The sense of color is present in our everyday life, boosting our emotions and memories in the spaces we live in. Today we share some tips on how to decide the perfect color palette for any decoration project.
Many Interior Designers and Decorators ask themselves continuously how to choose the right colors for a client’s project. A lot of variables take place when we design interior spaces and decorate them, as the main goal is to build an atmosphere that surprises your client.
A color palette or a color scheme is a selection of colors that combine perfectly together. This mix can be constructed by color similarity or by the opposition between the colors to create an emotional expression, a dynamic frame, and a visually harmonic design structure.
Understanding the color wheel and its twelve colors is the first step for pairing your infinite color options to decorate. Whether it is the walls of a home, the combination of colors of furniture and textiles, the goal is to find a balance between sophistication and functionality.
Color is a fundamental element for human beings. We observe the world through tones and sensations, as colors possess a range of symbolism in our culture.
One of the first studies dedicated to the subject was written by the German poet, artist and politician, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1810 entitled Theory of Colors. In his work, Goethe argued that color can be studied from different perspectives, such as physical and functional. His most important contribution is a theory about the emotional qualities and attributes of colors and how each color can affect people’s moods.
For this reason, Goethe’s thoughts had become a primary reference in many professional fields such as art, decoration, and graphic design. Goethe said “light and darkness, brightness and obscurity, or if a more general expression is preferred, light and its absence, one necessary to the production of color . . . color itself is a degree of darkness“.
Practical Ways to Decide a Color Palette: It Is All About Combination
One of the simplest techniques for selecting a chromatic range is to play with the endless possibilities of the color wheel. For example, you can use a monochromatic palette to highlight a single color and its different shades and shadows.
You also can mix the selected color with white, black, and gray variants to obtain a wider palette of tones without losing the minimalist focus that the monochrome range offers.
The main idea behind the versatility of the color wheel combinations is that you can opt for complementary, analogous, triadic, or neutral color palettes. If your project demands color contrasts, it is recommended to play with opposites. If you use close-related colors, the outcome will be a greater sense of unity, but you will bring some dynamism too.
When you use triadic combinations, the color wheel will be divided in a triangle format. Blue, red and yellow, or violet, green, and orange. You must take care of the tone and saturation of your desired selection to control the visual load of color inside the project and its application in deco elements such as rugs, floors, or frames. When we misuse color, it can turn out to be a visual struggle not very pleasing to the eye.
Neutral colors are very fashionable right now. Combining achromatic tones with near neutrals you can achieve a soft and non-aggressive look. Neutral tones can help us to highlight key elements of our project, such as eye-catching furniture, and sculptures.
To make your work look more professional, you can find online many sites that will help you in the task of creating harmonious color palettes, based on your decorating goals and the vibe you want to project in certain areas. Decorating a living room, where activity and frequent meetings are expected, is not the same as designing an office or a reading lounge.
Coolors and Canva are very user-friendly online tools to work with. Its software will help you to create precise color palettes. If you want to, the app will suggest automatically generated combinations, or you can create them manually and start a color palette based on a fixed shade or color.
You can save your color library and use it whenever it is convenient. You also can use inspiration photos to extract their color palette to explore unexpected combinations.
The color scheme for any project defines the attitude and the desired atmosphere that we seek to convey thanks to the strength of colors. When you carry out a decorative project, remember the technique, however, you should be guided by your intuition and taste as a decorator.
Do you want to learn more about this topic? Find more in the Interior Design program.