How to Choose Coordinating Colors for Furniture, Walls, and Carpet
- 1). Narrow down your color choices based on color schemes that appeal to you from pictures of home interiors.
- 2). Identify the dominant color for the room and limit the colors for the room to three or four.
- 3). Try out a monochromatic or neutral color scheme for a small room or any room where you want to create a spacious effect or minimize defects such as uneven windows, crooked trim or any other problems with the walls or architecture. A monochromatic color scheme refers to using variations on one color, such as pale pink, rose and scarlet, or lilac, violet and purple. Neutrals include white, cream, taupe, beige, tan and gray. These kinds of color palettes are the most forgiving for beginners due to the low risk of clashing colors. Rooms with carpets, walls and furniture entirely in neutral colors work well in contemporary homes and carry the advantage of being easy to redecorate by changing the colors of accent items and accessories of the room.
- 4). Create a basic color scheme with two neutral colors and two other colors. Select a dominant neutral color such as cream and a secondary neutral color such as tan. For the accent color scheme example, the dominant color might be midnight blue with aqua blue as the secondary color. By choosing dominant and secondary colors, you create balance in the room, so there is not too much of any one color. With this scheme, choose cream paint for the walls and paint the trim tan or cocoa. Select a sofa in midnight blue and accent chairs in aqua blue. Add tan or cocoa throw pillows and a carpet to match the secondary paint color, in this case, tan or cocoa.
- 5). Continue exploring possible color combinations based on interior design pictures or your favorite colors. Try the colors out rotating different color choices as dominant or primary colors and then as secondary colors. Vary the color intensities so that all the colors don't compete. For example, don't select all dark colors, or all pastels. Selecting one bright or deep color tends to add interest to a room. For example, in a room done in white, chocolate brown and olive, add some red accent items such as a vase, a painting and throw cushions.
- 6). Obtain color samples of paint, carpet and upholstery or leather swatches for furniture you're considering. Look at them near the windows of the room you're decorating to see the colors in natural light. Visualize the colors at the sizes you intend to use them and factor the use of the area. For example, a lemon yellow carpet sample may seem appealing, yet as a wall-to-wall carpet the color tends to take up the room.
Source...