Colour schemes for your home interiors
How to decide on the best colour scheme for your home interiors?
When looking to design your new home or revamp an existing one, we always think of a style first. Colour is one of the important elements which sets the tone for the style as desired. There are many layers to a well-designed house. Colour is one of the more important tools at our disposal to communicate the feel of the interior design concept. Combined with proper lighting, it can work wonders.
The house should reflect the personality of the homeowner. There are many aspects we need to consider before finalizing colour. If we break down our approach in some logical investigative steps, a daunting task of bringing all the elements together in harmony feels like a peace of cake. And this comes easy to the trained eyes of Interior Designer.
To simplify let us break it down into 2 basic questions…
Style of the space
What is the kind of feel, personality and look you would like the interiors of your house to radiate?
A simple approach is to pick the latest magazines on your closest side table, or search for it online and see which of the many available themes or styles appeals more to you. Analyze what in it appeals you?
is it the color
is it the lighting
is the furnishing, or
is it just the overall feel
Make a note about it. If you are caught between more than one, put them in different folders for now.
Function of the space
How are you planning to use this space?
Colours behave differently in different environments and have an equally powerful effect on the way we feel about the space. It’s important to define the objective of the space before deciding the colour scheme that fills it. The key question to answer is about the kind of activities you would like to perform in this area.
is it for focused work
is it for relaxation
is it for family activity
is it for entertainment
is it for retiring
A focused work area needs a subtle, toned down color scheme which has the same feeling both during the day and evening. For relaxation or sleeping, you may want darker shades of colour that increase a sleep-inducing harmone ‘melatonin’. But for family activity area warmer colours may be used for inducing positive energy. You’ll find a lot of content on this topic of ‘Psycology of Colour’ in case you interested.
Of course, the whole process does not end with picking the right colour scheme. Even if we have determined a colour for a space, it needs to be balanced with right hue and shade. Lightness or saturation of the colour is used to set the mood of the space. To avoid a monotonous colour scheme, introduce other colours and accessories, but striking a right balance is important.
A simple 60–30–10 rule can help you achieve this.
60% — Back drop for setting the stage. This is usually a neutral colour like beige, grey, taupe etc.
30% — Secondary colour to bring depth. This should ideally support the main colour and yet be contrasting enough to create interest and playfulness.
10% — Accent colour to set focus. The accent colour beings in balance and avoids the monotone within a space. But it needs to be used with caution because if overdone it may lose its essence.
We hope this helps you get an idea about some key aspects you need to keep in mind while choosing the best colour scheme for your home interiors.
Or it will equip you with the right answers when you go your interior designer.
In case you still need some help do let us know at Kuvio Studio — a botique interior design firm based out of Bangalore, India.
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