McNeel Jackson Interiors
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Last Updated: Nov 10, 2024
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The Psychology of Colour: Looking at your wardrobe, what colours do you find? Do you feel energetic when you put on red, do your feel confident in blue, or calm in a soft pink? These colours are not gender specific; they can apply to both women and men. So, if you wear these colours based on your personality and/or mood on a particular day, how do you “dress” your rooms?
When trying to figure out what colour, if any, to paint a room, think about how your favourite colour makes you feel; why is it a favourite colour? Do you also find this colour in the objects that you love, for example, a piece of artwork, an area rug, some fabric or a piece of china. Try to develop a colour scheme around this piece.
Colour Planning:
How do you decorate with these vibrant colours if you’re used to neutrals? Reds range from bold to subtle to almost not there. Para Paints #P335-2 is a coral-red that would be ideal as an accent colour in a girl's bedroom or as a feature colour in a play room; while P371-3 Red Earth may be perfect as a feature wall in a family room.
What kind of mood do you want to create in the room?
If it's one of warmth, creativity and stimulating activity then consider a warm colour hue in the family of reds, oranges and yellows. Otherwise, if you want a room that's calming and creates a mood of peacefulness and aids concentration, choose a cool colour hue like greens, blues and violets.
Using a colour wheel is a helpful tool to understanding how colours complement and contrast with each other.
When you've decided on whether you want to use a warm or cool colour, then you can move on to considering how much of the colour you want to apply and any other colours you want to incorporate.
What combination of colours will achieve your decorating goals? Will it be a mix of orange and yellow, or green and violet? Or maybe you want to combine some warm and cool hues?
Decide on what will be your dominant colour. Consider painting one wall as a feature wall with the adjacent walls taking on a neutral palette. Then apply the other colours you've chosen in your furniture, accessories and architectural details, ie: mouldings, windows, etc.
The following are some common colour schemes:
*Monochromatic colour scheme: Choose a dominant colour and then select other colours from the same colour family. This approach creates a harmonious and elegant mood.
*Complementary colour scheme: Select colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel. This scheme creates a visually striking setting.
*Related colour scheme: Select shades from a group of colours that are beside one another on the colour wheel. This scheme creates a more calming effect than the complementary scheme and a richer feel than a monochromatic scheme.
Combining colour and the right lighting
Unless the room your decorating with colour is completely filled with natural light 24 hours a day, you'll need to consider the effect that the lamp (bulb) you choose will have on the colour that you paint on your walls.
All artificial light sources affect the appearance of colour. Look for more information on colour and lighting as one of the features in our March issue. |