Here is the scenario. You just finished that home renovation project in your bathroom or kitchen and now you are faced with an even greater challenge, coming to terms with the color scheme of your new room. As daunting as those paint aisles can become with all of their swatch selectors and types of paint, we have a few nice tips to show you what to check for and consider before settling on the base of your room.
Considerations With Regards to Form and Function
While the shape and function of your new kitchen or bathroom may be fully implemented by now, form vs. function can also be applied to your new paint job. Do you cook a lot? Is the bathroom a high traffic bathroom in your house? Do you want your newly remodeled space to appear larger without actually taking down some walls? These are all specific points to consider when it comes to color.
Who would have thought choosing a color could have so much depth involved? Start by answering the previously posed questions about form and function. If you cook a lot, you may want high contrasting colors. Darker colors can be placed closer to areas of high traffic, while lighter colors can highlight around presentation areas or sinks.
If your new bathroom also attracts the most activity in your house, you may want to consider a more basic approach, with white being your primary color. White, with contrasting greyscale coloring, will always give a room a larger appearance than other colors, while darker colors used in a larger area, say a maroon or an eggplant purple, can actually also expand, as long as the space is not confined.
Use a Color Wheel to Find Complimentary Colors
Color wheels are how professional designers and artists alike formulate color palettes and find complementary colors to inspire them beyond the originally desired color. A proper color wheel will take your single color and give you two additional complementary colors to accompany your primary selection. A complementary color is a color paired to your primary selection that matches or goes very well with it.
For example, school bus yellow matches well with a pale purple and a lighter royal blue, or black goes well with white and grey. Find a simple-to-use color wheel to check out what colors match your primary selection and let the results inspire you when you see them.
Color wheels are available for free online and can help you find colors that compliment your primary color selection.
Consider the Rule of Three When Selecting Your Color Scheme
Every color you select for your new space should be used a minimum of three times within the same space to appear aesthetically pleasing. This means that if you use white for most of the paint on your walls, you will also want other items within this space to be white. For example, towels in your bathroom, dishcloths in your kitchen, and so on.
This presents a true and unique color scheme that speaks out on behalf of your own personality and lets your artistic side shine through in a very simple, yet comforting way.
So, before you decide on a color scheme for your paint, remember that you are going to want additional items within this space that use the same color scheme. This fact alone causes many to gravitate towards white and other plain and basic colors, but we encourage you to be bold and make the space your own.
