Interior Decorating: Thoughts on Color
Article by Mary Gilliatt
Color is generally the most exciting, the most immediately noticeable and the least expensive element in decoration.
It also arouses the strongest emotional responses, can affect the apparent proportions and light in a room and can make the same space seem cool or warm, restful or stimulating, depending upon color choice. Alighting on the right harmony and contrasts is therefore important. But getting to know how to alight on such choices is not necessarily so easy.
Some people are born with a good, sometimes inspired, sense of color. They can carry a color around in their head and match it absolutely, contrast it subtly and use it as fluidly as a good artist uses paint. Most of us, however, have to develop such a sense through trial and error. Though the good news is that this is quite possible.
The French Impressionist painters in the 19th century were much inspired by a writer called Chevreuil who wrote “The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Color”. Chevreuil noted proudly that, once certain rules had been absorbed, painters invariably used color to better effect. The same must be true in decoration. He pointed out that colors will change radically according to the circumstances under which they are viewed. For example, if red is put near blue, the red appears more yellow. Near yellow, the same red appears bluer. Next to green, it appears purer and brighter. Next to black, it seems duller. Next to white, it seems lighter and brighter. And next to grey, it seems brighter, if not much lighter. If a dark color is placed beside a different but lighter color, the dark color appears deeper and the light color appears lighter. This is the result of contrast of tone. A color is also intensified by gloss. Look at butterflies’ wings, the feathers of some birds, leaves after rain, the different textures of flower petals.
Of course, ‘rules’, when applied to such an ostensibly light-hearted a subject as color, immediately begin to sound weighty and boring, especially when what people are the most anxious to know is how to actually form a color scheme. I always say that when the mind seems blank about a scheme, try emotional response. Take a color, any favorite color – yellow, for example – and think of it in depth. Think of everything floral and yellow, from the palest creamy yellow of honeysuckle or freesias to velvety yellow roses, and all the various yellow shades of narcissi, daffodils and crocuses. Or try straw and hay and contrasting sand; lemons and melons and bananas, butter and honey and olive oil, bright yellow peppers and pumpkins…
It is all very evocative and should help to build up a good monochromatic scheme, especially when the colors are translated into the look of the various textures that go in a room: wool and cotton and silk; paint and paper and plaster, all of which have differing depths and surfaces. If one color or colors in depth do not work for you, think of country landscapes or forest or sea colors. Study paintings and oriental rugs in detail and see how color is laid against color, tone against tone. Thinking up color combinations to suit a room is one thing. Finding the right balance is another. And preparing harmonizing schemes for a whole home is the most difficult thing of all.
There are several permutations for achieving an interesting balance. One way is to keep most of the room in shades and variations of one color – say white, or off-white – for walls, window coverings or shades, floor, the major seating and one or two chairs if the room is big. Use one accent color for another occasional chair, or a pair of chairs, and a third color for pillows or throws or flowers or other accessories. Another permutation would be to keep walls, window coverings and most upholstered furniture in one color, to use another color for the floor and to add a third color in accessories which can be juxtaposed with variations of both the other colors. Or, use the major color for walls and smaller pieces of furniture and add the accent colors in larger furniture, pillows, flowers and art. Try to vary surfaces and textures in these colors as much as possible to make a play to light and shade and pattern. In a small apartment or house, the space will seem much larger if more or less of the same colors are used in different juxtapositions throughout, especially if they are rooted on the same general floor covering. Strong or warm colors, like red or deep apricot, will make walls appear too closed in and the space seem smaller. Cool colors will push the walls out. A long corridor will appear less long if the end wall is painted or covered in a warm color and a high ceiling can be brought down by painting it darker. Rooms facing north in the Northern hemisphere will look more cheerful if warm, luminous colors are used. Rooms that are mainly filled with sunlight will do better with cool colors or a non-color, like white or ivory.
Do you have questions concerning the use of color for your upcoming interior decorating project? We’ll be glad to schedule an appointment at your home or office. Also, you can meet with us at our Regional Design Studio located at 1039 Sterling Road, Suite 104, Herndon, VA 20170. We serve the Northern Virgina, Baltimore and DC Metro area. Contact Sandra Hambley at Decor & You DC:
Phone: 888-969-3326 or feel free to contact us via email here.
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