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28 June 2013

Understanding Interior Design And Colour Schemes

By Anita Hale


Here we shall examine something that forms the very essence of interior design and home dcor. This is choosing a colour scheme. This very basic decision is not quite as simplistic as it seems. This is because the colours you choose will set the tone for all your other interior design ideas for your room.

Now you probably are thinking, how do I go about choosing the right colour scheme? Unfortunately, it's not a simple case of just choosing your favourite colour. You may favour certain tones and there is nothing wrong with letting this guide your decision. However, the real goal is to identify what you want to use the space for and make it work accordingly. This is what a colour scheme should do.

A fundamental part of determining what colours to use relate to natural light. You will need to have a look at how much natural light the room in question is getting. Where does it fall? Where is it coming from? The amount of natural light will affect what colours work best in the room. Generally speaking, you will want warmer tones in a room with less natural light and cooler tones in a room that gets a lot of natural light.

Let's investigate this concept further. The most natural light a room will get is one that is east-west facing. This is because the room would get all the benefits of a rising sun in the east and a setting sun in the west. By this principle the room should be filled with sunshine all day long. If you have an east-west facing room then you should consider neutral tones. This won't temper th natural light in any way. Instead it will act as a blank canvas and work with the light. Colour can be introduced through your furnishings.

Rooms facing south or southwest can use similar colour schemes to this. However, if you want to move away from neutrals, it's best to try cooler tones. For example, lilacs and blue greens could work well.

In the case of a north facing room, you will encounter a very different problem! Rather than having bags of sunlight, north facing rooms have very little natural light. This is why you should consider warmer tones to add both light and brightness to the space. You can be quite bold with your decisions based on the size of the room. Smaller rooms will require more muted version of oranges, pink and yellows.

It is also essential that you balance out your colour scheme through your soft furnishings and fabrics. You will most likely already have some furniture before you redecorate the room. Therefore you should take this into account when deciding upon your colour scheme as these two elements must not fight each other. Always remember that balance is the name of the game.




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