How to create a color palette for decorating?
More than furniture and accessories, it's the color palette that holds a room together. If you stop for a second to look around, you'll notice that every room in your home has a color palette, even if it's simply monochromatic. Although the design style you choose has a big impact on the atmosphere of each room, choosing a color palette is the only thing that will unify everything in your home. In this article, NV GALLERY explains everything you need to know about color palettes and how to choose the one that best suits your desires.
Choosing your colors
Start by working from a color wheel. On this site, you'll find primary, secondary and tertiary colors.
Primary colors
These are your reds, blues and yellows. These colors cannot be created.
Secondary colors
These are your oranges, greens and purples. These are colors you can create by combining two primary colors.
Tertiary colors
These are mixtures of secondary and primary colors to create unique hues. You use blacks and whites to play with the different shades.
Create your color scheme
Now that you have an overview of the different colors, it's easy to create a color scheme that best suits your style and interior design. There are four distinct color schemes to choose from:
Monochromatic
This scheme uses different shades of the same color throughout the room. You might have a dark blue wall, paired with slightly lighter blue sofas and pale sky-blue artwork, for example.
Analog
Here, you use colors that appear next to each other on the color wheel. For example, yellows can be used with greens or oranges to create a soothing color palette in your living room.
Contrasting
As you'd expect, you'll want to use contrasting colors here, for example, greens with blues or reds with purples.
Complementary
Finally, you have colors that naturally complement each other. They can create a bolder style. For example, blue and orange is a popular complementary color scheme. When creating your color palette, you should start with the wall paint color. Then move on to the harder-to-find pieces, such as furniture. Once you have the main pieces of your interior design, it's easier to add accessories.
Tips for choosing your color palette
Now that you've got some inspiration, it's time to create your color palette. Take note of the main colors you've noticed using the previous tips. Next, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Choose the lightest colors to paint most of the walls - about 60% of the room;
- Paint a few accent walls in your living room and bedrooms;
- Add a splash of color in your entryway or on a wall in your dining room, painting only 10% of the room in a brighter color.
By following these tips, your new color palette will blend easily into your home. It's also important to play with warm and cool colors in your design. Here's what you need to know about these distinctions:
Warm colors
These are energetic colors, generally used to paint accent walls or to create style. in a room.
Cool colors
These are soothing, calming colors that make rooms seem more spacious. You can paint an entire room in these colors.
When choosing colors for large pieces of furniture and decorative accessories, it's also a good idea to keep your color palette in mind. In this case, you'll always work with the same three to five colors, but broaden your search to different tones. Choose medium tones for your furniture and use brighter tones for accessories such as cushions and wall decorations.
Think about lighting
When choosing your color palette, remember that lighting changes the look and feel of certain colors. For example, if you prefer warm lighting, the color of your wall paint will probably be more neutral and softer. On the contrary, if you like bright white lighting, your colors will stand out and shine more. When choosing your colors, try to place them close to your current lighting to see how they are affected by it.