Step 1: Understand the Room’s Purpose
Before selecting colours, consider how the room will be used. Each space in your home serves a different purpose, and the colour you choose should enhance the room's function.
- Living Room: This space is often used for relaxation and socialising, so warm tones like soft yellows, creams, and light browns can create a welcoming atmosphere. Alternatively, a combination of blues and greens promotes calmness. A feature with a deep, warm colour can add depth and a cosy feel.
- Bedroom: Bedrooms are personal sanctuaries. Opt for restful, soothing shades such as muted pastels, soothing greens, or cool neutrals to encourage relaxation.
- Kitchen: For spaces where creativity and energy flow, like the kitchen, brighter, energetic colours like yellows, whites, or even playful greens work well.
- Home Office: Productivity is key in a home office, so go for focused, neutral shades such as grey, soft greens, or deep blues to promote concentration.
Tip: Identify the mood you want to create in the room and let that guide your colour selection.
Step 2: Start with a Base Colour
Your base colour will serve as the foundation of your palette. This colour typically covers the largest surfaces, like walls or flooring, and sets the overall tone for the room. Neutral shades like whites, creams, and light greys work well as base colours because they are timeless and versatile.
For a more adventurous approach, consider starting with a deeper shade, such as navy blue or forest green, which can add sophistication and depth to a space.
Tip: If you’re unsure, stick to neutral base colours and add splashes of colour through accessories and accents.
Step 3: Use the 60-30-10 Rule
The 60-30-10 rule is a classic interior design principle that helps you create a balanced colour scheme. It divides the room’s colours into three parts:
- 60%: This is your base colour and should be the dominant colour in the room, covering most of the walls and large furniture pieces.
- 30%: A secondary colour that complements your base. This can appear on curtains, smaller pieces of furniture, or rugs.
- 10%: An accent colour used sparingly to add personality. This can be used in the woodwork, skirting, architrave or decorative items like pillows, artwork, or vases.
This rule helps ensure that the room looks cohesive and prevents it from feeling overwhelming with too many bold colours.
Step 4: Consider the Room’s Lighting
Natural and artificial lighting dramatically affect how colours appear in a room. Before committing to a colour, observe how it looks in different lighting conditions throughout the day. Paint large pieces of mount board and move the swatch at different times of the day.
- Natural Light: Rooms with plenty of sunlight can handle cooler tones like blues or greys, while darker rooms benefit from warmer shades like beige, ivory, or linen to brighten them up.
- Artificial Light: Under warm artificial lighting, colours can appear more yellow or orange. Cool LED lighting, on the other hand, can make colours look crisper. Always test paint samples under your room’s lighting to see how they truly look.
Tip: When in doubt, opt for colours that work well in both natural and artificial light, such as soft greys like Farrow & Ball Skimming Stone or warm whites like Benjamin Moore Simply White.
Step 5: Incorporate Colour Theory Basics
Understanding basic colour theory can help you create harmonious colour schemes. Here are a few classic approaches:
- Monochromatic Scheme: This involves using different shades of the same colour. It’s great for creating a serene, sophisticated space with depth and dimension.
- Analogous Scheme: These are colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel, such as blue and green or red and orange. This type of palette brings a sense of harmony while still adding variety.
- Complementary Scheme: For a bold and striking look, use colours opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as blue and orange or purple and yellow. This creates contrast and makes certain elements stand out.
Tip: Experiment with online colour palette tools to test different combinations before committing to a scheme.
Step 6: Test Before You Commit
One of the biggest mistakes people make when choosing a colour palette is rushing into it. Before fully painting or purchasing large items, test your colour choices.
- Paint Samples: Try painting small swatches on large mount board and tack them to the walls of the room to see how the colours look at various times of the day. This gives you flexibility to move them around the room. It also allows you to lay out all the colours for various rooms to check the overall flow.
- Mood Boards: Create a mood board using fabric swatches, paint chips, and images of furniture to visualise how the colours and textures will work together in the space. Take your large paint cards with you when you are shopping in-store for fabrics or accessories.
Tip: Sometimes, stepping back and looking at the whole picture helps you see whether the colours truly complement each other.
Step 7: Add Accent Colours and Textures
Once you've established your main colour palette, it’s time to bring the room to life with accent colours and textures. Use your 10% accent rule to introduce pops of bold or unexpected colours through:
- Cushions – use contrast piping to add colour to neutral cushions or contrast piping to block coloured cushions
- Artwork
- Rugs
- Curtains
- Decorative vases or sculptures
- Lampshades
Also, consider textures as part of your palette. A velvet sofa, a woven rug, or wooden furniture can add warmth and dimension to your room, even if they're in neutral tones. Layering textures helps add visual interest.
Conclusion
Choosing the perfect colour palette doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following these steps—understanding the room’s function, picking a base colour, balancing hues with the 60-30-10 rule, considering lighting, and experimenting with colour theory—you can confidently create a harmonious and inviting space. Whether you're going bold with bright shades or sticking to serene neutrals, the key is to make your home reflect your style while ensuring it remains functional and enjoyable.
So, grab those paint swatches and start creating your dream space, one colour at a time!
