Colours speak a million languages. They inspire moods, ideas, festivals and invoke memories. It is extremely important to select the right colour for your home, office or personal space and it requires a considerable amount of time, energy and patience. It is undoubtedly necessary to create the right ambience in spaces where you spend most of your time. Although there is no set technique to choose that perfect shade, knowing where to start and where to look helps a great deal. You can follow a few colour tips to bring out the desired end result.
Nature is full of vibrant colours, a comprehensive palate of hues and tints. And to make it more interesting, various colours are combined together to form even more variants. There are so many hues to every colour. For example, fuchsia, salmon pink, shocking pink, magenta, tea rose, persian pink, mountbatten pink are just some of the many colour shades of pink.
Colours can be divided into 3 categories:
1 Primary colours – Red/Yellow/Blue
2 Secondary colours – Orange/Green/Violet
3 Intermediate colours - Concocted by mixing one primary colour and one secondary colour
1 Exterior Paints
Depending on the surface (clapboard, aluminum siding, brick, concrete block, stucco) exterior paints are available in water-thinned or solvent-thinned formulas. With flat, semi-gloss and gloss lustres, exterior paints have more resin, which resists moisture for long, with added pigment for colour. Latex, Acrylic, Alkyd, Oil paint, Primers, Stains are some of the exterior types of paint.
2 Interior Paints
To paint the interior of any space you need to consider certain factors before settling for the right finish. These factors include ease of cleaning, durability, kid-friendliness, matching the ceiling and walls, etc. There are a number of finishes to choose from, (matte, flat enamel, satin, semi-gloss, glossy) which helps make all the difference to the way your walls look.
Colours are also found to have changed perspectives. If it is your home you are painting, colour plays a huge role colour in enhancing or subduing the look of it. There are certain colours that make spaces look bigger. Lighter colours have a calming effect while brighter colours bring vibrancy and liveliness to a room.
There are a few things that you need to take care of when selecting a colour for your walls or any other hard surface:
1 Research:
Look at interior designing journals and magazines to study various colour trends. Keep cuttings of colours that you particularly like when you go looking for the colours for your space.
2 Think ahead:
It is a fact that colours appear a tad bit different on a wall or ceiling than they do than on a paper surface. To get the same effect on a wall as on a paper surface, it is safer to use a lighter shade on the wall.
3 Different tones, different meanings:
Grey, blue and white have a cooling effect while yellow exhibits a warmer look. Again, use snow-white as it gives a serious, hospital feel. Use bold colours in rooms you spend more time in and subtle colours in rooms you spend less time in.
4 Match it with the furnishings:
It is not a ground rule, but it is always advisable to match the upholstery of the room with the colours on the wall. Take along a swatch of the upholstery you are using in your space when you go colour hunting to get suitable colour options.
5 Test paint:
You can test the colour you intend to use on your wall by painting a small portion of your wall with it. It gives you a fair idea of how it’ll eventually look.
Add colours and a new dimension to your walls by using metallic paints. To make them really stand out from a crowd add halogen lighting and watch your walls colours! To know more about guidelines please visit
Colour Tips.
