What's Wrong With This Room! Is it Color?

Even the untrained eye has training. We may not be trained to understand why or why not things look good, but nature seems to always get it right. Whether it's a mountain forest, or a red-rock desert, nature produces beautiful colors, patterns, and textures that work perfectly together. In your room, it's you - not Mother Nature - that makes those choices.

This post is about color.

Color Definitions:
Hue: another word for color
Tint: Adding white to a color
Tone: Adding gray to a color
Shade: Adding black to a color
Value: Lightness or darkness of a color
Cool Colors: Greens, Blues, Violets (also called receding colors)
Warm Colors: Reds, Oranges, Yellows (also called advancing colors)

Color Effects:
Receding colors tend to enlarge spaces.
Advancing colors tend to shrink spaces.
A Complementary combination uses any two colors directly opposite on the color wheel.
A Split Complementary combination uses a "main" color, and the two adjacent colors to its complement.
Related or Analogous colors are any three to five adjacent colors on the color wheel.

Color scheming is not just about selecting colors you like; it's also about color schemes that create the effects you like.

Unified Scheme
If you want to make small spaces feel larger, use a unified scheme. Use the same background color throughout the house, and introduce variety by using several tints (lighter) and tones (deeper) for furnishings. Going from room to room, you can also use different accent colors. Use varying textures to make it more interesting.

Positive/Negative Scheme
One room uses a dark background and light accents. The next room uses a light background and dark accents. Use different amounts of each in these rooms to make it more dramatic.

Tips

• To make a room look bigger, use light cool colors. Paint all surfaces the same color. Match upholstery to the floor. Use contrasting textures to make it more interesting.
• To make an average-sized room feel more cozy, use medium-tone, warm neutrals.
• To square off a long, rectangular room, use deeper, warm neutrals on long walls, and lighter, cooler tins on shorter walls.
• If a room has varying heights, such as a basement with its duct work, paint the dropped ceiling the same color as the wall. Paint the raised ceiling white, or a light contrasting color. The dropped ceiling will seem to disappear.
  

Comments and questions are invited.

Keep Smilin'!