Tips For Choosing Colour Combinations For Your Home

Using colour and creating a cohesive flow throughout your home can be quite challenging. Writer Erin Carlyle from Houzz spoke to US designers and shares their techniques for avoiding a disjointed colour flow in your home, below.

Colour preferences vary as much as personalities. Some people love the bright and the bold, while others feel most secure surrounded by neutrals. The good news is that, when it comes to colour, there really is no ‘correct’ palette.

That said, we’ve all been inside homes where an explosion of colour created a choppy feel between rooms – and sometimes, the urge to run. A great way to avoid this is to hire a decorator or colour consultant, either to guide your entire renovation or decorating project or simply to advise you on the best colours for your spaces. We asked US pros to share their tips for creating a cohesive flow of colour throughout a home.

Pick A Flow-Through Paint

One simple way to create a cohesive feel is to use a consistent paint colour on the walls of connecting spaces. “Particularly in homes that are open-plan, it’s best to choose one colour that’s going to serve as your main colour or your neutral,” says Kelly Porter an interior designer based in Washington DC, USA. “That doesn’t mean it has to be beige or white or grey. But the foyer, hallways and that main connector room should all be the same colour, because you want to have that dominant colour in your space.”

Pay Attention To Sightlines

San Francisco interior designer and colour expert Jennifer Ott frequently works with clients who want more variety in their wall colours. When that’s the case, she suggests sightlines. When you’re standing in the living room, which other rooms will you see? If you have a view into the kitchen, the dining room and the hallway, then the colours for those spaces need to work well together. “It can start to look wacky if you have a different colour scheme in each room,” says Ott.

Choose Colour Groups

One way to increase the likelihood that a colour scheme flows from room to room is to limit yourself to colours in the same temperature family. “Some people will stick to a warm colour palette – reds, oranges and yellows – or a cool scheme – greys, greens and blues,” says Ott. Another option, Ott suggests, is to select one or two colours and then use variations of those. If the main colour is blue, you might select a grey-blue, a pure blue and a navy paint as you move from room to room. The same concept can be used for decorative accessories. For wall paint, you can ask the paint shop to create a tint of a particular colour, perhaps knocking down the main colour by 50%, which the mixer will do by adding white. “They can create a lighter or darker version of it,” says Ott. “That’s a good way to unite [spaces] without putting the same colour everywhere.”

For Bold Colours, Use Accessories

Accessories are a less expensive way to introduce dramatic colours than purchasing a sofa or rug in the same tone, and they’re also easier to change should you tire of a colour. Limiting bold colours to accessories also helps you to avoid the shocking effect that can happen when a dramatic shade is painted on all four walls. “The key is finding a way to inject the colour that makes rooms interesting and exciting without feeling as if you need to escape,” says Ott. Bright colour is good when you want to highlight a piece worthy of noticing.

Tie Rooms Together With Accents

Accent colours can change from room to room, but continuing one consistent colour throughout the home can help create a sense of continuity. “Let’s say you have green and blue in your living room,” Porter says. “Perhaps for the dining room, you use one of those two colours, maybe just the blue. Or you could do blue and yellow. So the blue is what will tie those rooms together.”

Consider Using Colour-Planning Tools

Those who love delving deeper into design principles may want to read up a bit on colour theory – or at least ask your interior designer about it. “One of the main things I explain to my clients is the colour wheel,” says Wardlaw. “To keep that cohesive feel throughout your home, one of the main things you can do is consult that.” A basic rule of thumb is that using analogous (or adjacent) colours on the wheel will create less contrast and a more calm feel, while choosing complementary colours (across from one another on the wheel) will create greater contrast and a higher-energy room. Understanding the relationships between colours will help you see why certain combinations have certain effects on you.

For A Well-Designed Look, Hire An Expert

Designers have studied colour and can offer invaluable guidance when you’re decorating or renovating. You can hire one to take your project from start to finish, or simply as a consultant to troubleshoot a specific area, such as tweaking your home’s palette so the colours flow well throughout your home.

Here at Hurst Homes we offer complete customised homes that can be as individual as the owner. We guide your through the entire process including your selections to ensure you create your dream home. Just another reason why we are considered Waggas best builder. With over 30 years in the industry as a Wagga Builder you can trust Hurst Homes with your dream home. For a free no-obligation preliminary estimate contact us today on 0438 692 962 or fill out the contact us page on our website.

For more tips from the Houzz experts visit Houzz.com.au