Introduce colour to your home
So many homeowners are afraid to add bold, bright colour to their home. You want to, but are too afraid to take the next step. There are many ways to overcome the fear of adding colour to your home and this article looks at various options for adding just a splash of colour here and there.
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Colour blocking allows you to experiment with colour without being overwhelmed. You can use colour blocking to add small doses of high impact colour to architectural features, to detailing and trim, to a feature wall, or limit it to just a small block of colour as shown above and below. You can use colour blocking to create solid blocks of contrasting colour using fabrics, accessories or paint.
Here are other ways to incorporate colour blocking:
Colourful accessories are a great way to add a splash of colour blocking to a room. Look for bargain buys or secondhand saves that you can paint or makeover in bold, bright colours. Paint dipping is a fun and trendy way to add colour to everyday pieces. Plus this allows you to add your own colours - as little or as much as you want...!
Throw pillows and textured cushions are an affordable way to add colour blocking to a space and can instantly update a boring room. Just add a combination of bold, bright colours to your sofa to see immediate results...!
Use paint on walls, art, floors and even appliances to make a huge impact on a boring space. Prominent Paints offer a range of paints for every surface. Use Floor Paint on concrete floors, Enamel Paint on steel and trim and paint walls with matt or sheen paint.
Art is a great way to incorporate colour blocking if you don't want to use paint. But this is a more expensive option. Even making your own large-format art can be costly if you add up the cost of materials.
Tips for colour blocking:
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Don't go overboard with bold colours - or if you do - balance the look with neutral colours. Try to limit your use of colours to no more than three colours. Unless you are aiming for a look that screams Rubik Cube...! Keep it simple and don't try to incorporate too many busy elements into your colour block setting. If you want to introduce patterns, throw in one pattern.
Bigger is better and a big block of solid colour, or a grouping of smaller blocks to make up a big block, will have a big impact.
Apply the 60-30-10 principle:
When it comes to decorating a large room or open-plan space, large areas of unbroken colour can be monotonous. Too much colour, on the other hand, can be busy and distracting. We asked leading paint experts, Plascon, to tell us how to achieve a balance between the two?
When decorating a room - or your home - use the 60-30-10 principle comes in. The numbers refer to the ideal distribution of colours in a room, by percentage. Apply your main colour to approximately 60% of the room, and introduce a secondary colour to about 30% of the remaining surfaces to add contrast and interest (think feature walls and furnishings).
An accent colour should make up the final 10% – introduce this in cushions, rugs, and accessories, for example. This deceptively simple formula will help you to create a unified palette wherever a splash (or three) of colour is required.
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If you still feel that the colour is too overwhelming you can simply concentrate of using the main colour and then add a few small accent colours.
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While a neutral colour scheme can be modern and contemporary, if you love colour in other aspects of your life don't be afraid to introduce colour to your home. Even a small dose of colour can make a big difference to a room.
For a monochromatic colour scheme, or a single colour in different hues and shades, select a single paint swatch and then choose an adjacent colour (colours on either side) to lift up and add even more interest. This not only works for paint but for accessories as well.
And finally, the latest trend for adding colour to a room is to use LED lighting strips. LED lighting is becoming more popular for accent lighting as people realise that LED lighting uses far less electricity than either CFL (fluorescent) or halogen lighting and is extremely long-lasting.
