Choosing The Right Colors For Your Home Decor

Nearly every professional home interior decorator will stress the importance of using the right colors in your home. As a home owner, your ultimate goal should be to create a warm and relaxing atmosphere that flows together. In order to accomplish this, you have to use the right color scheme throughout your home. Using the wrong colors in your home will create the opposite effect, making it look and feel unattractive.

First and foremost, lets take a look at black. While some homeowners may use black furniture, it's generally recommended that you stay away from black colored walls, as it will drown out the surrounding decor. When there's too much black on the walls, your eyes won't be able to adjust properly to the shift in colors. Black walls also create an optical illusion that makes the room appear smaller than what it actually is. If you're painting a small bedroom, bathroom or hallway area, stay away from this color at all costs!

Now, you're probably wondering what effect white has on a room. White is seen as the color of purity and while it doesn't drown out the surrounding decorations, it usually doesn't compliment them either. One of the only locations where an all-white style of decor would be suitable is in a sunroom. With the additional windows and sunlight beaming in, using white on the walls and for the furniture would allow it to open up and feel more warm.

If you want to create a warm environment that's easy to match other decorations and home furnishings with, you should consider using earthy colors such as tan, beige, taupe and brown. These are all excellent choices that will give your home just enough color to compliment the atmosphere, but not enough so that it drowns everything out. Personally, I'm a huge fan of taupe for the classic look it creates that goes well in practically any home. When in doubt, you can almost always paint the walls taupe and it will look good.

You don't have to limit yourself to taupe or brown colors, however. If you want to achieve a brighter, more “beachy” feel in your home, then try painting the walls orange, tangerine, velvet or even yellow. There's just something naturally warm and relaxing with these colors over traditional colors. Think about how hotels, condos and apartments are decorated at the beach and go with a similar style. You can even take it one step further by adding some seashells to accent the beach colors.

A lot of homeowners either forget or choose to avoid painting an accent wall in their home. If you don't know what this is, let give you a quick explanation – basically, an accent wall is a single wall that's painted a different color than the rest. For instance, if you have 3 walls in your bedroom painted taupe, you can paint an accent wall with a navy or slightly darker color. This added element is just enough to place a subtle touch on your home's decor. Hopefully these tips will help you get on the right path to choosing a color that's perfect for your home.