What Colour Walls?

Hi Clare!

First, it's untrue that you have no color sense -- you're chosen very bold colors to work with instead of staying with good old SAFE beige, right?

Ok, you DO have color sense, but perhaps you need a way to fit your favorites into a template that works for you?

Go into any well-designed room (Please, NOT model homes -- they are geared toward average not toward art) and ask yourself what is the ONE thing that stands out about the overall look and it will usually be color first.

So how do they use deep red and mustard in a room together? (The is NOTHING wrong with those two colors used together). It's a matter of degrees.

Let's split your room (the one with red and mustard) into 3 color percentages: 60%, 30% and 10%. Can you choose the 3 main colors for the room and then use them in those amounts? That is, the most prominent color (60%), the next most prominent color (30%) and then the least prominient of the three (10%)?

USUALLY the most prominent color will be that on your walls/ceiling, the second would be floor, furniture, etc, the third, accents. It's a nifty way to balance!

Choose the colors you want, but blend them, A room of nothing but walls and floor is BORING no matter how luxurious the colors/textures. Think ahead to the other color aspects of the room. Oh yes, and ALWAYS throw in a little black if one of the 60-30-10 isn't black -- it adds a LOT -- just a splash here and there :)

So go ahead, Clare, be bold! Just use balance in your colors -- study the art of deco a little (there are TONS of books on color!
And pat yourself on the back for not caving in to beige! :)

...Dark.. red... and.. mustard? I hope you're joking?

Clare, you might try taking samples of the carpets to the paint store and try different paint colors to see what is most pleasing to your eye. Once you have a couple of choices made, take the paint sample chips home with you and look at them, along with the carpet samples, in the rooms where you plan to use them. You will have the advantage of seeing the colors in the lighting in your home, which can sometimes make a difference in which color would be the most pleasing to you. Best wishes in your re-decorating venture!

Wow the colors sound interesting that you have picked - all I can say is I don't know what part of the country you live in, but we had a similar sounding blue color carpeting in our house for 17 years, but when we went to sell the house and move - no one liked the color....so we had to rip it all out and have new carpeting installed. If you are planning to stay in this house for a really long time, then go for it. If you are planning to sell and move in the next few years, I would stay with more neutral colors - then you won't have to change everything just to get your hold sold. I am not good with wall colors either. Sorry I have no advice there - good luck!