From the Floors Up

Surprisingly Effective Color Palettes

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Colors can have a dramatic impact on our living space. Each color has the power to influence the overall mood of the atmosphere. In fact, designing a room comes down to colors. We tend to use color palettes to give rooms a more diverse feel and capture the impacts of each color. If you went into a dimly lit, dark restaurant with red accents, you might feel a romantic vibe, whereas a brightly lit, blue and white atmosphere will have a completely different feeling. Typically, colors that are near each other on the color wheel can complement each other quite nicely. You can easily create a cool-tone or warm-tone atmosphere by choosing the corresponding colors. However, colors that are opposite of each other can also work together. In fact, here are three surprisingly effective color palettes you can consider adding to your own home:

Peach and Forest Green

These colors are nowhere near each other on the color wheel. Even the shading of peach and forest green is very far from similar. However, with peach’s youthful, springy feel accompanied by a more formal green, these two colors work wonders together.

Green is excellent at adding vitality to a space and freshening it up, but when you darken this color by creating forest green, it can dampen some of those desired effects. That is why mixing peach with forest green, creates a highly desirable effect.

Blue and Rustic Orange

Blue and rustic orange are another unique color combination. Blue is known to be a very passive and tranquil color, whereas orange is used in more Rustic or Mediterranean style homes. These two colors complement each other in a unique way. The rustic orange feels creative yet serious, helping to ground the free spirit of a bright blue room.

Teal and Red

The last surprisingly effective color combination that we had to explore is teal and red. Teal is a blue-green tone that is calming yet rejuvenating, whereas red is known to be bold and aggressive. These two colors are known to balance each other out while creating a colorful yet neutral feeling environment.

When exploring the color palette, do not be afraid to get a little crazy. You never know when two colors can effortlessly complement one another.

Transform Your Space With Paint

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Paint is one of the most versatile design elements in decorating. It can transform walls, furniture, floors and fabric. Simply painting a wall, one of the easiest DIY projects, can immediately change the feel and look of a room.  But paint can do a lot more than just change the color of a wall, floor or piece of furniture.

 

This room might seem an extreme example of what you can do with paint. The graphic pattern on the wall is very lively yet the look is achieved with just two colors of paint. Creating patterns with paint can make a simple project have a complicated result.  Using stencils and tape can yield a myriad of patterns. Vertical and horizontal stripes can be done with painters’ tape and a level. Stencils can be as simple as a circle or as complex as a lattice print or classic onion pattern.

 

The techniques that are most typically used on a wall can also be used on furniture. Wood furniture should be properly prepped before being painted. Prep work may include puttying, sanding, priming and more sanding before you begin to paint.  Stripes are easy to achieve vertically or horizontally on the wall.  Painters’ tape should still be used to mark off the stripes to prevent the color bleeding through. Stenciled walls can imitate traditional inlay or patterned tiles.  For a large expanse of wall, bigger patterns will feel less busy.

Coordinating Decor Colors

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Good design has a synergy between colors in the room. The wall, floor, furnishings and accents all work in harmony to create a beautiful color palette for the room. For professional designers and decorators, designing the color palette is a key part in the overall finished room’s successful design.

 

Learning to coordinate colors between different design elements can help you create a room that has a professional polished look.  Coordinating colors doesn’t mean using the same color on every surface and object. This picture illustrates how you can coordinate colors between two surfaces by using paint chips to find the perfect match.

 

Picking up a color from one piece and bringing onto another surface can unite the two pieces.  The paint chips pick up a highlight color in the wall paper.  The same process can be used for the flooring and upholstery in the room.

 

Using a single jumping off point unifies the overall design in the room.  In this case the wallpaper is the starting point. Paint color is next. Once the paint color is chosen the paint chip can be used to select carpeting or an area rug. Upholstery can pick up another color from the wallpaper.

 

Wallpaper, pillows or other fabrics are great places to begin when coordinating colors for a room. Once you have the main colors coordinated you can introduce contrasting colors that appear on the opposite side of the color wheel from the main colors in the room. Use these in objects and small pops around the  room.

From the Floors Up

From the Floors Up blog was created with the goal of providing a destination for consumers, designers and those interested in the flooring, design, and kitchen and bath industries. Here you’ll find, current, accurate and informative information that is always just a click away!

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