Creating Beautiful
Room Color Schemes
If you are trying to create room color schemes for painting or decorating, the following ideas will get your creative juices flowing.
Choosing the right paint color for your home involves many decisions. What is the function of the room? How much natural light does it get? Who will live there? What mood are you trying to create? What is your reaction to a particular color? And so on.
But when it comes to composing room color schemes, there is one more thing you need to think about, and that is the relationships between the colors.
You see, color is not perceived in isolation - it is affected by the other colors used next to it. Colors change in relation to one another, so every time you start choosing paint colors for the walls, you must remember to pay attention to the context.
There are several ways to approach creating successful room color schemes.
The first one is to use the guidance of the color wheel. Its formulas will teach you what colors look good together and why, and help you create paint color combinations that work.
Another way is to rely on your own gut reaction to a particular combination of colors. You can do what interior designers do - come up with new and unusual ways of combining colors.
You can also get a beautifully coordinated, ready to use color scheme by simply copying the color combinations found in your favorite painting, a piece of fabulous fabric, a flower or even a bowl of fruit.
And finally, you can just cheat and save yourself a lot of time and learning curve by geting yourself a copy of the Paint Color Cheat Sheets (they come with coordinating color recommendations).
Ready to create room color schemes that wow?
Then let's get started!
Color Wheel Paint Colors: Pro's and Con's
A paint color wheel can often be helpful when you need direction and ideas for color combinations that can potentially work. But like most tools, it has its limitations as well... do you know what they are?
Coordinating Paint Colors Without Fear
Who knew? Learning about color can be a child's play! Here you will learn a fun and simple exercise/game that will teach you how to match and coordinate colors like a pro, and put together colors in an eye-pleasing (and sometimes mouth-watering) way!
Test Your Interior Paint Schemes
Did you know that all successful room color schemes leave clues and have certain things in common (like the number of colors used, the relations between the colors, and a little surprise factor). Check to see if your home's palette passes this test...
Testing Interior Painting Colors On a Swatch Board
If you want professional looking results when re-decorating one room or your entire home, why don't you do what professional decorators and color experts do - create a project board first before finalizing your color choices? Not only is this helpful, but great fun as well!
When Home Decorating Colors Go Wrong
So what exactly do you do when you look at your room color scheme and don't like (or even pretty much hate) what you see? You read this tutorial and make some strategic changes, that's what! Luckily, most decorating mistakes can be easily fixed - see how...
Decorating With Paint and Color Q&As
Do you have a burning question about using color for decorating or painting your home? Chances are, somebody has already asked it! Browse through these frequently asked questions from other homeowners and our answers about how to prettify your home with paint and color...
Complementary Interior Color Schemes
Are you new to color theory and its practical application in a home? Then why not start with this simple 2 color combination? It's the easiest and most popular way to pair colors among professionals and DIYers alike, and it produces quite dramatic color combos...
Analogous Paint Color Schemes
If you don't like jarring contrasts in color in your decor, consider this color wheel formula. Based on 3 similar colors (for example, yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange), it yields very harmonious, flowing and natural-looking room color schemes.
Triad Interior Paint Color Schemes
This combination adds just as much punch as a Complementary combo, but has more color variety within it. Consisting of 3 drastically different colors, a Triadic formula is a fun and very versatile combo for painting and decorating a home.
Split Complementary Paint Color Combinations
A cross/compromise between a Complementary and Triadic color schemes, this is great choice for beginning decorators, because it's almost impossible to make a mistake here. No matter what colors you combine using this "recipe", they are virtually guaranteed to work great together!
Double Split Complementary Home Color Scheme
Here's perhaps the most advanced of all the color wheel templates. It combines both warm and cool colors, and provides plenty of variety (4 different hues) - and for that reason, beginners often find this complex scheme tricky to balance and make work.
Monochromatic Paint Color Palette
It's a flowing and easy to compose scheme - after all, how hard can it be to just use the same color on everything, right? But it can also look blah and boring if you don't know how to bring it to life with texture and shade variation...
Neutral Color Combinations: 5 Keys to Success
They look so easy and simple to put together, when in fact they usually take more time to create than "real" color palettes! Learn about 5 key aspects you need to pay attention to when working with neutral tones in your decor: undertones, contrast, texture, punctuation and pattern.
Neutral Color Schemes
If you are on a budget or just new to using color in your space, neutrals are usually your best choice. A room color scheme based on neutrals is safe when done right, but it doesn't have to be dull or boring. Think of it as a perfect and versatile canvas, capable of becoming anything you can imagine...
Creating Neutral Color Palettes
When neutral color combinations don't work and look all wrong, most likely it's the mismatched undertones that are the culprits (the most misunderstood and underestimated aspect of color). Here you can learn the basics of how to coordinate undertones in neutral palettes.
Paint Color Ideas Taken from a Painting
Artists are masters of combining colors beautifully and tastefully. Why not copy their color combinations - it's perhaps the most underrated and virtually foolproof way to color your home! See for yourself how easy it is to transfer the colors of a classical painting to a decor.
Wall Color Ideas Inspired by Fabric
Here's another solid idea: using the color palette of designer fabric to build your room color scheme around. It works like a charm and is as simple as painting by numbers! All you need is a piece of some fabulous print or chintz fabric to get started.
Flower-Based House Painting Color Schemes
What a fresh idea: mimicking the natural colors (and even textures) of a flower in your decor! After all, Mother Nature is the Queen of color, and you can never go wrong if you imitate Her work. Click the link above to see an example of basing your room color scheme on a flower.
Delicious Wall Painting Colors
Now how about taking home decor and painting inspiration from... fruit? You can use a single fruit like a sensual fig as a color scheme starter, or even a whole bowl of fruit - either way will look absolutely delicious gorgeous in your home.
House Paint Color Combinations from a Rug
Have you ever used an area rug as a home decor starter? Be it a contemporary rug or a Persian one, it offers a ready-to-use, well-coordinated palette you can repeat throughout your home (on the walls, and in your fabrics and accent pieces) for a pulled together look.
Natural Interior Paint Color Ideas
Whenever you need inspiration and fresh ideas, look to nature! All you have to do is snap a picture of your favorite environment or season (or find a breath-taking image online) and pull the colors from it to use in your home. The Nature won't mind the copying, we promise.
Interior Paint Color Combinations for Apartments
If you live in a small apartment, you'll be better off to use a limited number of colors interexchangeably from room to room. Here's a helpful step-by-step tutorial for creating apartment color schemes based on only 3 colors.
Small Room Colors and Schemes
Learn what you need to know about composing room color schemes if you live in small quarters. See how much contrast, drama and variation in color your small place can really take...
Wall Color, Art and Decor: Should They Match?
Decorators often use wall art as an inspiration for a room color plan, while art collectors cringe at the very thought of matching wall colors to a painting. So what do you do then? Find the answer to this age-old question and debate.
Matching Paint Colours to Artwork
What you need to know when matching or coordinating wall colors with art: learn how to show your favorite piece of art in the best light, draw attention to its subtle details and coordinate your decor with it - without being matchy-matchy.
Your Signature Home Decorating Color Schemes
Do you know what painting and decorating style represents you? Do you have a signature style and do you even need it? How do you discover your "look"? Creating an inspiration color file is a good start...
Decorating With Color: Best Practices
Learn the time-tested methods and go-to guidelines of color professionals: how to use color harmonies, placement, contrast, accents, effects, flow and transitions to your advantage when your goal is creating a harmonious and livable space.
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