More Quick Color Questions

by Charlotte
(Website Editor)

More quick questions and comments about color, and my replies...

Take a look below...

Or ask your own color question...

Dark blue blinds in the kitchen

My kitchen blinds are dark blue. What color should I paint the wall?

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Comment
By Charlotte
3 May 2012

Hello

Thanks for your question. Unfortunately, to answer it I would need a bit more information about your kitchen.

Do you have any other colors in your kitchen? For example do you have tiles? What color are they? What about any cupboards? countertops? floor?

Is your room small? Large? Dark? Well lit?

There are many colors that go with blue - neutrals, blues, greens, purples, reds, oranges, yellows (and all the hues inbetween) - so you have lots to choose from, depending on what your room is like, and what sort of look you want to achieve.

Looking forward to hearing back from you with more details.

Charlotte

If you prefer you can always choose the colors yourself with the help of the interior design color wheel

More help with color, here...

Colors to go with navy and black

I have a navy carpet and a black leather suite what colours could I use? At moment got red and black and need a change

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Comment
By Charlotte
2 February 2012

Your colors sound quite dark. Do you like a dark look? Or do you fancy lightening it up a bit?

I would make the most of those lovely cool blue tones already in your room, and bring in some more rich and soft blues.

You already have a dark blue, so perhaps some rich mid-blue tones or periwinkle blues might suit.

Don't go for a very bright or 'harsh' blue. Keep it quite soft, muted and mellow.

I would also perhaps paint most of your walls in a soft sand or beige tone. I think this would provide a great contrast for the navy and black colors, and provide a nice light, but warm, backdrop for your room.

Alternative

As an alternative, you could go for some sea blues and greens in your scheme. Be inspired by a sea-scene, or perhaps a rocky shore with rockpools. Use teal blues, slate greys, sea green, jade colors to blend together with your navy and black for a darker, but striking look.

Keep the blue and grey tones as the larger amounts of color, and add the more striking jade or emerald tones in smaller amounts, to be accents or accessories. They should stand out nicely against the blue background.

I hope these couple of ideas have helped give you another alternative to your red and black.

What do you think? Do they fit with your ideas?

Do let me know, and come back and ask any more questions if you get stuck, or need more help.

Good luck with your living room decorating. Think it will look very different!

Best wishes

Charlotte

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Comment
2 February 2012

Idea from @Bathworks on our Twitterfeed - beige or yellow.

Would make a very striking contrast - and would certainly give a bright and very welcoming, friendly feel to the room.

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What Color Curtains with Burgundy and Stone

by Jenny

What colour curtains go with Burgundy Furniture and a Stone Carpet?

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Comment
By Charlotte
2 February 2012

Hello Jenny

You don't say what color your walls are. This would make a big difference as to what color you choose for your curtains.

Some options-

- Stone, or cream - would match with your carpet. May go well with your walls if they are a pale cream or stone color too. This would keep the overall feel quite pale in your room (assuming your walls are a light color), but your curtains would not become a feature in the room.

- Burgundy - go well with the furniture. Assuming your walls are neutral and pale the curtains could become a nice focal point.

- Oranges and terracottas - pulls in those red tones from the burgundy, but not quite as dark. Could allow you to introduce some other colors into your scheme.

- Soft greens - provides a nice contrast to the red tones in the burgundy. Again this could be a starting point if you wanted to introduce some other colors into your room

- Mulberry, plum, muted minky-pinks - again keeping with the red tones, but a richer, warm and softer look. Could introduce some lighter pinks, too, if you wanted.

I hope these few ideas have helped to kick-start your creative color ideas, Jenny.

Do come back and let us know what you think of the suggestions. Do they work for you?

Have you got any more information about your room that could let me help you in a more specific way?

Do come back and ask if you have any follow-up questions, too.

I hope it helps.

Good luck with choosing your curtains.

Best wishes

Charlotte

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I need curtain color suggestions

by Ginny
(Illinois)

I have cadet blue walls and a grey ceiling. My furniture is tan. What color curtains would look the best in this room?

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Comment
by Charlotte

19 July 2011

Hi Ginny

You have several options for curtains in this room, you can choose to accentuate the blue-y tones, or the tan tones.

As tan has quite orangey tones in, and orange is the 'complementary color' of blue (ie it is opposite it on the interior design color wheel) you already have the makings of a striking scheme.

More about the color wheel, here...

If you choose to go with the blues, you can choose deeper or lighter blues, or go either side of blue on the color wheel, and look at teals or purpley shades. This would make the curtains blend in nicely with the blues.

Or, you could choose to go with orange shades, rich rusts, apricots or terracottas, or go either side of the orange, and choose orangey-yellows or orangey-reds. This would make the curtains stand out against the blue more, and would be a good start to make the orangey tones an accent color in smaller amounts.

Of course, you could always choose neutrals - beiges, creams or grays should all work in your scheme, but may not add much of interest to it - although these neutrals can tone down colors they are with (a bit of visual light relief), if you feel the color in your room is a bit intense.

More color wheel help here...

I hope these ideas help - please come back and ask again if you need any more help.

Good luck with the curtain choosing! Do let us know how you get on.

Best wishes

Charlotte :o)

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White fire place wall

by Anette
(Yorksire)

I have chosen apricot color for my living room and think to do fire place wall white but dont know now if that would be ok.

Fire place is black and room is quite small.

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Comment
By Charlotte

4 July 2011

Hi Anette

That sounds a good idea to me! The white will be a great contrast against the black of your fireplace, making it into a striking focal point.

The white will also stand out nicely against the warm apricot you've used on your other walls, creating a nice, fresh and clean feel, and helping your small room feel more light, airy and spacious.

I think it's a good choice!

Do you have a nice mirror, or striking piece of artwork (perhaps with a few orange, apricot or even blue, tones) to go above your fireplace? I think that would set it off nicely as a feature wall, and stop it looking too stark.

Good luck with your makeover - hope it looks wonderful. Let us know how it turns out.

Best wishes

Charlotte :o)

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Brown couch and navy blue curtains

I have a brown suede couch and recliner and also navy blue curtains, what can I do to liven up my living room. My son is a marine and I have those pictures up and also of my two daughter and their families.

Any ideas?

Reply:
By Charlotte

9 June 2011

Hi

To liven up your living room, I would include some teal, turquoise and aqua shades, to complement but brighten up the navy blue...

Cushions, throws, accessories (such as vases) are all good ways of bringing in little touches of color. You could also sew some turquoise or teal stripes, bands or other customisation on your curtains.

You don't say what color your walls are currently? Or if you want to change them...

A light cream would make a room feel lighter and more spacious...

If you want to put a touch of color into the room, you could choose light aqua or turquoise shades on the wall, for a fresh and lively feel...

...or light, warm, peachy or creamy tones for a light but warmer feel...

Why not make a real feature out of your lovely family photos? Think about creating a 'rogues' gallery with an arrangement of photos in a rectangular or square shape together (almost as if you were making one large picture shape from lots of little ones)...

If you've got lots of frames which don't quite match, you could paint them all the same color (or invest in some cheap, plain wood ones to paint...

Bright white frames against a colored wall will make a strong statement, and draw attention to your lovely photo focal point.

I hope some of these ideas help...

Feel free to ask more as you progress with your makeover...

Some of these pages might also help:

Fast fixes for adding your personality to a room

Ideas for brightening up dark rooms

Tips for arranging pictures in your home

Good luck with the makeover

Best wishes

Charlotte

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Paint color for a small room

Wanting to paint my bedroom. Very small room 14x17 with 2 windows.

My comforter is gold damask. and gold & white crinkle sheers curtains.

Needing some advice on what color to paint my walls.

Reply:


Hi

Your room already sounds lovely - very luxurious!

The best colors for small rooms are pale colors, and cool colors - cool colors are colors with a blue tinge to them.

So this is blue, greens, blue-lilacs/violets etc, for cool colors - and any pale color can actually be used, but of course if you combine the pale and the cool together, for example pale blue, you will get the most spacious feeling.

You actually have lots of choice for your room to go with that lovely gold.

You could go for a white/cream and silver sparkly feel to go with the gold...

...or mix with:

-pale blue (to give quite a 'fresh' feel)

-pale yellows and golds - give a warmer feel, or a sunshiney welcoming feel - and blends nicely with the golds you already have (will make the room feel nice and bright)

-greens - a relaxing feel with overtones of 'nature'

-lilacs - lilac is another relaxing color, with a 'spiritual' feel - a very beautiful color combination with gold - quite a dramatic scheme (opposite each other on the interior design color wheel

Hope this gives you some ideas for a color for your room.

How to Choose a Decorating Color Scheme

More ideas for decorating small spaces

Good luck with your room makeover

Best wishes

Charlotte

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Help for a Cornflower Blue Couch

by Emily
(United States)

Thank you for having this site!

I desperately need to tone down a cornflower blue couch.

What can I do to bring out the gray? It is a custom made microfiber loveseat, and is too glaring in my living room of beiges, whites, and browns.

The room also has vibrant pieces of one of a kind art, which is why the palette is neutral.

I already have some blue accents in the room, but they make this loveseat look even more like a giant crayon.

I cannot get rid of it, as it was a gift from my husband.

Please help.

Reply:


Hello Emily

Your living room sounds lovely. I can understand your frustrations at having such a stand-out couch in your room, where your special art-work should be having pride of place.

Do you have any artwork with similar blue tones in? And could you pick out a color scheme using colors from this piece?

With a pale or neutral room it is only natural for strongly colored pieces to stand out. I'm assuming you want to keep your neutral decor on the walls?

In this case look at how accents and accessories can help alter perceptions of the color... You can particularly concentrate your efforts around the couch, where cushions and throws can help physically disguise the color, as well as create a 'foil' to the blue - but do try to carry your chosen color scheme around the rest of the room.

There are a few color suggestions you could try out:

-Deeper and richer blues and teals may make your cornflower blue appear paler by comparison - although, as you have perhaps already discovered, further use of blues will only emphasis the 'blueness' in the room

-Oranges (including peach, apricot, coral shades) and yellows will provide a vibrant contrast

-Red is a very strong color so will draw the attention in any room where it is used as an accent

-Lilacs (blue-lilacs) and purples (with blue-y tones) will draw out the purple tones in the cornflower, rather than the 'blue' ones

-Deeper neutrals (rich browns, for example) will make the blue appear paler in comparison, and lessen the contrast in the room

I hope some of these ideas can work for you, and help you to love your loveseat again.

Good luck.

Charlotte :)

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Gothic Purple in Living Room

by Tracy
(United States)

I am looking to paint a wall in my living room dark purple. Like the one in your gothic photo here...

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Reply:


Hello Tracy

Thanks for contacting me.

Good choice - a deep purple can look stunning!

Be aware that this is a very dramatic choice, and can make your room feel a little darker and smaller.

When choosing colors use tester pots, and even then, be aware that the larger patch of color will likely end up appearing a couple of shades darker than your test patch - so if in doubt, choose a couple of shades lighter than your original thought.

Purple can work well with greens and golds - if it needs lightening up use accents of bright white to give the scheme a lift.

This is definitely a statement shade, so should give you some very stunning results.

Some more ideas about purple here...

Good luck with your living room purple paint makeover - I would love to see how it turns out - you can post pictures of the finished project here...

Hope that helps

Best wishes

Charlotte

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My decision to paint it all blue!

by mostafa
(Cairo, Egypt)

well .. i love blue , but when it comes to painting a whole room in blue people start to have doubts about you sanity :)

maybe its more common in the USA , i have seen it many times & it looked fantastic to me but the people here "in the middle east " just don't like to risk using dark colors ..

they mostly afraid to use them so they just go with the neutrals .

my navy blue was some kind of a shock to everybody, they kept saying "it will make the room look smaller" but i don't think so..

i really like to surprise people .. i know it will be great scheme with light ivory wood frames, doors & windows & artificial stone & some yellow & red accessories .. so let them say what they want ..

i like my decision ..

Comments


cool
by: Anonymous

Wow - your blue room sounds fantastic.

Never mind what other people think - you show great imagination and creativity to go against accepted ideas, when you know it will look right.

You may even start a new trend there, when everyone realises how great your blue room looks.

Well done.

Keep up the good work.
:o)

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Apr 20, 2008
thanx
by: mostafa

thank you very much for your support .. I'll try to share other ideas soon when i finish decorating the whole house .. thank you again :)

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Apr 21, 2008
stunning
by: Charlotte

Thanks Mostafa

We look forward to hearing about more of your great decorating schemes.

Your blue room does sound stunning. It just shows, if you choose a color you love, and that is right for the room, you can get a really dramatic and unusual effect - far better than just playing it safe with neutrals (I think so!)

Nice work.

Charlotte

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