How to Introduce Color as a Vital Part of Your Interior Design Plan

Using color as a vital element in your home décor goes back to the days when the world was in black and white. You've seen those movies from the 1930s. The world really was in black and white back then. Okay, not really, but color has been elemental in creating décor for quite some time. Let's say since, oh, the Egyptians. Maybe even before the UFOs brought the aliens that helped the Egyptians build those pyramids. If you want to use color to make a statement about your home, you have a vast array of options available.

Large Windows

If your room is dominated by oversized windows, you can introduce color to make them a vivid focal point. Colorizing your windows can be done by painting the window trim a bold color like hot pink or 1940s lipstick red. Color can become a focal point on large windows through the use of brightly colored curtains. You could also paint your own design on window shades or blinds.

Framed Painting

Make a framed painting your focal point and work the colors of the painting into your overall room décor design. Choose a colorful style of painting such as a print by Van Gogh or an abstract by De Kooning and use only the colors utilized in the painting to decorate everything in the room. That means painting the walls a color that is in the painting and buying furniture with upholstery that is one of the colors used in the painting.

Separate, but Not Divided

If you've got a room that is utilized for two different purposes and in which there is no defining divider, use color as a stepson divider. Paint the walls of the living room a deep shade of blue, but when the living room turns into your dining room, paint the walls another color. Starkly defined separation of color can be as starkly dividing as a wall or screen divider.

Rugs

Rugs provide an opportunity to introduce not just color differentiation, but textural differentiation. Whether you choose an Oriental rug or a Pop Art rug, it should fit the overall color scheme. You don't want to go through all the trouble of arranging a color complement or contrast utilizing paint on the walls and trim and furnishings and then leave the floor an open space of nothingness or a color that just doesn't work as a complement or contrast. The rug should contain colors found in the rest of the room. The texture provides an opportunity for contrast or complement. If the rug is shaggy, your upholstery and curtains should not be so. If the rug is smooth, you should introduce leather into the mix in the form of a sofa or recliner.

Red

My favorite color is candy apple red and I can see a situation where my couch, recliner and rug were all colored red. What can I do with this red living room to make it less overwhelming? Paint the walls a stark white and on each place a work of art that contains just the slightest bit of red, but mainly introduces other colors to work against the overarching redness of the room. This application applies to any situation where your furnishings and rugs are all of the same color.