Decorating Studio Home Page
Shop all our Fabulous Finds
Beaded Fringe & Beaded Trim
Beaded Garland Strands
Sequin Fabric
Chainette Fringe
Feather Fringe
Rhinestone Tablerunner
Monogram Wedding Cake Toppers
Anniversary & Numbers Cake Toppers
Rhinestone Trim & Chain
Rhinestone Banding
Embellished Jeweled Ribbon
Wedding Cake Rhinestone Ribbon
Wedding & Event Cheap Centerpieces
Wedding Cake Jewelry & Toppers
Beaded Tassels
Wedding Flower String Lights
Crystal Glass Teardrops
Flower Trimming
Shop all Collections
Sales & Closeouts
Decorating By Room
Bathroom & Spa
Children's
Rooms
Entry & Foyer
Family
Room & Den
Game & Bonus
Room
Home
Office
Home
Theater & Media Room
Kitchen & Dining
Laundry & Hobby
Room
Master
Bedroom
New
Homes: Planning & Designing
Outdoor
Living
Sunrooms & Conservatories
Apartment
Decor
Guest
Rooms
Exercise & Workout
Rooms
Decorating Ideas
Artwork & Accessories
Cabinets & Countertops
Careers
In Interior Design
Color
Trends & Color Schemes
Decorating & Home
Decor Trends
Education
In Interior Design
Fabrics & Upholstery
Floors & Flooring
Furniture
Home
Financing
Home
Health & Safety
Interior
Design
Interior
Designers, Working With
Lighting
Painting & Home
Decor
Walls & Doors
Window
Treatments
View
Your Shopping Cart
Shipping & Return Info
Help
Contact Us
Phone #615-776-2951
Our beaded fringe trims
are 1st quality and exceptional in craftsmanship and detail. |
Tips On Using Colors
Trade Secret
If you're frustrated when attempting to select
a color scheme for a room, let any favorite fabric, print, home
decor item or even a scarf be your inspiration. Begin by pulling
3 to 4 colors you like from the print by matching the colors to
paint chips. Decide which colors you will use in your home decor;
on the flooring, wall color, upholstery, etc. Whether you use the
actual fabric in the finished room doesn't matter, but by pulling
a few colors from the print you have the benefit of an exciting
color scheme designed by a professional textile designer.
Flooring & Color
Floors can add quite a bit of color to a room.
This natural slate floor
has countless colors in it, yet it is till considered a neutral because the
colors
are so muted that you can put almost any other color with it and it still looks
great.
- The floor is the foundation and base for an entire room and
its furnishings. It is always wise to use a more neutral colored
flooring for the simple reason that it creates a foundation for
everything else. Remember, even a forest green or a muted blue
can be considered neutral if muted enough. Kelly green or sky
blue are not. If you decide to change your color scheme in a few
years, it will be easier to work around a neutralized color floor.
Don't feel you have to remain neutral with area rugs though. These
are easily moved and replaced with another in a different style
or color if you want to change the room. To make your house appear
more spacious and less choppy, select one color of carpet or flooring
to go throughout your entire home. This is another reason to go
with a neutralized color on the floor so that each room's color
scheme and home decor will complement it.
- Ceramic tile floors will last for many years, so it is usually
safer to go with a neutral or classic color that enables you to
easily change the color scheme of the room in the future. You
can help to make your tile flooring safer by selecting a floor
tile with a slip-resistance surface.
Walls & Color
This wonderful mural on a Kitchen wall takes
advantage of a space that
otherwise would be bare because of lack of floor space for furniture.
- Walls are an extremely important part of a room. The color or
pattern you use on the walls can easily become the dominant part
of a room, because of the large amount of space covered. Decide
if you want the pattern in a room to be on the walls, the furniture,
a rug, or a lavish window treatment. Typically, two very bold
patterns in one space will fight each other and will not create
a harmonious room.
- When you think of color on the walls, don't rule out all the
possibilities for your home decor. You can expand the feel of
a room and add architectural interest to a plain room by adding
a mural to the space, such as the tree and faux stone door molding
added to the kitchen wall below.
- Flaws in the wall can be disguised (or, unfortunately, can be
amplified) depending on the sheen of the wall finish. The flatter
or more matte the finish, the less the flaws in the plaster or
drywall will show. If there are quite a few bumps or ridges in
your dry wall surface, you should go with a flat or satin finish,
avoiding any shine. Flat and matte paints also allow furniture
and wall decorations to become the focal points in the room.
- Entrances, foyers, guest baths and corridors are transitional
parts of the house, and those walls can be bolder or darker than
areas in which you spend a great deal of time. A bolder or darker
color will also help a small space make a bigger visual impact.
- If you have a dark room that doesn't receive much sunlight,
paint the walls in a light color satin or semi-gloss paint. The
reflective surface, along with a lighter color, will reflect more
light into the room.
Ceilings & Color
The owner of this house have left the foyer
very neutral,
except for the wonderful faux painting ceiling within the arch.
- There are many ways to alter the perception of the height of
a room. Home decor does reach to the ceiling! Ceilings have traditionally
been painted white to create an illusion of more height. However,
if you do not want more height, then consider painting the ceiling
a darker color. Always paint the ceiling before the walls. If
you paint the walls first, it is extremely hard to keep ceiling
drips and splatters off of the wall surface.
- In a child's room, it is a nice touch to paint the ceiling
in a deeper color. This will make the ceiling seem lower and the
room will be a more intimate space for a child. Consider painting
a faux sky or cloud effect on one of your ceilings. This paint
technique is especially nice in bathrooms and bedrooms.
- If you have a low ceiling you would like to visually lift, paint
the wall from floor to ceiling in one color. If there is a chair
rail or dado, use the same color or pattern on the wall above
and below the molding and paint the chair rail in a color close
to the wall color. If there is large crown molding, you can paint
or stain it the same color as the wall which will also make the
room appear to have more height.
Window Treatments & Color
If you have a beautiful view, use window treatments
to frame the view,
without covering it up. Similar to how you would frame a work of art.
- Windows are a natural focal point in a room and an important
part of your home decor. Depending on your furniture arrangement,
window location or view from the window, you may want to either
enhance the window as a focal point or have it blend into the
background of the room.
- Don't ignore the view, light or the colors in nature your home
receives from windows and skylights. These magnificent features
that windows provide in a room should affect the color and window
treatment choices you make for your home decor.
- If you have multiple layers on your windows consisting of sheers,
draperies and top treatments, you can downplay the proportions
and significance of the window by allowing all layers to be of
the same color. To make the window a focal point, use contrasting
colors on the different layers.
- If you choose to have the window treatment blend in with the
room's decor, the fabric color should be close to the same color
as the wall surrounding the window. This will also help to make
the room visually larger, because the wall will be an unbroken,
continuous color, even with an elaborate window treatment.
- Regardless of the color of your drapery fabric, always use a
white or ivory drapery lining. This will assure that the windows
blend with each other on the exterior of your home. Even colored
window blinds can give your home an inconsistent appearance on
the outside.
- Before purchasing sheers, you should do the following to view
their true color, which may be hidden. Roll the sheer fabric up
in a ball, this will show the precise color of the material. Ivory
sheers can have a hidden warm or a cool undertone color that will
become more obvious once hanging.
Furniture & Color
This room was designed so that the owners could
change the color
scheme with the seasons, simply by changing the throw pillows.
- Don't be afraid to mix furniture styles and finishes within
one room or space. Most homes that are expensively decorated do
not have matching pieces of furniture, but have unique pieces
that compliment each other. An eclectic design style may seem
to some as the easiest style to pull off, because anything goes.
To others, a traditional room is the simplest, because there are
rules and guidelines to follow. Whatever your style of home decor,
the following tips on using color on furniture will help you make
decisions.
- For seating, a textured or patterned upholstery is best to hide
soil and can also pull together your color scheme. However, a
solid color or small print upholstery will make the room look
larger. Small patterns and muted colors on furniture will create
a more restful environment, while bold patterns and vivid colors
will create a room full of energy.
- Furniture that is upholstered in dark colors, heavy textured
fabric or skirted with fabric will look more massive and can crowd
a small room. Furniture in light colors, smooth textures and exposed
legs will tend to give even a small room a light, airy appearance.
- If you would love a white sofa, but have small children or pets
that make it impractical, use white accent pillows and throws
on a neutral beige sofa instead.
- All the wood on furniture in one room does not have to match
exactly, in fact, it usually looks more interesting to have a
mix of woods and stains. Just make sure the woods undertones complement
each other. The orange undertones of oak next to the burgundy
undertones of mahogany may not blend well to your eye.
Open Floor Plans & Color
- Many homes built in the last few years are designed with open
floor plans. An open floor plan usually involves a great room
or living area, that is open to the kitchen and dining room. Often,
open floor plans can create a problem in selecting a color scheme,
because one room flows into the other. If you do have an open
floor plan, you'll want to make sure that all areas flow well
esthetically, which can be difficult. There are several things
you can do to create uniformity while allowing each room to have
its own unique personality.
- You don't have to use the same color throughout, but do choose
a color scheme that you enjoy and use it in the entire open area,
changing the dominant, secondary, and accent colors to give distinction
to each space. Use paint or apply wallcovering on the walls in
each area with a different color within the pallet. For instance,
the kitchen could be a light beige, the dining room a rich bronze
and the living room a shade between the two. Just find a natural
transition point, such as a corner, to vary the color of the walls.
A long straight wall, without a natural transition, will look
awkward in two different colors or textures and is best kept one
color. However, if there is a horizontal break (such as a chair
rail) the colors and/or textures can be different above and below
the chair rail.
- There are a few details that you will want to pay attention
to in order to retain flow in an open floor plan. Have all trim
work painted or stained the same color and the flooring should
remain close to the same color if you cannot continue the same
floor in all open areas. For instance, if the living room has
a light beige carpet and the dining room has a wood floor, it
would look best to have a light wood floor as opposed to a dark
wood floor.
- A consistency in the style and mounting height of all the window
treatments in an open area is important. You can vary the top
treatment some, but overall, draperies should compliment each
other in length and style. This does not mean that they have to
match exactly, just make sure they complement each other. The
same color will look slightly differently in different areas of
your home, depending on the lighting. This adds interest to your
color scheme and helps each room become unique. A wall painted
peach in a room that receives natural daylight all day will look
different than the same peach paint will in a room on the north
side of the house.
- Avoid using conflicting styles or colors within an open area.
If you have a country kitchen, it will look out of place flowing
into a contemporary dining room. Use color in your accents (pillows,
rugs and artwork) to pull the different spaces together if your
main color schemes are different. Install dimmers on your kitchen
lighting to create a soft ambiance when you're not cooking or
preparing meals. This enables an open kitchen to blend in with
the living area in the evenings, particularly when you want to
create an elegant mood.
- If your kitchen is open to the living area, make sure that the
kitchen cabinets complement the colors and style in the adjacent
rooms. If the cabinets are wood, determine if they are a warm
or cool stain and then select warm or cool colors for your schemes.
If painted, make sure the color complements the colors in the
other rooms. For instance, if you have soft ivory in your color
scheme in the living area, you will probably not want to paint
the open kitchen cabinets bright white, or they will look out
of place. It would be better to paint them a soft ivory. If the
refrigerator is visible from the living area, think about having
the doors fitted with front panels to match and blend in with
the kitchen cabinets.
|