Color Accents | The Importance of Colors for Home Decoration

Have you ever thought about how much colours can affect our mood? Even though most of us might not spend a lot of time thinking about room colour, it can actually influence our thoughts and moods on a daily basis. And when we think about it, the colours of the rooms at home are in fact a direct reflection of one’s personality.

Choosing a favourite colour is easy. But what about choosing the perfect combination of colour accents for your home? It may be a challenge. Colours have the power to determine the way we perceive a certain room and to change the size and shape of furnishings. However, selecting the ideal colours for the rooms in your home won’t be difficult as long as you equip yourself with some information and tips about colours and their effects. Let’s start!

Following trends blindly – a do or a don’t?

Before discussing some useful tips below, let’s make this simple. You don’t have to worry about trends and follow them blindly in order to have a beautifully furnished home. Colour trends come and go, just as fashion trends do. The key to choosing the perfect colour accent in your home is to choose colours that reflect your personality and preferences. Blending colours you like into a pleasing combination is the trick in achieving the ideal look for your interior.

What is the best way to choose the right wall colour?

Choosing the right paint colour for your interior certainly starts at home. Take your time, and gather inspiration from catalogs and magazines, or create a mood board before heading to the paint store for paper samples.

When you think about it, the hardest part of choosing the right paint colour is having too many options to choose from. Collecting ideas from different sources shall spare you from grabbing too many paint colour options on your first trip to the store.

Tip: Let textiles be your guide. Furniture, tiles, different fabrics and carpeting may be available in a more limited colour palette than pain, so choose them first before deciding on your paint colour. 

Room colours and their effect on a person’s mood

Colours affect people in various ways, depending on their age, gender and the climate they live in. However, some colours have shown a quite similar reaction from most people. Of course, variations come from the tones or shades chosen for a certain room. Let’s see why it is important to choose your colours wisely when decorating your home.

Blue

This colour has a serene and calming effect, as it is said to slow respiration, lower your blood pressure and heart rate. Many people often opt for blue as an accent colour for their bedrooms and bathrooms. If you opt for a light blue as the primary colour in a certain room, try balancing it with warm tones for the furnishing and the fabrics.

In order to create a relaxing mood in the social areas such as the living room, or the kitchen, consider warmer blues, like for example the periwinkle tone, or bright blue colour, like turquoise. Just as we mentioned, blue has a calming effect when it’s used as a main colour or a room, but this refers to softer shades. On the other hand, dark blue tones may cause quite an opposite effect, causing feelings of sadness.

Red

Considered the most intense colour, red has the power to raise a room’s energy level. It’s a good choice of colour when you want to achieve excitement, as it’s been shown to speed respiration and raise blood pressure, unlike the blue colour. Red colour accent in the living room or dining room will stimulate conversation, whereas in the entry room it will create a strong impression. Many people opt for red in the bedroom, as well. When seen under the lamplight, this color will appear stimulating, rich and elegant.

Yellow

A pinch of yellow is an ideal choice for kitchens, bathrooms and dining rooms, and it’s obvious why. This colour represents the joy of sunshine, it’s energizing and it is said to cause happiness. In entries, halls and even small spaces, yellow can create a welcoming impression. Even though yellow is a cheerful colour, it may not be a good choice when used as a main colour in a room. Some say that yellow may cause people to lose their temper faster in a yellow interior.  When in large amounts, this colour is believed to create a feeling of anger and frustration. Babies seem to cry more in yellow rooms, as well.

Purple

Rich, sophisticated and dramatic is the impression purple gives when used as a colour accent in dark shades. It is no surprise that this colour is associated with both creativity and luxury, so many recommend it as an accent or secondary colour for any room. Lighter tones of purple, like lilac and lavender cause the same relaxing feeling when used in bedrooms as blue does.

Green

Restful and refreshing, this colour can add a connection to nature when used as an accent colour in just about any of the rooms in your home. It is considered to be super relaxing for the eye. Since it has a calming effect, green is ideal when used as a main colour for decorating. It is also believed to help with fertility by some, which makes it perfect for the bedroom.

Orange

This colour elicits enthusiasm and excitement because it’s an energetic colour. This is the main reason why it wouldn’t be a good idea to choose it as a paint colour in your living room or bedroom. Instead, use it as an accent colour for your exercise room. It will bring out all the energy that your body needs during your fitness routine.

Neutrals

Neutral colours, such as black, white, grey and brown are the colours many interior decorators swear by. They are basic and a part of any interior, no matter if used as accent or secondary colours. All-neutral decorating may go in and out of fashion, but the key lies in the flexibility of these colours. If you want to add life to your room, add bright colours, and subtract them if you want to calm things down.

Tip: Black works best when used in small doses as an accent, in order to give depth to the room.

5 useful tips for adding colour to your home space

1. Go for the famous 60-30-10 rule

It’s everywhere, just take a look at the rooms in magazines. You’ll notice that many people use it when decorating their home. So what does this rule mean? It’s all about dividing the colours into percentages when decorating a certain room. Let’s see how:

60% – dominant colour

30% – secondary colour

10% – accent colour

Or if translated into a room colour pallete, this would mean:

60% of the room’s colour are the walls

30% of the room belong to the furniture

10% of the room’s colour goes to details, such as pillows, lamps, or a floral arrangement

2. Choose your ideal colour scheme 

Deciding on the right colour scheme for a particular room or an entire home can certainly be a challenge. So, in order to simplify this process, use a colour wheel and try to narrow down your choices to two colour schemes.

•  Analogous Colour Scheme

Analogous colours are those next to each other on the colour wheel, like yellow and green or red and orange, and their tones in between. Many designers say that rooms which use an analogous colour scheme are more restful and muted in terms of coloration. So, it’s best if you use this scheme in the more informal areas of your homes, such as bedrooms and family rooms.  

•  Complementary Colour Scheme

On the other hand, complementary colours are those across from each other on the colour wheel, like purple and orange or blue and yellow. Rooms decorated in this scheme seem more formal and more visually challenging. Designers recommend this colour scheme for more formal areas of the home, like the living or dining room.

3. Follow nature when choosing the ideal colours

A lot of interior decorators are inspired by the outside world when decorating a certain room. Have you ever thought of replicating nature inside your home? This means darker colours for the floor, which represents the ground, medium colours for the walls, which represent the trees and mountains and light colours for the ceiling, which would be the sky. Start with dark, and go light as you decorate vertically in the room. A design that works every time!

4.    Get a colour inspiration from a pattern in the room

Do you have an oriental carpet, drapery, pillows in an interesting pattern or a large artwork? Then choose your room colours based on that piece. It’s simple and fun! If that particular item is in three colours, then you may even apply the 60-30-10 rule. Try it!

5.    Create a colour flow all throughout your home

If you want to achieve a flow of colours from one room to another, just choose a colour you are using in one room and include it in a different way in the next room. For example, if your bedroom carpet is beige, use the same beige for the sofa in the living room. Playing with the same colour throughout the rooms is creative, as you can use it in smaller or larger degrees as you move around.

Choosing interior colour accents has just become easier, right?

Choosing the ideal colours for your home might be a real challenge if you are a beginner. However, you can easily turn it into a fun and creative process with these 5 simple tips. The key is to think about how each colour affects us, as choosing the colour schemes is a reflection of our personality. Choose your colours wisely, as they have the power to create peace and harmony to your home!