How to: Enhance with Color

Everyone knows by now how color can affect your living space. Though it’s been said a time or two before, it bears repeating. After all, we can all use a reminder every now and then! This is a guest post that was submitted giving us a nice round-up of color info:
Color is one of the most important elements in designing a room. Color can create a beautiful backdrop, or be the main focal point of a room. Color gives a room character and mood. Choosing a color is important because every color affects the mind differently. Warm tones are welcoming, while cool colors tend to make a room feel calm and tranquil. Although it isn’t simply enough to know how individual colors work in a room. Knowing how to bring those colors together is also an essential part of designing a room.
Knowing Your Colors
First let’s touch on a few of the more popular colors and what each does in a room. It is important to have a good understanding of what mood you want to set in a room so you can choose the colors that will help you create it. Understanding your color choices is essential before you start selecting furniture and accents.
Neutral Shades: Black, White & Brown
• White is often associated with innocence or purity, but on a wall it can be very cold and is often used as a background to go with another color. There are many shades of white from cool whites to warm whites depending ontheshade you use.
• Some people see black as a magical and masculine color with a lot of depth and drama, while others find it somber or uncomfortable. If used in small doses, it can add elegance to a room and set off colors close to it.
• Lighter browns give an earthy feeling to a room, but darker shades can feel overpowering. You can mix brown with shades of reds to absorb glare, so it’s extremely effective in rooms with harsh light.
Bright and Bold
• Red is very powerful. It is smart to use power colors like red as an accent and not as a main color in your decoration. Red creates a lot of drama, and compliments dark woods in formal rooms very well.
• Purple is great for a bedroom, den or library. The darker shades are regal and dignified while light shades are feminine and can make a subtle addition to many rooms.
• Yellow is a fashionable color that invokes energy. Bright shades of yellow can make a nice accent in a room, and paler shades make for an inviting space.
• Orange is a color that is associated with health and wellness. It is a stimulating color that can brighten a space. When paired with dark blues, greens and earth tones, orange can work very well for people that are not afraid of color.
Cool Colors
• Green is well used for bringing feelings of harmony and peace to a room. It makes a great background color, neutral color, or color for making balance in a room. The darker shades of green are also used to absorb glare.
• Blue is a favorite shade in bedrooms because it is known to create a feeling of serenity. Blue brings the spirit of energy and water to a space, and is commonly used in spaces where a tranquil feel is needed.
What do you think about these color “rules”? Do you believe any of them? Follow any of them? What have you discovered about color as it relates to your own personality and own home?!
This post comes courtesy of our “make a guest post” page. Got a great lead, product find or idea? Share yours and it could make it on the 2Modern blog! This guest post is from Brandon Cross, a regular contributor at Your Local Security.