Choosing your paint palette can be an overwhelming but very exciting task. It is essential when beginning the decorating process and can determine a whole range of other elements within your house when it has been decided, so it has got to be right. 

With years of experience in the decorating industry, we have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t, as well as the best approaches to determining your colour scheme. In this blog post we will outline some of the best techniques for choosing your house’s colour scheme and give you some inspiration.

Choosing a colour palette you will love

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Everyone has some idea of their colour preferences, especially after doing some research and getting inspired by the world of interior design. You may have seen a living room on pinterest with a dark green feature wall that you’d love in your home, but aren’t sure what colours will best complement it. 

Getting some inspiration and having an idea of particular colours you may want to use, and the overall style and feel you are going for is a great starting point in choosing a colour palette for your house that you will love. Look online and in your favourite interiors magazine for inspiration and go from there. 

Get into colour theory 

 Utilising colour theory can be a great way to both determine your colour scheme and get inspired. Taking a look at a colour wheel can be a quick and easy way to generate ideas for your colour scheme by selecting the colours or shades you like the most and going from there.

There are a few different ways of approaching colour theory that can help you decide a colour palette; tonal, complementary and analogous.

Tonal decor

This is a great way to approach a monochromatic decorating style, by selecting different shades of the same colour. You could select a dark, medium and light shade of a colour and combine them together for a very modern and popular decor. 

Using variations of the same colour is a great method of making a room look bigger and more spacious, so it is ideal for smaller rooms. Our top tip for a tonal colour scheme is to make sure you introduce a variety of shades, tones, patterns and textures. This helps to avoid any monotony in the colour scheme as it adds different elements and keeps things interesting. 

Complementary Colours

Within colour theory, complementary colours are those that are across from each other on the colour wheel, such as red and green or orange and blue. Using this as a base for your design choices is excellent for a high-contrast colour scheme that is colourful and will stand out. You can choose your base colours, and then experiment with different shades of the initial primary colours to get the look you want. 

This is a very simple approach that gets amazing results. When using contrasting colours in this way, we recommend focusing on one as the main colour, and incorporating pops of the other as not to overwhelm the colour scheme. You could also use both against a more neutral background. 

Analogous Palettes 

Analogous colours are two to three colours that sit beside each other on the colour wheel. An analogous colour palette would be made up of a dominant colour, a secondary complementary colour and a third colour that provides a well matched pop. Going for an analogous colour palette is perfect for a simple and muted scheme like with tonal colours, but with a bit more excitement. 

A great way to approach an analogous colour scheme is with the 60-30-10 rule. You would use 60% of the dominant colour, 30% the secondary colour, and then 10% of the pop to create a well balanced decor. With this approach, you have to be careful not to overdo it. You can apply this colour scheme to a neutral base for a more calming and relaxing effect, with interesting colour features. 

If you are looking for any further professional advice and support with your decorating project, then please reach out to us. We are more than happy to help you bring your vision to life. Click here for more information.