Life & Style | Home & Interiors
Eight rules of clever colour
Interior design consultant Sharon Conneely-Donaldson shows how using colour can make a big difference
- Aquarius magazine
- Published: 00:00 January 1, 2012
- Image Credit: Camera Press
- The colours you use in a room will look much darker if there's a lack of light, so a violet-painted wall, for example, will look almost black in a room without natural light.
1. Decide on a colour palette
Work out how you apply the proportions of colour to your room. As a guideline, normally 60 per cent of the room should be a neutral colour, 30 per cent a second and third colour, and 10 per cent used as accent colours - these are usually bold, bright hues. For example, in a living room, use 60 per cent white - white paint on walls and ceiling or white ceramic tiles on the floor; 30 per cent black and grey - grey sofas and ebony wood furniture; and 10 per cent bold colourful accessories - try mustard yellow and silver on cushions, lamps, rugs and artwork.
2. Use warm-up colours
Warm colours such as red, yellow and orange seem to ‘advance' so they attract attention and ‘jump out' at you. This is great if you want to highlight a feature, such as a statement armchair, an interesting wall, or an architectural feature, such as coving or a chimney breast. Warm colours are also stimulating and lively, so are useful in rooms where entertaining takes place - think a formal dining room - as they encourage conversation.
3. Create harmony
By giving features like pipes, alcoves and doors the same colour paint treatment as walls and ceilings, you can disguise awkward shapes, making the room feel more blended.
4. Make the room appear bigger
If you want a room to seem larger than it is, opt for cool colours, such as blues and greens, which ‘recede', giving the impression that the room is bigger than reality. Cool colours are also restful and calming on the eye, so are suitable for rooms where you want to unwind or chill out, like bathrooms or bedrooms.
5. Shorten a long room
By using a dark colour on the wall at the end of the room and its opposite wall, you'll avoid the ‘tunnel effect' that happens with long, narrow rooms. Instead, you'll shorten the room for a more cosy feel.
6. Consider lighting
The colours you use in a room will look much darker if there's a lack of light, so a violet-painted wall, for example, will look almost black in a room without natural light. Ensure there's some natural light to enhance the colours.
7. Give a room a cosy feel
By painting the ceiling and the walls all the same colour, the atmosphere will be enclosed and cosy - great for dining rooms, studies and bedrooms. If a ceiling is too high, or if the room is lacking in atmosphere, consider painting it a rich colour for dramatic results, or put a textured or patterned wallpaper on it.
8. Create a focal point
Use a strong colour or an interesting texture to draw attention to a focal point - this is usually where the main activity of a room takes place. For example, in the bedroom, the bed is the focal point. Select a bed with an interesting headboard or use a bold patterned wallpaper on the wall behind the bed.
Sign up to one of Sharon Conneely- Donaldson's interior design courses by calling 050-5323749.
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