Hone Your Color Palette
As an interior designer and color consultant, I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter if you’re painting your dollhouse or redecorating a living room, three things are paramount in choosing a color scheme: the temperature of the colors; sources of inspiration; balance “the 60-30-10 rule,” which states that the primary color, usually the walls, is first. Second place goes to large pieces of furniture and/or the rugs. The last 10% is saved for trim and accents.
Temperature
Colors are either warm or cool, depending on their undertones. So the first step, is to take your color temperature. Do you want your room warm and cozy, or cool and modern?
Inspiration
Here is a way to make picking colors easy. Look at nature, where the most perfect color combinations can usually be found. Think about the places that make you feel good. Is your paradise the desert Southwest? Then it’s earth tones for you: umber, ochre and sienna, and a little green if there is any water in your desert.
Maybe it’s the time of day that mellows you out. Are you a morning person that likes to watch dawns early light spread across the dark sky? In museums, do you linger in front of a Jean Batiste Corot pink and silver sunrise? Your palette is bright pastels.Balance
The palette for any room usually consists of 3 colors, 4 at the most. The wall color should be approximately half of the color you see in the room; the furniture one quarter; the accessories one eighth for each of two colors. These accessories can be accent pieces, such as a throw at the bottom of the bed, a lamp base, or a touch of color in a print.
These are not arbitrary numbers. You might call 60-30-10 an ?ish? rule.
Here’s a nice exercise for you. Look at these pictures. What would your color palette be for each?
Susan
