In order to make a major change to a room all you need is to change the color of your walls. It can take a great deal of funding to redecorate using furniture or draperies, paint however can be an inexpensive way to accomplish a quick room transformation. In order to determine which color will be the best for your room consider looking at the fabrics in your room both on the furniture and on the accent pieces that you have. You are going to want something that ties into these colors or is going to contrast them. The colors will also give you a theme or color scheme to work with. This is can work whether you are starting from scratch or you are looking into simply changing room to give it new life. Carpeting and tiling or woodwork should also be taken into consideration and you may want to consider starting with them because they have a limited color selection unlike paint colors.
Any of the fabrics in a room are usually going to have the ability to give you a color choice of three different colors. These colors are usually one neutral, one warm and one cool color. Once you have these color options consider what you want the room to convey in the way of emotions. Do you want the room to be energetic, happy, relaxed, calm, and playful or do you want it to provide you with a feeling of warmth and comfort. Every room in the house can be redecorated using this basis of color selection. Bedding and drapes can be used for the bathroom, powder room and this helps to connect the bed and bath if they happen to be adjoining or even if they are next to each other.
Take a swatch of the fabric with you to the paint store and use it as a basis in order to determine which of the colors are going to bring out the colors in the fabrics. It does matter if you cannot find the exact match. Having the same color in different shades can add dimension to a room and it helps to provide the perfect harmony between color blends. There is one exception to this particular room and that is if you are having the draperies and the walls of the room match. This can create a great deal of illusion when it comes to opening a space up by keeping the color steady throughout the room rather than having an advancing or receding color set. It also gives the dimension and depth of the room the effect of softening them, which helps to increase the illusion that there is more space than there actually is.
In order to do this, start with the fabric that you want to use for the drapes. Take it into the paint store and have them match it. They will use what is called a spectrometer in order to determine the exact formula necessary to duplicate the color in paint. This only works on solid colored fabric however because of the fact that variations in color are going to cause the meter to read the color inaccurately.
If you are looking to create a focal point within your room, consider the fact that if you have lighter colored furniture using a darker color on the wall is going to cause this lighter furniture to stick out more. This creates a more dynamic effect that if you were using a color, which blended and harmonized more than contrasted. If you want to increase this type of effect, use a dark colored wall with light colored draperies. This will bring out the windows as well as the furniture in the room or if you have darker colored furniture this is going to bring out the windows as the focal point of the room.
Remember to make sure to test the color before applying it to the wall. Paint looks different when it is dry. You may find that you need to go lighter or darker in order to get an exact match based on how the paint looks once it has dried. The texture of the wall is also going to cause a variety of color changes so it is a good idea to check out a small patch of the wall before painting all of it or to use a similar texture as the wall in order to ensure that you are getting the color that you want. Also, make sure to view the wall both in the daytime and in the nighttime in order to ensure that the color looks the way you want it too in the different light aspects.
Neutrals tend to end up being lighter or become bland especially in larger rooms so going a few shades darker is going to provide you with a greater personality. If you are using a solid color, you may find you have far too many choices to pick from. Use the color wheel to help to narrow down your choices and find one that is going to contrast or harmonize with the solid color you are using as your base. Start out by thinking about what the colors make you feel. Do they make you feel warm or do they make you feel calm. Solid colors usually result in a less matched feel than if you were using a multicolored fabric. Remember that color is light and the reflections based on lighting, weather, and geography are going to create different effects try your paint tests during different weather and times of day to see how the effect will look. Keep in mind that the outside landscaping such as trees will also change the color and type of light, which enters a room, needs to be taken into consideration as well. By:Leon Tuberman
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