The minute you decide to change the interior of your home, you are instantly bombarded with endless options – from the softness of the pillow cushions to the patterns on the sofa fabric. Will those robin-egg blue tiles work better in the guest bathroom or should you stick to the classic black-and-white checkerboard pattern under the claw-footed tub?
Apart from all these competing and urgent choices to make, you also have the complete freedom to hand-pick shades and hues that will result in a personalized color palette for your ‘home sweet home’. Rich mauves to down-to-earth khaki browns, selecting the perfect combination of shades, hues and tints can be a time-consuming process. We’ll let you in on a little secret snatched from the best interior decorators in Lahore – choose one primary color and play with different tints and shades around this color on the spectrum wheel.
An Interior Designer’s Top-Secret Trick: Monochromatic Color Scheme
Good news! Your home can easily be as glamorous as those profiled in glossy magazines – as long as you stick with the principles of monochromatic color schemes.
Like the idea of a happy color such as yellow but looking for a softer tint for a bedroom? Try covering the walls with lemon-yellow and buttercup-yellow matte paint. The walls are done, but the room needs some drama, so pick up some gold-toned sequins-covered pillows for the master bed. Add the finishing touch with some deep medallion-gold vases and gilded photo frames for the bedside tables.
Rugs, curtains, lamps, paintings, furniture, and even couch covers – everything that can be painted or comes in a variety of colors is fair game when designing a monochromatic room. All these elements, with different tints and shades of the same color, combined can really elevate a room’s ambiance.
Reach for the Richer Shades
If the walls are already covered in classic purple paint, hang lilac lace curtains to add a spring-like feel and much-needed sunlight into the room. Sticking with the primary purple palette, you can add in furniture upholstered in deeper, darker shades such as wine or boysenberry and place them around the fireplace.
Layer Upon Layer
Redefine how spacious a room appears by layering different shades of the same color in a larger-than-normal room. Strategically-placed mahogany wood furniture in front of garnet-red drapes can make a space seem cozier and more intimate. This is also an ideal color scheme for a custom-built home theater.
Celestial Comfort
For a bedroom pinned on the cream-white base color, the color of the bed linen becomes absolutely paramount. An emerald-green silken quilt covering the bed, with a thousand thread-count mint-colored sheets spread right under it, will both look AND feel heavenly as you sink between the covers after a long day.
Bathrooms Fit For Kings & Queens
Smartly-applied color can add a touch of glamor to even the most routine and unexpected of places, such as the bathroom. Up the glamour quotient in your bathroom by adding hints of sunset-gold colored fixtures all over a grey, marble-finish luxurious sink top. Add some visual variety by hanging up daffodil-patterned shower curtains or placing baskets of artificial daisies on the countertops and in the shelves. A majority of modern home designs in Pakistan are now giving priority to stylishly-designed upscale bathrooms, complete with built-in wardrobes, heated towel racks and built-in jacuzzi tubs.
Deluxe Sitting Areas
Throw some fluffy crimson-velvet cushions on to rose-tinted sofa sets to transform a drab sitting area into a deluxe lounge straight out of a celebrity’s mansion. Indulge in the pecan-colored bookshelves and showcases which will easily complement the fawn and eggshell colored walls in the great room.
Follow the 60-30-10 Rule
Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of playing with a one-color scheme as well as color wheels and shade cards? You can select any three colors to apply the 60-30-10 design principle when deciding on paint swatches and fabrics. Sixty percent of the room’s backdrop (such as the walls and the flooring) shall consist of the main color, another thirty percent will be a complementary secondary color and the final ten percent shall be accessories in a striking accent color of your choosing.
Whether you opt for a monochromatic color scheme or a combination of shades from your favorite painting, remember to enjoy the interior design process.