scheme from the largest pattern in the space.
If you've got patterned upholstery, an Oriental rug or large piece of artwork, pluck colors you like from the pattern. For a neutral wall paint color, look to the pattern's whites and beiges.
Tip #2. Start with the formal areas of the house.
Specifically, the living room, dining room and entry way. Choose a color scheme for those areas first, then pull one color from the scheme. For example, take the red sofa and tone it down (say, to burgundy) for an accent in more private spaces such as the den, office or bedroom.
Tip #3. Decorate your space from dark to light, vertically.
A real "cookbook" way to make any space look good without much risk, McCauley says, is to use darker color values for the floor, medium color values for the walls and light values for the ceiling.
"Any interior space replicates the outside world," he says. "The exterior environment is generally darker below our feet (the earth itself), medium-valued as you look straight ahead (buildings/trees) and lighter values skyward."
Tip #4. Study the color of your clothes.
Most people buy clothes in colors they like to wear and think they look good in. Similarly, you should decorate your rooms in colors you look good in. "If you don't wear yellow, don't get a yellow sofa," McCauley says. "You're going to look sickly on it."
 Tip #5. Use the color wheel.
In general, analogous color schemes — colors next to each other on the color wheel, such as blue and green — are more casual and relaxing, and work best in informal or private spaces. This is a good strategy for a bedroom, where you want to rest and recover.
Whatever color scheme you choose, McCauley advises to put something black in every room. "The black clarifies all the rest of the colors in the room," he says. Try a black lampshade, a black vase or a black picture frame.
Tip #6. Use the rule of 60-30-10.
"When decorating a space, divide the colors in the space into components of 60 percent of a dominant color, 30 percent of a secondary color and 10 percent of an accent color," McCauley says. The walls will most likely be the majority, the upholstery would represent the secondary color and accessories such as a floral arrangement or throw pillows would make up the rest. "Works every time!" he says. "The colors are properly balanced and there is a shot of color (the 10 percent color) for interest."
 Tip #7. Go with the architecture.
If you have a small room in your house, don't paint it white to make it seem bigger. Instead, cozy up to its architecture with a rich, warm color scheme. Let your big rooms expand with light, and your small rooms wrap you up and nurture you.
Tip #8. Follow your personal style.
If you decorate honestly, other people will appreciate it because it's you, even if they'd never decorate their own house in the same way. That means if you want to make every room in your house red, white and blue, go for it. You can make any color look good as long as it's your taste.

Tropical Wall Decor - Bring the Islands Home

No matter what kind of day a person has had, walking into a room with tropical wall decor will most definitely make the person's day better. This is why decorating a room with a tropical twist is such a good idea. What makes it an even better idea is the cost at which this redecorating can be accomplished. With a simple search online, anyone can find the prices that are right for him or her.

Beginning with the walls, there are several options an individual can choose between to create the tropical feel of their dreams. For instance, with wall hangings, tapestries, and paintings, the mood and color scheme will be set creating a relaxing fall-asleep-on-the-beach feel or an energizing seize-the-day atmosphere. Each of these all decorations come in various sizes too, so every room can have one.

Many of these great wall decorations have themes of amazing island landscapes with silhouetted palm trees. Who can feel stressed with that kind of relaxation? There are also some decorations that create the sound of running water, giving the room a tropical river feel. Some of these also have tropical bird noises.

These wall decorations can either come in just one single painting or in three parts. The three-part paintings are normally one image broken into three parts. This creates a more modern artsy look, which can be very refined for those formal dinner parties. Guests will feel as though they just got off the plain and are now in the tropics with tropical decor!

Many people think that the boardwalk is the best place to shop for these sorts of decorations, but the boardwalk is usually overpriced. A simple search online will reveal a plethora of less-expensive options that individuals on which individuals should capitalize. The best part about shopping online is that individuals can do it in their own homes, so they can see if they think a decoration will look right.

Tropical decor does not have to be limited to wall paintings and hangings. Individuals can find online sculptures of tropical wildlife creatures and this will help to give the room the relaxation it deserves. These trinkets come in a wide variety of sizes, too, so this really opens the options for coffee tables and lamp tables.

Once the wall is painted and there are wall hangings or paintings of the tropical environment the designer wants, the lighting should be discussed. Lighting will help to work with the paint and decorations in making the right relaxation feel. The lighting could be aimed to represent sunset, sunrise, midday, or midnight.

People too often forget that they have the option of tropical decor when they go to redecorate a room. Bringing the tropics into the living room, bathroom, or guestroom will really accentuate feelings of relaxation. Put tropical wall decor on the list of things to do and then simply go online and compare prices. With barely any cost at all an individual can go home to a vacation scene.