You have chosen your color scheme for the house. The color scheme should have approximately 3 primary colors (these can be neutrals), 2 secondary colors, and 2-5 accent or dash colors. Now let’s take a room and determine how to distribute the colors throughout the room. Color schemes can create magic in a room and can be arranged in many different ways.

Let’s start by determining the function of the room. Who is using the room? Is it a public room or a private room, ie single user or multiple users? Is the room formal or informal?

Formal rooms will generally have more neutrals. Grays are the new blacks this year and are considered neutrals. Many formal rooms have neutral colors, gray, beige, taupe, or white as the main color on the walls, ceilings, and floors. Secondary colors can be used in amounts determined by you. All the furniture can also be neutral and some color in the accent pillows or the furniture can also have some colors and accent pillows. Also, plain fabrics create more formality.

The more color used, the more casual the room can feel. Informal rooms, such as Great Rooms and Family Rooms, often have statement walls. Many times, if there are hardwood or tile floors, a rug can be the base of your scheme. If the room is being used by the public, you may want to feature your entire color scheme with a neutral or dominant color, add your secondary and accent colors as well. The more color and textures used, the more casual the room can feel.

Lighting always plays a huge factor in your scheme because color doesn’t exist without light. We will see how much light, when the room has exposure to natural light and what type of artificial light is being used. Knowing this, the more natural light in the room, the truer the color will be as the sun fades. Keep in mind what the brightest color is and how you will light it up at night to achieve the hue again. You may even want to accent lights in certain areas to bring the brightness back and add drama to the night. Low-voltage lighting makes beautiful accent lighting, with incandescent bulbs in fixtures casting a yellow or warm hue, and halogen and fluorescent lighting casting a blue light. Be sure to consider the light source when laying out your shades.

The size of the room is important. I love small vanities with bold tones. Large rooms can take on many colors more easily and small rooms can take on lighter tones. But these rules are broken all the time depending on the person. If you have a bold personality and color scheme, you can put dark tones, large furniture, and large-scale fabrics in small spaces. Remember that dark walls can visually unbalance a room and need to be balanced. This can actually be quite fun. In general though the lighter colors for smaller rooms and the darker ones are ideal for larger rooms.