Color

Ever have trouble picking a paint color?  Well, you aren’t alone on this one.  Color is subjective and you probably didn’t realize that you’ve been picking out colors that you like for years on everything in your home or office, including your wardrobe!  The difference for some people is that they know what they like, they just don’t know how to apply that knowledge to paint color because it’s not something one does on a daily basis.

There actually is a ’science’ to picking out colors, its called color psychology; and its effects on you and I can be both subtle or significant, psychological and/or physical. Next time you go into a nice home or business, note the feeling you have when you enter.  You probably are reacting to places and things based on its color; this was most likely planned on purpose.  Color and its importance should never be underestimated.

A simple example of color planning and how interior designers use it as a science is hospitals.  Have you ever noticed that hospitals use lots of greens and blues?  Green is considered a healing color and blue is a relaxing, calming color.  This is a good examples of how the science of color is used for a specific and planned purpose and how its effect can play a major role on how people feel in a space.

So where do you begin?

-Always Start Small.

• Experiment with small spaces like bathrooms, hallways or a simple accent wall.
• Select a color from a favorite piece of art, rug or other furnishing and use it as a basis to get started or an accent.
• If you don’t like it, change it!

-Think about the mood you want to establish: restful, soothing, dramatic, playful, formal, informal?

• Soft cool colors and neutrals create quieter feeling spaces while stronger colors add drama.
• Warmer contrasting and brighter colors add atmosphere, deeper blues and greens and neutrals make a space feel more formal
• Stronger more intense colors are best used in active spaces. Lighter colors that are more saturated can also achieve this result.
• Very light colors can feel stark when applied on all surfaces in a room, try using two or more medium-light, closely related pastel colors to create a luminous effect in the same room.
• Color in kids spaces are very important because intensely bright hues can overstimulate and lead to restlessness and irritability.

-Pay Attention to Lighting.  (Lighting is another science and a topic for discussion later!)

• natural daylight shows true color,
• incandescent lighting brings out warm tones and yellows,
• fluorescent lighting casts blue tones

-Learn Basic Color Terms:

• A hue is another term for color, red is the hue, blue is the hue.
• The value of a hue is how light or dark (how much white or black it has)
• Its saturation refers to how dominant the hue is, ie: red is fully saturated and pink is less saturated
• Intensity is the brilliance of the color, pure colors like red are more intense than colors that are mixed, like yellow-green.  A stronger intense color has a more dominant hue.

-Test your Colors!

• Before applying your color to the space, test colors on a large area of a wall and back up!
• Most importantly, don’t be afraid, it’s only paint!

-Consider Decorative Finishes:

• Add depth and transform flat, dull walls into interesting and personal spaces with subtle or dramatic visual texture and broken color.
• Burnished mineral/metal finishes and layered colored glazes add depth.

-Consider Adjacent Spaces.

• How will new colors interact with colors from adjacent rooms? Color planning addresses this issue: consider how colors will flow from room to another.

-Use a Color Wheel.

• A color wheel is a great tool for working with two or more colors.  This will help in selecting and making choices which may be complementary, contrasting or to consider new combination’s that you might not have thought would work together.
• A color wheel will also illustrated visual temperature differences between colors; ie; warm and cool colors.
• A color wheel can assist with Monochromatic schemes.  Try a single color in different shades or tones for walls, trims, ceilings (bold or subtle).

-Try Different Paint Finishes.

• A variation of a monochromatic scheme can be achieved by using the same color with different finishes. (satin, semigloss, matte)  The color will appear slightly different on each surface and a great way to create cohesion in rooms that have many doors and windows and little wall space.

Feeling confident now?  Give interesting and new colors a chance, try something different!  Remember, it’s only paint!