Yellow Door Designs

Color 101

Let's talk about color.  Choosing color seems to send people into panic mode.  Let me just say one thing:

You aren't marrying the color. 

Experiment.  

Things to consider- Combining colors can change them.  Day light or lamp light can change them.  Colors look different in north-facing rooms from south-facing rooms.  Paint colors look different on wood than on sheetrock and different still in semi-gloss and flat.

Now let's discuss Christmas. Its all about Red and Green - great at Christmas, but put them together any other time and you want to vomit.  That's because the red and green of Christmas are the same intensity and are used in the same amounts.  If you want colors to work together, one color needs to win.  Either in intensity or in the amount. Green with small amounts of red (think apple trees) works.  Red with accents of greyish-green (like my flower above) also work.  If you pit colors against each other they fight, and the eye gets tired and wants to look away.  Study fabric designs that you like and I bet you will learn something about color combinations, intensity, and the use of neutrals.  

Neutrals are colors we really can't identify as a color on the color wheel.  So beige, creams, greys, whites, blacks - can act as great ways to mitigate or soften the intensity of colors. 

So if you really want a red sofa, consider a beige rug and white walls.  Or if you have deep blue carpets consider off-white sofas or cream walls and consider using other colors very sparingly. 

And remember...let one color win.