So many colors, so little time! One of the hardest things to do is to know where to begin when choosing colors to paint a room. To help clients, we employ our knowledge of how colors work to get the ball rolling.
Different Rooms, Different Purposes
Each room of your home has a different purpose: some are for sleeping, some for socializing, some for working - the list goes on. If you have a small apartment you may have different PARTS of one room for different activites. Either way, when choosing a color for a certain room or part of a room, it helps to recognize that these activities fall into two fundamental categories: some are
expansive and stimulating and some
contract and are calming.
- Expansive activites are those that are social and outward, such as entertaining, cooking, dining, playing - these are the activities that create warmth and enliven the home.
- Contracting activities are those that are concentrated and inward, such as studying, sleeping, working, or even some exercising - these activities are cool by nature and deepen the home.
Ideally, there is a room for each activity and every room is by nature either expansive or contractive. Can you guess which they are?
Expansive: Kitchen, Living Room, Dining Room
Contracting: Hallway, Study, Bedroom
Different Purposes, Different Colors
Colors affect our inner life and - when harmonious - they support it. Therefore, we look to match how a color works with how a room is working. Which colors do which? Simple.
- Warm colors expand with their warmth - they stimulate.
- Cool colors contract with their coolness - they calm.
The warm colors consist of everything from browns, to yellows, to oranges, to reds and everything in between. The cool colors consist of the blues, greens, greys. Some warms have cool in them, such as a lavender or purple and some cools have warm in them, such as a lime green. You can mix these towards either pole. How about black and white? While not technically colors, white acts cool and black warms.
So what goes with what?
- Warm colors are for the expansive rooms where stimulation and activity take place: kitchen, living room and dining room.
- Cool colors are for contracting rooms where concentration and calmness take place: hallway, study and bedroom.
What if you do the opposite? Since we have placed the properties of these colors to line up with the main activites of each room, if you use opposing colors, you risk creating a conflicting environment for yourself. If you put stimulating colors in your bedroom, you may have trouble sleeping. If you put a cool color in your living room, you may feel awkward when entertaining. You may also notice that in keeping with all of this, restaurants almost universally choose warm colors and offices cool ones.
Different Colors, A Bigger Apartment
While this may seem a bit complicated, it is really very simple and a huge help when you are trying to place colors in your home and create a beautiful environment that feels bigger as you pass through it.
Do you have to always follow these rules? No. Rules are made to be broken, and this will also help you to know what you are doing when you mix it up. If you do follow this lead, however, you won't screw it up.
You might want to edit this:
Contracting: Kitchen, Living Room, Dining Room
Expansive: Hallway, Study, Bedroom
Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Thanks Joan. I thought I was really losing it.
Whew. I was getting worried that I had made a big mistake. In public.
Not really sure why "hallway" would be on the list of "contracting" spaces. Generally it's small and your activities in it are action-oriented: walking. Not like sleeping or studying. Is it because activities in a hallway are often solitary - walking, hanging coats, etc? Or is it because most hallways benefit from light-colored and relatively neutral decor?
Since moving to Ohio, I've noticed that a lot of rural homes use hallway-type spaces to display family photographs. And I don't necessarily mean Junior's Senior Portrait, I mean a sort of geneaology; photos from the 1850s aren't completely uncommon, even though the houses may be relatively new. I don't really enjoy walking down hallways alone in these houses... the photo walls are kind of creepy, oppressive, and cluttered-feeling even when they're absolutely clean. =/
On another note, it does seem like some dark, cool reds are OK in bedrooms, as are dark neutrals.
Okay, it's fixed, but now I'm really embarassed. I should have added another concept: twisting. Thanks for the correction Joan.
I love old photos, so I wouldn't find those hallway displays creepy at all, but to each her own.
That's okay, Maxwell--everything else was so clearly explained that it was obvious. And it's an interesting concept.
The photo-hallway sounds kind of appealing -- as you move swiftly through, you're reminded where you've been, both literally and genealogically. It would need the right frames, though.
So...what do you do if a colour chooses YOU? Like, oh, if you find a gigantic can of mistint for nine dollars in your favourite shade of Grimace purple? Just for an example, I mean. Heh.
Hi Maxwell,
I'm a new fan from overseas. I live in the Far East and through cable TV here, saw you totally transform a NY studio on Mission Organization. I absolutely LOVED the pumpkin orange you recommended for Tamara Nobles apartment. It was also a brilliant idea to paint the front door the same color.
Liked that episode so much that I saved it and have re-watched it. Eventually I found your Apartment Therapy site and this particular thread on wall colors, which is an extremely timely subject for me because Im trying to select a color for an accent wall in my living room.
My living room is a East Meets West blend, and my new sofas will have combinations of warm colors such as brick, maroon, and muted shade of gold.
My questions:
1) What color from the furniture should I pick up to feature as a color for an accent wall? Should the wall color be an exact match of a color in one of the sofas?
2) What are some Dos and Donts for selecting colors for accent walls? Also, any tips on which wall in a room to use as an accent wall?
Thanks so much for any help you can provide!
ha! Miranda, I'm from Ohio, and had no idea it wasn't something people in suburbs did everywhere. ...interesting. Anyway, I find the problem with said hallways is the lighting. Usually when it becomes a hallway/gallery, there is no change in lighting, and the dark pictures are not appreciated. I don't find the hallway a bad place for photos, but they should be lit properly, just as in any other space.
Hallways and entry halls would make a good stand alone topic.
I like to use hallways as an opportunity to use the dark colors I love or go dramatic.
they are transitional spaces that we pass thru,so Decorating or colors that would be oppressive elsewhere in the apartment are great in these spaces. I like a dramatic look for my entry hall, something that makes me glad to be home and maybe says something about who I am.
To Liz; I like the brick and marroon, would not play up the gold at all,but that's because of my personal dislike for golds.
You don't say what else is going on in your apartment as far as colors and wood tones. If brick and maroon and maybe dark woods are already part of your decorating, I'd run with those colors.
I'd pick up the brick or maroon for the accent wall and place the sofa in front of it - it will help minimize it. I would suggest you analyze the colors and wood tones that you already own. Use the majority of these as your theme. I don't know how heavily patterned your sofa is. There are nice hand woven native style area rugs in your colors. A seisel grass rug would work too. You could go for a British Victorian Colonial Era look. You know-- the Indian and Hong Kong period. Unpolished Indian brass, heavily carved teak wood chest for a coffee table,a Chinese tea set on top, natural gauze panels or moisquito netting, tied to a pole above your windows,etc. Unpolished Indian brass accents are a logical way to tie in the gold of your sofa.
This look is a little theatrical and definately not a modern apartment look, but it's fun for a person who already likes that "east meets west" look. Good luck
Hi Maxwell:
Would you address the role that light plays in choosing colors?
Here's my dilemma: I have a NE-facing living room and tried all sorts of pale, creamy yellows for months and months, to no avail. Then someone said that direct sunlight is necessary in yellow rooms. Is this true?
Second question:
I have a teeny, teeny foyer. All logic says I ought to use cool colors to make the walls recede, but I hate to be cold, and do find that cool colors can lower the perceived temperature in a room. Any comments?
I have a HUGE problem with picking a color for my kitchen/dining area. I have just had the wholething remodelled and I can't find the right color to paint the walls. My countertops are made of caesarstone, carmel in color, in other words it has a lot of brownish/creme tones. I have dark hardwood floors w/creme collored cabinettes. And my area rug has sage greeen, golds, and dark red. At first it was painted a light greyish green but then it became a dark pumpkin called sienna clay from benjamin moore. I loved it until I realized nothing in my kitchen was orange and my husband said he hated it! My next attempt is yellow, any suggestions. Oh yeah and if I mispell anything, sorry.
I need to design a new living room. I like the antique old worldlook yet I do not want it to be too dark or drabby. My sofa is browm leather armed with hand carved wood and the cushions are upohlstered with warm/darker colors. Can I off set this dark theme with a contrasting green wall? Light or dark shaded? or what color should I paint a focus wall considering all the dark colors already present within teh furniture? Thanks to anyone with suggestions!
Im boerd
I want to paint my son's room the color of a professional basketball because I'm doing a sports theme. would I have to get custom color paint?
i am redoing my bedroom and i love the indian theme. but i want something that can go with my favorite color which is blue while still incorporating other colors for the room in accessories. any suggestions will greatly be appreciated!!
I plan to paint a west-facing, two-window living/dining room either deep eggplant or palest aqua. I have chartreuse dinnerware and teal-handled flatware; beech and black shelving; a white Saarinen Tulip dining table. I'm going to get either Eames Eiffel chairs or have my Emeco Navy chairs reupholstered. I hadn't thought about these colors as far as cool/warm goes. Aqua strikes me as a warm shade of blue, or a cool shade of green, and as you suggested, purple is a warm cool color (or a cool warm). Any other color suggestions?
How does one approach warm vs. cool colors for a studio apartment? My new studio apt (my first) has one main room to be divided into sleeping and entertaining/living sections. (Thankfully, the foyer, kitchen, & bathroom are totally separate. ) Should I paint the room one color or do an accent wall by my bed in a cool but related color or...? I feel pretty confused about how to create color-coordinated but distinct spaces in one room!
I need some advice, I've painted my kitchen Cranberry blush red, my hallwaybetween my bedroom and kitchen I painted yellow, I painted the Laundry room Balsam Beige and I painted my Living room Balsam Beige also. My question is:I have only painted 3 walls in my living room because I want to paint the long wall which is behind my couch, an accent color. I'm stuck on what color to paint this wall it is 12ft.high.I haven't painted the Dining room yet, I'm thinking I may paint the wall in the living room the same color that I paint my Dining room.You can see the red in the kitchen from the living room Does anyone have any ideas on what goes good with Balsam Beige, I got the color chip by ColorPlace at WalMart. Or should I just go ahead and paint the whole living room Balsam Beige? Then paint the Dining room which is 14ft.high. and what should I paint the Dining room.
WHAT COLORS WOULD LOOK GOOD FOR A BOYS ROOM THAT WAS AN ATTIC. THE WALLS ARE ALL SLANTED IT HAS ONE WINDOW FACING THE NORTH - EAST. LOW ABOUT 6FT CEILING THAT IS JUST DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM. CAN ONLY BE USED BY A CHILD. ROOM IS LONG.
We have a very light Pink reddish/Cream combination tone colors on our tiles in the family room. We are having a tought time in deciding the wall colors. We are looking for a mediterrean theme with warm colors.
Can you help ?
Thanks
We have painted our living room like a fern green with a darker shade woodwork. We painted our dining room a bright sunshine yellow. We have a lot of maroon and other green and beiges in our funiture. So most of our rooms are light. We have a narrow hallway with no window but a set of french doors that let in light from the living room. The entry door is three quarter glass. I was thinking of painting the Hallway cranberry which goes well with the other tow room colors. THe woodwork in the hallway is all white. Do you think it will be too dark? Thanks
Hi Maxwell, we have a home with many walls, rooms and high cielings that sort of all seem to intertwine. Is there any advice for painting a 'compartmentized' home? We like warmer colors almost a blend of southwest and mexican villa colors... but we don't want to make our home feel like a dark cave with all warmer colors on every wall. However, the rooms are not open and airy, so we want to create space but keep it cozy.
Any advice will help. Thanks!
I need help choosing the proper color to go in my bedroom.We chose a bedroom set with copper/dark coral peaches. With some light beigh swirls and dark brick lines throughout. I was wanting to maybe paint the main wall behind my bed a sicilian summer almost a brick red color. I am not sure what color the other three walls should be. I have a window 77"wide by 28"deep so I get enough light in the room. I am thinking of making an upholstered headboard with materials in dark browns. I would appreciate any advice you may have for me. Thanks so much.