Choose Your Palette . . .

Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings
Kathy Lawler — Guest Blogger and Resident Color-Guru
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Ever wonder how to choose a great color scheme for you living space?
 
One way is to start with one of your favorite pieces of art and choose your color scheme based on that work.  It can be a painting you love or a photograph you have just purchased.  Trust the Artist’s palette, the combination of colors they used and how they work together, and then with those create your own space that you love to be in.
 
Take this beautiful image of a Chinese Elm bark.  Bring these wonderful colors of Nature into your living space for an outstanding and inspired interior.  Let’s take a look at the color palette you could use with this image.

Map of a Tree

First we have this luscious shade of mahogany.  Pair that with the lovely turquoise and a rich pumpkin and you have a great  combination.

Just three of the many colors in Map of a Tree

These aren’t the only colors you can pull from this palette — there are great neutrals with shades of ivory, tans, light blue, steel grays, along with reds, oranges, and whites.  You can pump up the volume on the colors by using a more intense version of the shade or you can tone them down or make them lighter as well.
 
As discussed in a previous blog on Color, there are many approaches you can take with color combinations.  Our first two choices from this palette happen to be complimentary colors and make a great basis for this color pairing.  Add pumpkin and you have a great accent.
 
One great way to work with color and give your home a sense of flow while changing up the look is to use one of the colors — the turquoise for example — as the primary color for your living room.  It then becomes the secondary color in your bedroom and just the accent color in another room while other colors in your palette will become dominant colors for each of those rooms.
 
Learn to experiment and don’t be afraid of color!  Color can set a mood in your home — your bedroom can be done in restful shades of blues for a calming effect or you can add some color zing to your kitchen for a bright energetic space. You can make a room appear bigger, cozier, more restful, or more cheery depending on your color selections.   Even small amounts of accent colors bring life into a space.
 
There are several ways to experiment with color.  I do recommend experimenting with painting your walls, using throw pillows, adding new art and accessories that can be relatively inexpensive upgrades and are easy to change.
 
Thank you for visiting… and remember to color outside the lines!
 
— Kathy
 
P.s.      See our Change of Art blog for additional color ideas for your home.