C is for Context (and colour!)

One thing that's important to remember when choosing a colour - from the time the selection is made until the room is complete - is that the colour means nothing without context.  Many colours look great alone, but look awful when paired with other items. Some colours look fabulous in one setting and ugly in another (one common reason people call me to choose a colour is that the colour they chose because they liked it at a friend or neighbour's looked completely different on their walls with their furniture!) It's important to consider the whole picture when putting together a room - quite often a colour can give you that "what were you thinking?" moment while you're painting...because you're seeing it on the wall alone, not surrounded by the items it relates to. I often remind clients to wait until the room is put back together before they make a final judgement on whether they like the colour. I've specified a couple of bolder colours this month (these 2 above...going in 2 different homes) - and when I look at the paint chips they can seem pretty "out there", especially for living room walls...but once they're put beside the furniture and accessories that have bits of the wall colour in them, they end up looking exactly as they should.  Context counts!

Outdoor Decorating Mistakes - Part 2

Another outdoor-decor problem? Not considering the more permanent fixtures when choosing a decor scheme.  I've been watching a home reno near my mother's house with interest - the owner chose a stucco colour that they thought would be a neutral: grey. Undertones are a tricky thing, though - the grey chosen has very strong purple undertones, which are brought out even more by the sun (the way your house faces has a big effect!)...so the house actually looks purple. Not necessarily a problem, and it can actually look great depending on what you put with it...but this particular house has a warm brown roof, and this particular roof does not work with the shade of purple on the house. The already-there colour of something permanent like a roof (which is generally not changed for years) needs to be taken into consideration when choosing everything else.  Aside from the roof, pay attention to brick, stone and siding colours.

Using Colour to Fix Problems

It's probably not a big surprise that I love colour - it's the easiest way to update worn out rooms and furniture, and really helps when creating a mood for a room. It's also a great way to fix little design problems!

This homeowner had a bit of repair work to do after a picture frame fell off the wall. Once the holes were fixed, another problem popped up - the walls had been painted by a previous homeowner, so they didn't know the colour or brand to get more. The home is a somewhat open concept, so the wall continued down the hallway, into the living and dining areas as well as the entrance - and there were no suitable corners to make a colour change - which meant the homeowner would have had to paint all the walls toavoid a choppy look. They really didn't want to paint more than necessary, so we needed to come up with something that would cover the repair job and only involve minimal painting.

The solution? Colour to the rescue! I had previously specified a dark brown accent wall in the adjoining living room to fix a sofa/undertone issue (I wrote about it in a post last year)...so we took the rest of that paint and used it to createa colour block in the hallway. This allowed the homeowner to cover the repair, accent their photos, and only paint a few square feet.

Overcome Your Fear of Colour

When people talk about what scares them, many are quick to mention the usual fears: spiders, snakes, flying, heights, clowns, windchimes (ok, maybe the last one is just me...). One you don't hear mentioned is thefear of colour.

While “chromatophobia” is an actual fear of colours, the fear I'm talking about is really not so much a fear of colour as it is the fear of making a mistake. Many people stick with a very neutral colour scheme not so much because they like it, but because they're scared to add colour, or more accurately, the wrong colour.

Here are a few tips to help overcome that fear of adding colour to your home:

- Use Colour in Small Doses

If you don't think you can handle boldly coloured walls and furniture, you can add smaller hits of colour with your accessories and accent pieces. If you think you want to try red, for example, but aren't ready for red walls, go neutral on the walls and furniture, and add your red with throw cushions, vases, and artwork.

A positive side to this is that you're generally less likely to tire of a coloured pillow than a brightly coloured sofa, and a cushion is much easier to replace or re-cover.

- Balance It With a Lot of White

If you don't want to be overwhelmed by a colour, you can tone down a vibrant shade by making sure the rest of the space has a lot of white or neutral colours. Try a collection of large white vases, a mainly neutral area rug with small splashes of colour, or slipcovered white sofas.

- Test Paint Colour First

If you're hesitant about using a bolder paint colour, the best solution is to test it first. A $5 sample pot can save you a lot of trouble and gives you a chance to see how a colour performs before you commit. Rather than painting the sample directly on the wall, paint a large piece of bristol board or foam-core. This way you can move the colour around to different walls and see how it reacts in different light, at different times of day, and with different pieces of furniture.

Once you've seen that you like the colour on the large sample in the different scenarios, and see how it works with the rest of the things in the room, you'll be less afraid to try it on the whole wall.

Studies show that a colourless space can have a negative effect on our mood, so adding colour can do more than just make a room look good – it can help you feel good, too! Try one of these tips and see what colour can do for you.