Complimentary Color Schemes

1. Choosing Colors Finding Pleasing Colors The procedure of picking paint colors for your home may seem totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you like. That is only partly true. Although it makes sense to begin with the colors you prefer, other elements enter into play. For example, do the colors you've preferred work well alongside one another? Do they compliment furnishing, carpeting, and window treatments already in place? Picking paint colors is really part skill and part science. Let's start with the science part first. Features of the Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It is a sensible way to see which colors work very well together. It includes primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (green, orange, violet), and tertiary colors (red-blue, blue-red, etc). Secondary colors are created by mixing two primaries together, such as blue and yellow to make green. A primary color such as blue and a secondary color such as green can be combined to make a tertiary color--in this circumstance, turquoise. Now that there is a color wheel in front of you, utilize it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous design involves neighboring colors that share an underlying hue. Complementary colors lie opposite one another on the color wheel and often work well together. Say for example a red and green living room in full strength might be hard to stomach, but consider a rosy pink room with sage green accents. The same complements in differing intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A dual complementary color scheme involves an additional set of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange. Alternatively, you can select a monochromatic scheme that involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color design. When developing a monochromatic scheme, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid way too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This may make your plan look uneven. If you need a more technical palette of three or even more colors, look at the triads formed by three equidistant colors, such as red/yellow/blue or green/purple/orange. A split complement comprises three colors- one primary or intermediate and two colors on either side of its opposite side of the wheel. For example, instead of teaming purple with yellow, move the mix to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green. Lastly, four colors evenly spaced around the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations sound a bit like Technicolor, remember that colors intended for interiors are rarely undiluted. Thus yellow might be cream; blue-purple, a dark eggplant; and orange-red, a muted terra-cotta or whisper-pale peach. With less jargon, the color combinations fall into these two basic camps: Harmonious or analogous; strategies, derived from neighboring colors on the wheel less than halfway around. Contrasting or complementary; strategies, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.

2. Interior Complementary Colors Don't just choose one color; think in terms of picking a color design. Study your furniture, curtains, draperies, and carpets, and take note which colors might complement them. Next, take notice of how many colors you think you might be using. Will the baseboards be considered a different color than the walls? They usually are unless the trim is in bad condition and you do not want to call attention to it. The same is true of other trim, such as window casings and chair rail. How about where the walls meet up with the ceiling? Will you install crown molding or various other type of cornice treatment there? Or are you considering painting the walls and demarcating the ceiling and wall junction with a color change? In addition to paint colors, you will also need to determine the level of finish or sheen the paint will have. The options range from the most shiny (high gloss and semi-gloss) to the dullest (eggshell and flat). These designations fluctuate with paint suppliers, but they are important because the sheen of paint impacts the color. A rule of thumb claims that walls usually receive flat or eggshell finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably decorated with a flat finish. Trim is typically decorated with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These coatings are stronger and much easier to clean than duller finishes. Think in terms of groups of colors. Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below: Painting Interior Walls All paint stores can offer color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will give you a small scale idea of what the colors will look like once applied. You will need to do more than check out color chips to get a true sense of your colors... however they are a good place to start. In fact, a seasoned sales person at your local paint store can help you select color chips in a scheme. In the event that you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales person can suggest color chips that are typically associated with a scheme that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color. When you yourself have whittled down your color choices, go through the color chips or swatches in different types of light including day light at different times of the day and in varying levels of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is merely to get an idea of paints that you'll sample in bigger swaths of color. Very few professional designers select from chips, even though they could start their color selection from chips. If they do examine chips, they examine them individually over a white background. Changing Color Take into account that large surface areas make any paint color look darker than the color chip. The degree of variation is usually up to two shades. If you select the color chip you want, step "back" two shades darker for a true representation of what the color can look like when dried out. Also, paint always appears darker once it dries. So, when you finally apply the paint, don't panic if the color doesn't look right at first. Hang on until it dries.

3. If you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 ft. poster board or cloth material with the anchor color and stick it around the house so as to view it in different light and near different colored carpeting and rugs and furniture. Space and Color Colors make a difference how you perceive the size of a room. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges will make a space seem smaller because they can offer a cozy feeling to the space. The so called cool colors like blues and greens appear to recede from you, making an area appear larger than it truly is. If you really want to make a room seem large choose an old standby like a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color. Sizing the Area As you get nearer to buying paint, determine the square footage of the area you will paint. Multiply the length of each wall by the width. Subtract the area occupied by the entrance doors, glass windows, and other openings. Add all of the measurements together to obtain a total square footage of the surface you must paint. If you're applying two layers which is normal for some paint jobs, you'll be painting the surface twice. Sound Quality Painting 824 90th Dr SE suite B Lake Stevens WA 98258 (425) 512-7400 https://sites.google.com/1upserve.com/painter-lake-stevens