8 Easy Tips on How to Enhance Your Home with Color

Color affects many things in our homes. Therefore, choosing the right colors can set the mood and create feelings of warmth, serenity and peace. Using the right balance of color is also useful for helping to diminish the stress after a long day of work. In fact when used wisely, all the members of the household will benefit from the appropriate colors. Here are some simple steps on how to enhance your home with color:

1. Take an inventory of the current colors. Then list how each color makes you feel. Don't describe the colors as much as how you feel when you see them as you walk into the room.

2. Using a color wheel, look at the colors and notice which side pulls you most. There are primary and secondary colors on the wheel. One side will have the blues, greens and violets which are called the cool colors. The other side will have the reds, oranges and yellows which are the warm colors. The side that you are drawn to the most probably has the colors that you should be choosing from.

3. If you choose warm colors, you will be creating a mood of energy. People will think of the sun and warmth. The cool colors will offer a sense of peace and well-being. They remind people of the sky, trees and grass.

4. It is also important to allow the rest of the family members to have a say in what colors are chosen. You might take a poll of all the people who use the room. Certainly, a living room will be a spot where everyone congregates. For this room, a compromise might be needed. If it is a bedroom, then the occupant should have a bigger say than anyone else.

5. Next, you will have to figure out how the new colors will be added to the room. Painting and papering are not the only way to add a favorite color. You can also change the drapes or curtains, use area rugs, purchase throw pillows and buy other accessories such as vases and pictures.

6. You will also need to determine how each room will reflect the various colors on the spectrum.

* Traditionally, the kitchen area is a place where people gather. Warm colors work well here because they are a reflection of lively conversation and fun.

* Cool colors work well on entryways and bedrooms. They are places where people want to be able to relax. Also, another benefit is the feeling of peace as you enter or leave your home.

* Using a mixture of the two spectrums may be the perfect solution for the dining area. Here you want people to relax, yet participate in lively talk.

* For the bathroom, the warm side of the spectrum works best. This also helps provide brightness for tasks such as shaving and hair styling.

7. Have a plan that gives you the overall concept of your room. This will help you organize your purchases and help you see the end result clearly. If possible, keep a color chart with samples of your choices with you at all times. That way when something appeals to you such as a picture frame, you will know it fits in the overall plan that you have.

8. Another choice is to not have color. You can pick whites, creams and beiges. They can be spiced up with colors or left. These colors can give the illusion of space and will brighten a darker area.

Using these simple tips on how to enhance your home with color, you will quickly realize how easy and fun it is to mix and match colors to fit your personality in your home. Good luck!