When it comes time to revamp and reimagine your property’s communal areas, it’s important to note that you don’t have to spend a fortune on renovation projects or refurbishment ventures; all you really have to do is establish a suitable approach with regard to your in-home color schemes.
However, if it’s been quite a while since the last time that you picked up a brush, it’s in your best interests to ascertain the most impactful design concepts of today’s day and age, especially when considering the fact that contemporary décor is constantly changing, adapting, and expanding the confines of what we once knew.
So regardless of whether you happen to be a novice decorator or seasoned professional, this brief article will help fill in the blanks.
Lighting Is Crucial
If you ever wondered why paint stores provide a wide range of lighting provisions on-site, it’s because illumination can make or break any type of color scheme:
- Natural lighting provides the purest form of illumination and causes colors to show their truest, most innate visages but it’s worth mentioning that the angle of daylight plays a huge role in terms of how a particular hue comes through. North-facing windows affect a cool, bluish tone throughout the day; south-facing windows provide the most vibrant, intense light; western-facing windows reinforce warm auburn hues during the evening; and eastern-facing windows project a yellowish tone during the mornings before subsiding later in the day.
- Incandescent bulbs cause warmer paints to stand out while concurrently subduing the darker, deeper colors in your home.
- Fluorescent bulbs generate a cool, cerulean type of light that intensifies greens and blues but it usually mutes warmer colors such as red or orange.
- Soft white bulbs can imitate the warmth of natural lighting, but almost every color appears to be slightly faded and washed-out in their glow. Only the strongest colors can uphold their vibrancy in the presence of soft white lighting.
As such, you’ll have to focus on the orientation of your windows and openings to account for the subtle changes in light exposure throughout the day but don’t forget about the specific makeup of your electrical lighting implements as well.
You Have to Establish Proportions
As any renowned interior designer will tell you, the most appealing living rooms feature a methodical approach with regard to the scope of their color arrangement:
- To project a cohesive scheme, about 50-60% of the room should feature a primary base color, regardless of the specific hue in question.
- Then, you have to include a compatible secondary color in approximately 30% of the area. So if your dominant base color happens to be a striking blue, for instance, you should employ a softer secondary color to add some intricacy and depth.
- The final 10-20% should feature a suitable accent tone to provide some flair and complexity without going overboard.
This approach is commonly referred to as the 60-30-10 concept and it is a surefire way to create a unified, interrelated color scheme.
Additional Tips and Tricks
To round out your plan, you should also consider some of the following aspects into account as well:
- Don’t choose your assortment of colors until you identify the room’s most integral décor elements. Your existing furniture and trimmings should prop up your decision, not the other way around.
- You should try to establish a natural, outdoor feel in your communal rooms regardless of which colors you choose. Your floors should feature the darkest tones (the ground and soil); your walls should project a medium palate (the trees and buildings); and you’ll be best served with the lightest hue on your ceilings (the sky).
- Try before you buy – order a sampling of your favorite colors to get a feel for how your in-home lighting affects the paint in question.
- Consider the flow of your property. The transition from a revamped area into your kitchen or hallway is just as important as the living room itself. In this regard, you may want to contemplate the ideal scheme for any adjacent rooms before settling on a particular color arrangement for your communal area.
With this helpful guide by your side, you can create a viable plan of attack and finally breathe some new life into your home’s most essential areas.