2. The Colour Scheme
2. The Colour Scheme (Image 2 of 7)
Your colour scheme should make the bedroom feel warm and relaxing.
In a bedroom there are lots of colour-based decisions to be made: the walls, the curtains, the bed linen. So before you go any further, make sure you sort out your colour scheme. By following a few basic principles it's actually quite simple to do.
Any colour is one of only two categories: warm or cold.
Warm colours are reds, yellows or oranges. These are also know as advancing colours because they bring surfaces closer so they can make a room feel smaller.
Cool colours are blues, violets, greys and some shades of green. And they do the opposite. They're receding colours and make surfaces appear further away. So they can make a room feel larger.
But, just to confuse things, you can warm up a cold colour like blue by adding touches of red, orange, or brown - and you can cool down a warm shade by doing the opposite, by adding blue, grey or green. Your room's position and the direction it faces can also affect the way a colour looks.
South Facing
South facing rooms get sun all day long, so they can take warm or cool colours. Beware, as really vivid colours intensify in bright sunlight. Deep tones work but lighter shades can be too dazzling.
North Facing
In a North facing room, the light is cool and blueish. Use a warm colour to brighten the room. So, yellow and pink are good but white and blue won't work.
If you really want to use a blue or green, you must select a shade with a warm base tone.
East Facing
In an East facing bedroom the morning light is bright, so you can use warm or cool colours.
West Facing
West facing bedrooms get sun in the afternoons and evenings so make sure whichever colour you choose has a warm base tone.
Before you commit yourself to a colour try it out in practice.
Colour tips
Small colour samples won't give you an accurate impression. If you want to see what a colour's really going to look like, you need to try it on a big area. Instead, paint a large piece of cardboard or wallpaper then move it round the room to see what the colour looks like on each wall.
Look at the sample over a 24-hour period as a colour can look quite different depending on the time of day and in artificial light. A favourite designer's trick is to paint the inside of a shoebox. It's like looking at your painted room in miniature and you can see how the light will affect the colour of your walls, whatever their direction.
Once you've picked the main colour for your room you'll need to know what other colours to put with it. Get your hands on a colour wheel. available from the majority of art supply shops and decorating stores. Armed with this wheel, you can't go wrong as it clearly shows you what colours work together.
Each colour belongs to two families:
Complementary colours sit opposite each other on the wheel such as orange and blue. When used together they mutually enhance each other.
Harmonious colours are next-door neighbours on the wheel, like blue and green. Put them together and you'll get a more relaxing colour scheme.
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