Sketchbook

How To Choose The Right Color For Your Space

January 17, 2012

In the middle of last year I moved and found myself trying to decorate a new studio after only a few months in my previous one.

The new space had the particularly tough challenge of lime green floors.

There are only a few colors that could go with that floor.

The first step with any space make-over is to figure out what must stay and what is going. Since the floor had to stay I had to work around it.

There were a few ways I could deal with a permanent color. I could use a complimentary color scheme and go with red, but that would be a bit much for my taste.

I could have gone with more green in a monochrome palette, but I’m not a huge fan of green.

I could have used yellow for a sunny look, however, that wasn’t quite what I wanted either.

I was looking for something that would energize me, but also create a relaxing space.  I wanted to tone down that green floor or at least make it tolerable.

If you aren’t sure what colors would work with which color scheme you can go back to this page to see some examples.

 In the second step, whether or not you have a permanent color to work around, you will need to decide what kind of energy you want in the room.

As a rule, bright colors are energizing and muted colors are relaxing.

Blue: Calming, relaxing, brighter blues can lend a bit of energizing quality to a room, especially if they are paired with a more energizing color.

Violet: Darker violets are rich and opulent while the paler shades can produce a calming effect similar to lighter blues.

Yellow: Sunny, warm, happiness (Red, yellow, and orange are used in fast food restaurants to stimulate hunger.)

Red: Passion, anger, stimulating, romantic and intimate

Orange: Warmth, autumn,

Green: Spring, nature, it can be calming or energizing depending on if it is bluer or more yellow.

These are just a few of the affects colors can give to a room.

The third step  would be to take a sample of the color you need to work with if you have one (this includes any wood framing as well and what tones are in the wood.) to the store you are going to buy your paint from. Since you should already have a color in mind this shouldn’t be too over-whelming.

After selecting a match, the fourth step is to take some of the color sample home (as well as a shade darker and/or lighter.) If you are having a hard time deciding, take a few.  Paint some large squares of cardboard the colors you brought home. Hang them on the walls in different areas to get the feel of what they will look like. You should observe the colors during different times of day to get a true feeling of what they will look like, especially during the time of day you are most likely to be in the room.

You will want to have the cardboard samples up for a week or two to really decide if the color is right for you.

Once you have the color picked out you are ready to paint.

That particular blue happens to be one of my favorites and I had a shirt that I wear all the time that I used as a sample.  I also threw down a dark brown rug to warm up the cold garage floor and to cover up all but a minimum area of the floor.