Haute on Design: Decorating with Color

Decorating with color can be a fun and exciting way to express your personality, style and creativity. The right color can transform a boring, non-descript room into a welcoming and livable space. Fear of color and the lack of color knowledge prevent many homeowners from incorporating color into their home’s décor.

Choosing a paint color for a space is not as daunting as it sounds. The room’s size, its’ purpose and the atmosphere you are trying to create should be taken into consideration when choosing a paint color. For example, the color red is perfect for formal dining spaces. It is a color that stimulates the appetite and encourages warm conversations.


Size does matter when it comes to choosing color. Large cavernous rooms can handle a more dramatic and bolder color choice. It can also help to bring the space down onto more of a human scale. Lighter and brighter colors can make a small space feel larger in size and feel more open. In addition, the room’s purpose or activity is important to consider when decorating with color. Family gathering spaces should have a color that encourage lively interactions. Bedroom colors should be relaxing and restful while quiet spaces such as home libraries and offices should have calm and peaceful colors.

Incorporating color into your space is the easiest part of decorating with color. There are a couple of ways to enhance your space with color:

1. Paint an accent wall with a bold color. Your inspiration color can come from a color in the rug, from an accent pillow or from a favorite scarf. The accent wall can also serve as the focal point in the space.


2. Accessorize with color. Rugs, throw pillows, and decorative home accents are great ways to introduce color into your space. In addition, they provide a quick and inexpensive way to create a decorative change and/or introduce a new color scheme.


In closing, there is not such a thing as “the wrong color”…it’s just not “the right color” for that space. The one good thing about decorating with paint color is that it is only paint and you can always paint over it. As always, “have fun decorating, always incorporate whimsy….It’s Haute!


For more decorating and design tips, please be sure to follow me on Twitter: @HauteOnDesign, “like” The JewelBox on Facebook and subscribe to my YouTube Channel, HauteOnDesign. In closing, “Have fun decorating…always incorporate whimsy…It’s Haute!”