Decorating Color Guide.
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Learn the decorating color rules for your room.
The color in your room is affected by where you live, and the direction your windows face.
Remember, decorating with color isn't just affected by your own personal preferences, style, and the size and shape of your room. It is also affected by the lighting.
You can change your artificial lighting and interior lighting fixtures in your home, to suit your interior design requirements - but your source of natural light is much more important.
Decorating color, and the colors you choose, will be very different, depending on what part of the world you live in.
- If you live in cool, northerly climes, the quality of the sunlight has a crisp, cold, bluish tinge - cool colors and pale blues suit this kind of light - think Scandinavia. But, you may also want to warm it all up with some earthy reds, pinks or yellows. You will probably find that the Mediterranean color schemes you admire on your holidays to Greece or Spain, really don't suit a living room in rainy, chilly Britain!
- If you do live somewhere warm and sunny, like the Mediterranean, Florida, or California - firstly, lucky you! - secondly, the light is much warmer in tone, as well as temperature. This is where the strong and bright yellows, oranges and vibrant blues of a Mediterranean-style color scheme can look really stunning.
As well as thinking about your place in the world (very philosophical!) make sure you also consider the way your windows face.
These decorating color guidelines will explain why that great color scheme, that looked so gorgeous in the magazine, will never look good in your home. I am really glad I found out about these guidelines - they have really helped me with my color choices. I hope you will find them just as helpful - and inspiring!
Remember though, to use them as guidelines. If you have got your heart set on a particular color, or color scheme, and you feel it will work for you - then go ahead and try it! Using colors you love, will make sure you love your room too.
- North facing room - or room with little sunlight:
Use yellows, pinks and reds. - South facing room - or room with bright sunlight/room with sunlight all day:
Most colors will look good - especially golds and creams. - East facing room - or room with morning sunlight:
Use greens and blues. - West facing room - or room with evening/afternoon sunlight:
Use peaches and terracottas. - Any room with plenty of natural, or artificial, light, will suit deep, dramatic and vibrant colors.
- Dark rooms suit pastel, pale and cooler tones, as well as white.
- Rooms used mostly in the evenings will suit deep colors, better than pale ones.
Learn more about the color rules - understand how to use interior design color rules in your home to create gorgeous decorating schemes
Choose your color. Click to discover how color in interior design can affect your mood, or learn how to choose a mood for your room
Get ideas and inspiration for decorating color schemes using blues
Get ideas and inspiration for color schemes using greens
Also look at the section on lighting - to discover how your choice of light bulb and interior lighting fixtures, can affect your decisions on decorating in color.
Generally, decorate large rooms in dark or vibrant colors, and small rooms in pale colors. Find out more, in the interior decorating information section on room proportion. Discover how to manipulate your space. Make your room look good, and achieve the proportions you want.
Link back up to the main page on decorating with color.
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