Decorating with Colors

What are cool colors?  Blues, greens and violet are known as cool colors.  Cool colors remind you of a cool lake or ice covered pond.  Cool colors are mostly used when you want to make a small room appear larger.  Let’s take a look at some cool colors and how to decorate with them.

Celery Green- Celery green is a color that reminds you of the spring season.  It represents religion, renewal and rebirth.  Many people tend to shy away from celery green because they view they see the color as boring.  It also reminds them of the celery that they chop in a salad or eat with peanut butter.  As you may already know, celery green is an icy pale green and adds a soothing touch to any room.  If you don’t like the color by itself, then try matching it with a darker color such as a dark red or a royal blue.  If you want to brighten your room, then painting your walls in celery green is the perfect choice.  

Colonial Blue- Colonial blue is softer than steel blue and lighter than sky blue.  Colonial blue is the perfect color choice for indoor wall as well as exterior paint.  The color compliments front porch columns, crown molding and 12 foot high ceilings.  If you have an apartment that has lots of space and great width, then colonial blue is the perfect choice for you.  It is not meant for painting walls of small rooms because it will make the room look smaller.  Since this color is a cool color, and you want your room to have a warm feel then you will need to add other colors to balance the colonial blue.  

Key Lime Pie Green- Now you may be thinking that key lime pie green is the color of a lime.  Well this is a great misunderstanding.  Normal limes are called Persian limes and are a dark green in color.  Key limes are smaller than actual limes and are much paler in color.  Key limes have more of a yellowish-green color whereas regular limes are a deeper green.  Key lime pie green will brighten up any room when painted on the walls.  If you are using the color in your living room or patio/porch, use darker fabrics on your couch and get some key lime pie throw pillows or a lampshade in the same color.  

Lilac- Lilac is a tough color to decorate with.  It is in between blue and red on the color wheel.  But the problem is that lilac doesn’t compliment a lot of colors.  So what do you do with lilac?  Black goes with anything so for a dramatic effect, try lilac and black patterned fabric for your sofa and lilac drapes with black throw pillows.

Decorating with Color

What is color?  Color has a different meaning to different people.  Business people use colors a lot in their public ads to draw attention to new customers.  For example, the color red is used in many restaurants because research has shown that it tempts the palate and increases the customers’ appetite.  The color red also means passion and having a love for life.  If you like wearing the color yellow, it states that you are very optimistic, fresh, creative, spiritual and idealistic.  If dark green is your color, then you more than likely enjoy the richness and luxury.  

Growing up, we have learned that different colors have different meaning and this is because of our culture.  But color choice is also an individual choice.  For example, if you decide to paint your living room walls red, this will convey a message of vibrancy.  If you like pink pillows on your couch, it conveys a message of sweetness.  Blue has a calming effect, green represents nature, yellow means happiness and makes any room brighten up.  If browns are your choice for decorating then your guests will be welcome in contentment and comfort.  My favorite color that I used to decorate my bedroom is the color purple.  Purple represents nobility.  If you love the color orange, it means you are a hard worker as well as adventurous.  White stands for innocence while black represents dominance.  

When choosing a color scheme for your home, you may be a bit lost on where to start.  The easiest way to approach this is to decide what colors appeal to you.  Look for something in the room you are decorating that catches your eye as a starting point.  The item can be anything from a rug or wallpaper or fabrics in the room.  You don’t necessarily have to decorate around that particular item but you can use it as a focal point when decorating your home with color.  You may want to start with three different colors that you think work well together and center your decorating around those three colors.  For example, if you choose blues, greens and yellows, you could purchase a fabric for your couch that has all three colors in a print.  Then you could paint your wall blue.  Or if you are decorating your bedroom, you could get an afghan that has blues, greens and yellows.  Then paint the walls yellow.  A good rule of thumb when decorating is to use neutral colors on your carpet, tile and countertops.  Neutral colors will blend well with everything and you can match the rest of your home with the colors you enjoy.  

Decorating in White

Decorating your home with white doesn’t mean you home will look dull.  White in essence has plenty of benefits and has a clean appearance for your home.  Many people, when thinking of decorating their home want colors that are either warm or cool.  But white is a favorite among many people when thinking of colors to decorate their homes with.  A lot of times, people will get so frustrated because they just can’t decide on which colors to use that they will just give up and stick with all white.  You can’t go wrong with white.  But there are shades other than just plain ole white such as off-white, eggshell, ice white, snow white and bright white.  Now if you are going to use different color whites in the same room you need to be careful because matching whites with whites can be just as challenging as matching mauve with yellow.  

Another consideration when decorating with white is that you need to understand that white will show dirt, dust and pet hair more than any other color.  So if you have kids or pets you may want to choose another color than white.  If you have no pets and your kids are off to college, then by all means, go wild with white.  

Whites can actually being other colors out.  The perfect scenario in this case would be your living room.  Picture this:  You go out and purchase a plush white couch.  Then paint the walls and ceilings white.  Hang some green plants and some spectacular artwork around the room and the white furniture and painting will actually bring out the green in the plants and the colors of the artwork.  So when guests visit, they will actually be drawn to the plants and the artwork before the white couch.  

If you don’t want the color white to take over the entire room, try just a few touches here and there of white such a white tulips in a vase on the windowsill in your bedroom or a white picture frame with a family picture in it in your dining room.  

When decorating white with white, the best and easiest thing to do is to head to your local paint or hardware store and get different swatches of white.  Take them home and try taping the swatches to your wall first to see what it will look like.  What works when pairing white with white is to use a variety of tones, shades and textures to make your room look beautiful.  For example, a home office with a white, woven shag rug with white ceramic lamps and a chair upholstered in eggshell with a cream throw pillow will make the room look radiant. 

If you are dead set on using white, then you want to make sure that you choose fabrics that are stain resistant.

Decorating a Room Online

If you are in the market to redecorate you home, then did you know that you can try it online first?  There are several online sites that give you the chance to check out interior paint colors, place furniture and add windows among several other features.  When you are able to try different color schemes online, you are able to see the finished product without having to actually paint the room first and then regret the color you choose later.  

One popular site is Pure Contemporary Room Planner.  I have been to this site numerous times when I need decorating ideas.  When you are at the site, click on My Home Design.  You do a short registration and voila you are taken to your decorating area.  It has living room, dining room, bedroom, family room and empty room.  So let’s say you want to redo your living room.  Click on living room.  You will click on the shape of your living room and then enter the dimensions of the room.  Then click Create Room.  Now you can take and place furniture such as sofas, loveseats, ottomans, chaises and chairs onto the interactive living room.  Once an item is placed in the living room, you can click on it to turn it whichever way you choose.  Then you can add structural things such as windows, doors, fireplaces and stairs.  You can also add accessories such as rugs and coffee tables.  

On ivillage there is an area called Design a Room which is a point and click area that allows you to choose your room such as a living room or bedroom.  From there you can change the floors ceilings, walls and cabinets.  You can save all your work and use it as a future reference or change it as you see fit.

The benefits of using these sites are numerous.  The best benefit is that you will see what your room will look like before you invest money in furniture, flooring, carpets, paint and cabinets.  

Another great tip for online decorating sites is that there is a website that young girls who love red orating and design can go to.  It is called 99 Online Games.  This is a site where kids can decorate everything from a Barbie house or turn their bedroom into a princess room.  This site will keep kids entertained for hours and will help kids with decorating ideas to decorate their room.  

These sites are so much fun and they can be addicting.  You will more than likely find yourself decorating your living room at least a dozen times.  Today you may choose a tropical theme and tomorrow you may go more modern.  Who knew decorating could be so much fun.