A Practical Guide: How to Choose the Perfect Color for Your Interior
To be honest, choosing a color palette for your interior is no easy task… It often happens that our clients (working with ready-made solutions selected for them by the designer) spend the entire duration of the project choosing between one shade or another… Changing colors in an interior later on is difficult (it's not a wardrobe, after all), and the choice is so vast that anyone can get confused, lost, and completely discouraged. But what about those who are renovating without designers? How do you make the right choice and avoid mistakes?
For everyone in doubt, I am writing this guide: how to choose a color for your interior. Here are several fundamental rules to help you determine which colors you like, whether they match the chosen style, and fit the space itself.
Favorite Colors
Decide which colors you like: cool, warm, pastel (soft shades obtained by diluting a pure tone with white), bright, etc. To get a clearer idea of how your favorite color looks in various interiors, I recommend using the photo-sharing platform Pinterest—here you will find everything under the sun, plus you can create a "board" with curated ideas and the most relevant solutions for you.
Simply type the name of your color into the search bar, for example: "pink in interior", and start gathering ideas.
How Many Colors Should Be in an Interior?
In any interior, there is a base color and secondary shades that pair with it according to specific rules. To make the interior more engaging, you need to find about two bright color accents (in addition to the base color). To ensure the interior doesn't look too busy, I suggest following this ratio: "60–30–10". Let 60% of the room be designed in the dominant color, 30% in the secondary color, and 10% in an accent shade.
Itten's Color Wheel: Finding a Match
So, you have decided which colors you like—the second important rule is to find their match.
One option is to use Itten's color wheel. In it, three primary colors (yellow, blue, and red) create secondary colors (green, violet, and orange), which then turn into tertiary colors. Consequently, we have 12 basic hues that can be combined with one another. Naturally, each of the 12 primary hues has numerous tinted or grayish shades (as shown in the image from dark to light).
Below are examples of the most common combination schemes on Itten's wheel: monochromatic (one shade from dark to light), complementary (contrast), analogous palette (analogous triad), and classic triad. Below, I will provide examples from our projects featuring all color options and how they are positioned on the wheel.
A prime example of a monochromatic interior: where shades of a single color are used with varying saturation. A relevant and trendy design technique in recent years. The most important thing in such projects is to focus on textures and material finishes.
A contrasting color element always catches the eye, but it requires a well-prepared background
A classic triad of dusty pastel tones—the result is an excellent combination for a children's room
What Else Do You Need to Know?
It is crucial to understand: an interior is not a flat surface, it is a volume! Therefore, you must always take into account which direction your windows face, how much natural light enters the space, and the color temperature of artificial lighting (warm white, cool, or warm yellow). After all, under different lighting, the very same shade will look completely different. So make sure to test paint swatches before making a purchase.
Of course, do not overlook the style of the interior: classic interiors are most often created in pastel, neutral, and calm palettes. For modern and loft-style interiors, rich accent colors are more suitable. But! It is equally important to rely on your own feelings and preferences. Your interior—your rules!
Color Selection Apps
All of the rules mentioned above can also be seamlessly applied in color selection apps. Nowadays there are plenty of them—Pantone, ColorSnap, Paint Tester, Paint Harmony, etc.—practically every well-known European paint manufacturer creates such apps to simplify the choice of color palette. The best thing about these programs is that you can apply all selected colors to a specific interior (just open a photo of the room in the app and select a color).
Let's summarize. Your action plan: read my article and equip yourself with key designer life hacks, visit Pinterest to find your favorite colors and combinations, download the apps, and try them out in your interior. Or, even simpler—visit our office and trust the choice to a professional.
