Whether you are planning to paint one room or redecorate your home entirely, settling on a suitable colour scheme is rarely a quick decision.
Even if you have decided you prefer blue to green, or grey over white, each colour has a multitude of tones to pick from, so making a final choice is often not straightforward.
To help make the process easier, the Athlone Advertiser recommends readers take an edited approach to colour.
The theory is that by using fewer colours in your home, you can create a colour palette which combines in a way that is focused and full of flow.
So how many colours is too many?
While there are no hard and fast rules on the number of colours that are right or wrong to use in a home, experts maintain that having no more than four provides a good balance.
It means you can achieve variation in colour and pace without the overall scheme feeling confused or even chaotic.
Colour theory is complex but understanding colour for your home doesn’t need to be overly complicated.
Think of your four or fewer colours as being general themes.
For instance, if your overall colour themes included white, blue, grey and a warm brown, you can explore these colours in more detail to include different types of white, different depths of blue, different interpretations of grey and different depictions of brown.
Once you have decided on your core colour themes, it is time to start spreading them throughout your rooms.
Some people let colour psychology guide them, for example, yellow is deemed too energising for a bedroom, whereas blue is linked to feelings of calmness and serenity.
Some will look to what colours work best with the natural light, while others may rely on gut instinct for what they want and where.
Try not to divide your colours too strictly.
Having a single-colour room, even with lots of tonal variations of that hue, will feel contrived. Instead, try blending your colour themes so that a little of each is felt as you move about your home.
Remember, you don’t have to use all four themes in every room, two or three works well. Edited colour palettes, when they are woven throughout your home, are a success because of their subtlety.
By keeping your focus and instilling a touch of discipline, the entire experience of using colour in your home becomes more straightforward.
The less-is-more approach is a path to finding out what you really love the most and then gathering those colours together, so your home becomes a celebration of them and an expression of what makes you happiest.
Think of it as another dimension of colour psychology. When your colour palette is finely-tuned, the positive, pacifying effect it can have on your mood and your home is palpable.
