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Transform Your Home With Color
By Doris A. Black
Color is the most obvious design element in a room. One of the easiest and least expensive ways to change the atmosphere in a room is to change the color. White walls and ceilings are passé. Splash some color onto the walls to create a room with attitude.
Start by deciding how you use the room and how you want it to make you feel. Look through magazines and note how the photographs make you feel. If you find one with the impression you want for your room, analyze the colors. Reds and oranges are vibrant. Blues are cool and refreshing. Neutral and pale colors are serene. Traditionally it has been thought that light colors make a room appear larger and dark colors make a room appear smaller. However, today some designers ascribe to the notion that dark colors actually appear to recede, making the room look larger. You may want to experiment with light and dark colors to form your own opinion. Another method of selecting a color is to draw the colors from a favorite piece of fabric or painting. If possible, take the item with you to the paint store when selecting samples.
The way a color chip looks at the paint store may be entirely different than the way it looks in your home. For example, I once selected a lovely coral color for my dining room. I was so excited at what I was about to create that I went straight home and painted the entire room in what turned out to be bubble gum pink. Yuck! You may have experienced a similar scenario.
Don’t be influenced by the paint names—they can alter your impression of the actual color. Pick 10 to 20 paint samples to take home. You’ll narrow these down later. Hang a few at a time on different walls in the room and notice how the shades change at different times of the day. Right away you’ll spot those you don’t like. Switch the remaining paint samples to different walls and notice how they look different than the way they did on the first wall. That’s because light is reflected at different angles throughout a room, sometimes to the extent that you can’t recognize the color. The idea of selecting a paint color may sound easy, but you really should live with it for a few days before making a final selection.
Glazing and faux-finishes are all the rage now. If glazing is new to you, give it a try. It is a little more work—after all you’ll be applying at least two coats, but layering paint will give the wall depth and dimension. If you’ve chosen your colors well you’ll be pleased with the extra effort involved. If it’s not what you had in mind, don’t panic. Just paint over it. That’s what’s so perfect about remodeling with paint; it’s inexpensive and mistakes are easily corrected.
Don’t be afraid to paint a worn piece of furniture. By painting it, you can give it new life. Start with something small if you are hesitant. Pick up an inexpensive bookcase or chair at an auction to practice on. You can even use a leftover piece of lumber that you may have tucked away in your basement or garage. It’s a good idea to practice different techniques, including stenciling or sponging, until you feel comfortable enough to proceed. One of the newest ideas for painting furniture involves spray painting lace. Use the lace as a stencil, lifting the corners to check the pattern and re-spraying if necessary. It can give a worn, old cabinet a delicate new look.
Mother Nature provides ample design inspirations. Foliage and florals are traditional favorites, but don’t stop there. Consider animals. If your kitchen has a collection of mismatched wooden chairs, try painting all the seats in the leopard pattern. It will unify the chairs and surprise guests. Swans are elegant and gaining in popularity. Insects such as butterflies, ladybugs and dragonflies can brighten a child’s room. Mystical fairies are a big hit, too. Outline the figures with a black permanent marker to make them really pop. If you can’t find a stencil of the object you like, consider making one or cutting a simple pattern from cardboard. Use your favorite flower to embellish a table or stool. Maybe you have an artsy neighbor or coworker you could persuade to hand-paint a piece for you.
Children love murals painted on their walls. Whether you paint it yourself or hire someone, get input from the kids. Ask them to name their favorite colors and figures. A friend of mine hired a professional muralist to paint a rainforest in her boys’ room. It was an expensive project, but beautiful when finished. I painted a life-sized comical knight, dragon and peasant soldier in my son’s room by first drawing the figures on paper, then projecting them onto the wall with an overhead projector I purchased at a school sale for one dollar. It took some time but didn’t break my pocketbook, and my son thinks they are so special he shows them off to everyone who walks in the house.
Remember to consider the ceiling and floor when changing the color scheme in a room. The ceiling and floor are two-sixths of the room’s surfaces and shouldn’t be ignored. Although often overlooked, a ceiling can really tie the elements of a room together. Select a complementary color to the walls or use the same color at half strength with a pearl glaze over the top. If you can’t afford or don’t want to change your carpeting (it might be in perfectly good condition and you’re just tired of it), find an area rug that will reflect or complement the color you’ve chosen for the walls and ceiling. Notice how just laying the rug in place changes the atmosphere in the room. For a wooden floor, you may want to try your hand at painting a floor cloth. Like the walls, if the result is unsatisfactory, paint over it.
Color is a very personal element in design. What you see as the perfect choice may not be seen the same way through someone else’s eyes. Consult with others in your household before making dramatic changes.
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