subject: Want to be bold with your colour scheme? [print this page] Want to be bold with your colour scheme? Want to be bold with your colour scheme?
There are still a few of us who, contrary to all advice from home improvement programmes, don't want our entire home's base colour to be white or magnolia.
Artistic home owners in particular often like to express themselves through their surroundings and although the end result may not be to everyone's taste, surely your colour scheme should simply make you, the owner, comfortable and content?
If you're fed up with plain neutral colours and want to add a splash of colour into your life, why not try out a paint tester on a small portion of the wall, before you go the whole hog and start painting the room? There's nothing more disheartening than when you finish a wall and realise the pretty lilac colour you chose is in fact more of a vivid purple!
Whichever colour you decide to use, ensure that it isn't too dark for your house. If your home is usually flooded with natural light, dark colours are fine. However, if you live in a darker home, reds purples and other deep colours are probably best avoided. In this instance, why not try a pretty light yellow or blue colour to liven the house up?
If you are feeling brave and are opting for two or more contrasting colours, make sure they do in fact complement each other. Lilacs and pinks go well together, as do yellows and browns, blues and purples and blues and greens. Choose a hidden corner where the two walls meet and use the two testers on the corresponding walls to see how they will work together.
If you're relatively new to colour and are somewhat afraid of going for a bold selection, why not try moving gradually over from neutrals, testing out pastels and after a period of time, moving on to slightly deeper colours?
Remember though that dark walls and clutter will seem to shrink a room, so if you are using a bold colour, you'd be advised to opt for plain coloured furniture and accessories to offset the walls. Beautiful cream coloured vases, and modern ceramics will calm a busy room, with prints kept to a minimum. Keep your sofa, bed or other principal furniture simple and uncluttered, or you may find that you become uncomfortable and perhaps even claustrophobic within the room.
So why not be bold and inject some colour into your home?
