Decorating with Cool Colors – Part 1
In the heat of summer, fill your rooms with cool blues, greens, and purples to summon a cool breeze to your home. Check out these inspirational ideas and then try it in your place.
Pair with White
Youthful purple coats the walls in this sweet bedroom.
Make it work for you:
— Use all-white furniture to counterpoint the bright shade.
— Don’t be too matchy: Attach baby blue paper to the headboard or use another cool shade somewhere else.
— Accent with a warm color (like the tangerine rug and bedding here).
Layer Brights
Vivid blue frames the rest of this home and provides a background for glam black-and-white accessories.
Make it work for you:
— Lighten up a strong cool hue with bright white trim.
— Choose contrasting accent colors to give the wall color an edge.
— If your rooms open into one another, choose a different shade of the same color for the paint.
Work the Trends
This mod living room benefits from a trendy blue-and-brown color combo.
Make it work for you:
— Invest in one high-impact piece with both the colors, here, a shapely rug.
— Choose one of the colors to accessorize with; when you want to redecorate you just have to switch out pillows and artwork.
— Make inexpensive artwork by painting different widths of stripes on plain canvases.
Mixing Styles
Here’s another take on the brown-and-blue trend.
Make it work for you:
— With any trendy color palette, buy the more expensive, long-lasting pieces in the neutral hue
— Make your mark: if your sensibility is more country, hang the gingham shade and blue china
— Tie the clean-line furniture and casual accessories together with a scrollwork and floral rug that nods to both styles.
Surprise Color
One bit of cool color is all you need to make an impact.
Make it work for you:
— Try it in an unexpected place, like upholstering traditional chairs in electric purple.
Bold for All
Decorating in cool colors doesn’t mean decorating in pastels.
Make it work for you:
— Fill the room with colors of equal saturation: fresh blue on the walls, butter yellow furniture, and bright red accents.
— Group color types — cool blue on the walls, warm red and yellow at ground level.
— Subdue the look with dark wood, or whitewash the wood for a beachside cottage look.
Pillow Help
Dress up a neutral setting with cool pillows.
Make it work for you:
— For summer, blue beats the heat. In the winter, swap energizing red or playful orange. — Mix patterns: a solid is a no-brainer, but add a traditional stripe and a tasteful pattern in the same color palette.
Cooking with Color
Even the kitchen can benefit from a shot of cool color.
Make it work for you:
— Keep the cabinets white; they’ll weather many redecorations.
— Choose an eye-popping color since you’re effectively painting only half the room.
— Coordinate with your dishes if they’ll be out in the open.
Bedroom Blues
Blue is the most common bedroom color, probably because of it’s soothing quality and appeal to both sexes.
Make it work for you:
— Choose a soft shade that brightens during the day, but isn’t to light at bedtime.
— Spread the color joy to the ceiling and paint it the same shade.
— Match the shade with light neutrals and blue and tan bedding.
Go Light and Bright
Whisper-soft green acts almost like a neutral in this bedroom.
Make it work for you:
— Pick the lightest shade available and plan to perk it up with vivid accessories.
— Focus the brightest point of color off the wall, such as the green checkered rug in this bedroom.
— Branch out into the same color family, choosing bedding and other furniture in yellow-green.
Article From: www.bhg.com