What’s Color got to do with it? - Color and Interior Design Blog
Have you ever visited a paint store or the paint section of the ever-overwhelming Home Depot and stood in front of every color in the world; about a shade apart from the one on top and one on the bottom?! I have, and as a professional who deals with color on a daily basis do not recommend this to try at home because I have gone blind in a matter of 2 minutes! Choosing a color for either one room or one of many rooms could either be the first thing you do or the dead last. There are two distinct ways to begin a home project and save your eyesight and basic will to design your spaces.
1: choosing the most prominent items/finishes for the space; furniture and/or wall to wall or area rug. These items are prevalent because they will take up the most space and offer the most texture, color and style, i.e. a sofa or area rug. You can rely exclusively on these items to begin to unravel your design with a wall paint color far, far away and really not needed. You can then follow up these prominent items with decor such as throw pillows, wall art, etc. and when all items and décor are placed in the desired layout, you have a CHOICE whether or not to add a paint color. Depending on how subdued or glitz your prominent items are looking when all together, you may not even need a paint color; it might actually hinder the space and work against or diminish the power of the prominent items. This approach is considered flexible because it gives you a choice and allows items you love to take precedence rather than a painted wall doing all the communicating.
All walls are white. We used a dark floor contrasted with a lighter natural sisal area rug, tall frosted glass partition sliding doors, a darker smoked mirrored cabinet and colorful wall art to add color and dimension. photo: Cierno Designs, llc
The black leather sectional sofa was chosen to primarily contrast with the white walls and offset the lighter area rug. photo: Cierno Designs, llc
2: choosing the paint color first. This may stem from wanting a certain feel for the space before looking at a piece of furniture. Color is emotional and using it full force as a loaded gun when approaching a room design will definitely render powerful results. This does not mean that fire-engine red will be splashed on a huge accent wall to reach the emotion I am speaking about; emotion could be greatly subtle as well as fiery and color is the best way to extract whichever range of emotion you wish to communicate. Your best offence here, is to have a good idea of the emotion you are aiming for, a preliminary color association and how to use the wall color. HOW? Well, you just paint, right? That is the highly simple version, yes, but a room usually consists of more than one wall and usually that wall leads into another smaller or larger wall. Look at the room you are designing and understanding how the room will layout with regards to furniture will either literally smack you in the face with the wall that is screaming for an accent paint color and all the emotion you wished for in the first place or totally surprise you with another wall that you deemed insignificant winning the emotion color race. Finally, the layout may reveal that no wall is significant or insignificant and it is perfectly pleasing to paint all walls. The revelations of the layout will also guide you to narrow down your selection of how vibrant or subtle the color needs to be i.e. a fire-engine red vs. a more subdued deep brick red or a cobalt blue vs. a sky blue.
Color, color was our primary tool in this pediatrics waiting room. The use of blue was meant to grab the positive attention of the children while also creating an over all calming space. The several blue shades found in the alphabet carpet, the glass housing around the down-lights and the reflective patterned surface of the reception desk fostered a "blue" space that felt more like a playroom rather than an waiting room.
Design is all about pinning down a starting point to unravel the final outcome. Design can be maddening or amazing because making decisions along the way can take you far away from where you wanted to be or lead you right to your vision. In both cases, it is an inspiring journey that builds experience and know-how that renders every design significant no matter where it ends up. Experience with color will never end. Color is our most powerful tool; lack or abundance. It is how humans “feel” when color is communicating or not. What’s color got to do with it? Well you tell me?