Make Room for Color

One of the first things I did for my living room design was to choose the colors that I wanted. The fireplace in our living room was a dark brown and I had always wanted to paint it, but I made it work for a long time because I was tired from painting the rest of the house and because I didn’t want to take down all the shelves and create a nicer, more custom shelving unit on both sides of the fireplace. But, like every journey, I started with one step. My on-going thoughts of a white fireplace turned into action.
Note: All beautiful designs begin in your mind first. Don’t skip the planning or you will be lost throughout the process.

The primer got pulled out and the fireplace got a new coat all before my husband got home from work. I thought he might be upset, but instead I think he was relieved that I was doing something instead of talking to him about it over and over.

The living room became a construction zone that day and it took months to put it all back together, but that first step started with knowing that I wanted different colors in my home and the vision is my reality now. Here are the parts of a room I consider for color, followed by my thought process for a specific room in my house, my living room. Think about these room elements—walls, flooring, furniture, etc. when you are trying to choose colors for your home styling.

1.Walls, Flooring

I love white walls. White is bright and it is like a favorite pair of jeans…it goes with everything. My floors are already a nice natural wood flooring, so that did not need to be changed.

2.Furniture

Since I chose a leather sofa, I will add pops of similar natural colors through the décor.

3.Additional/accent colors

I want to add pops of blue because it will work well with the kitchen colors that are open to the living room, is calming and makes me happy. I also want some pink and gold in the room, but very subtle.

4.Incorporating what is already there

To incorporate the already-painted black fireplace I will add some black through the lamp, the coffee table and the black and white art on the wall. I love the contrast of black and white.

5.Sticking to the color scheme

Now that I know I love all of these colors and they work well together, I will only add these colors, along with natural colors like the color of wood, glass or plants.
Note: For a very cohesive look throughout your house, use your preferred color scheme throughout the entire home.

Follow The Color Scheme

I made very intentional choices with everything I bought so that it would work well within the color scheme that I chose. Several times I bought art or an item that I thought would work well and then when I brought it home to put in the space, it was the wrong colors. Sometimes it was the wrong shade or tone and other times it was too saturated. These words will be defined later, and it will help you to see color objectively and strategically.

“Color can sway thinking, change actions, and cause reactions.” —Morton, 2018

Now that you understand how I thought about color, begin noting the colors that surround you right now. Color matters, and the most powerful way to prove it is to show you.

I walked into my new home and saw the red tiles and old, dingy blue paint and was ready to walk right out. My husband was not impressed either. But the cabinets were white, and after we didn’t find any other homes in our price range with the amount of square footage and yard, I decided I might be able to work with the colors. I am glad that I gave it a second look since it is now the place I call home.

Apprehension Of How To Pick Paint Colors For Every Room

We bought our first home in July 2015. I was, simply put, obsessive about finding the right home. I had grandiose dreams of the home I would get, and those dreams usually exceeded our pocketbook. Nevertheless, I was determined to find something that would work for our first adventure as homeowners. Since my husband is a horseman and rancher, we looked for property that had land at first, but the land that was in our price range came with very old homes. I was not impressed, and, in the end, Cody conceded to getting a home in the city with a fenced backyard and space for a garden. The reality was that he didn’t have the time to maintain acreage and animals and keep up with his demanding job as a welding engineer.

When we first toured our home, we were not interested. The most daunting thing to get over was the colors. Color matters! There were so many colors and not a single one of them elicited the feelings I wanted. As you have seen by the pictures, we had dark brown, green, red tile in the kitchen, baby blue, navy blue, greenish blue, red, green, and lavender. Along with the colors, was a pungent smell near the front door from their two dogs and seven children. Again, I was not impressed.

We kept looking, but there were also things we loved about the house. The floor plan was roomy, there was a fenced backyard, convenient location, mature trees, white kitchen cabinets and it was under budget. My main level laundry room and a spacious master bath were not in the package, but I was hopeful I could make it work.

One of the first requirements for considering the home livable was painting the interior design hk. I had never painted a house before, and I, naively, thought it would be easy to paint it in its entirety. We pounded out three bedrooms in two days. It was completely exhausting, and we made a lot of rookie mistakes, but I did pick colors that I loved and were neutral enough for us to enjoy now and keep the home marketable.

Although we painted most of the upstairs before moving in, the downstairs and basement were original. We were overwhelmed at the thought of more painting after our whirlwind painting shenanigans, so I stared at the remaining, dark foreboding colors for much too long. The colors impacted me more than I realized. I would find myself getting angry, frustrated and sad when I saw the colors that I didn’t like. I realized that the colors carried weight and I wanted to understand why I was drawn to different colors.