Color Sets the Mood Color sets the mood for an interior and conveys how you want the space to resonate with your sense of self and style. Color sets the stage for the story of your future. A color wheel is a handy tool, and a trip to the paint store is a great place for collecting swatches and getting inspiration. The most pleasing palettes are compliments (also sometimes referred to as opposites) in their more refined forms. Red and green become soft rusts and forest green, blue and orange become teal and warm brown, yellow and purple can become ochre and soft grey. Choosing a set of compliments to create your perfect color story requires research, thought and a bit of innovation. Many paint companies offer great color palettes to choose from. The above is from Bejamin Moore: http://www.benjaminmoore.com Vision Board Color Story Think of color as the mood of your environment. We suggest that you peruse both interior and fashion magazines, the internet and other sources of inspiration to see what inspires you in this domain. These sources can be anything that captures your attention and conveys the mood you want your space to convey. Clip these to a foam core board or paste them in a scrap book or on a Vision Board. The important part of this step is to see everything together so you can start to find a theme to guide you. It doesn't have to look like a professional design board. There are a number of great websites to find color inspiration. Pnterest is fabulous, I also like www.designdrops.com, is a great site for creating a color board called colorspire: http://www.colorspire.com/ Choose Surfaces First Your Vision Board ideally will help you recognize the style you want in your space to convey. Try to find your inspiration in nature: Beach, Forest, Desert, Chaparral, Woodland, or in a city: Or in a city style Miami, San Francisco, New York or in a Art Historical style such as Italian Rustic, Modern, Neoclassical or Vintage. Color is a way of communicating your deeper sense of self and influences the palette of items such as walls, flooring, kitchen and bathroom cabinets and countertops. An Interior Designer starts with the overall backdrop of floors, cabinets, and larger color forces. Add these items to your color palette so that you are reminded of the overall sense of mood. Perhaps these are items that are existing pieces that you plan to keep. To create your color palette, you will want every finish to harmonize with the next, even if they are not in adjacent rooms. A contiguous color palette, even though everything does not match from room to room takes skill and attention. Nature can be a great inspiration for design. This picture that I took on a recent road trip to Mono Lake is my inspiration for a room I am designing. Colors: Flooring, Upholstery, Rugs and Drapes These are the most influential and stationary items in your palette. A neutral background can hold multiple color palettes and give you the ability to shift things over the years and seasonably as well. Your flooring, mill work, trim, rugs and drapes are high ticket items and will determine what is possible so choose those carefully. And, it is much easier to shift items such as pillows, wall colors and drapes without a lot of disruption. These are places to have fun. Color, pattern and texture can all influence your color palette. Pay attention to the reflective quality of fabrics and how light plays upon each surface and texture and the light coming into windows that all influence how color shows up in each room. This neutral palette, similar to the one above can easily be shifted by using bright colors such as hot pink or rust, or analogous colors such as dark green, or lavender. Be a Designer Always lay everything out before you decide on your color scheme. Get fabric swatches and make sure you look at them in the room where they will be. Make large painted poster boards of your desired colors and live with them in the room where you will use them. Make design boards as we do. A good Interior Design Board allows a designer to visualize an entire concept. You can find good examples of these online. It is worth the extra work to make a board that reflects what is possible. An important idea is to add accent colors in their pure compliments to enhance a more neutral palette. An example of this would be to add a bright blue to a rust and dusty blue palette. Compare your color choices to your finishes board to ensure the colors coordinate. Follow your instincts but check your work. This is a tricky job, but worth the extra work if you really want to make your home or business a beautiful example of your own creativity.
