10 Jan How to Choose the Perfect Color Palette for Each Room in Your Home

Whether you’re reimagining a specific area of your home or decorating a brand-new custom-built home, you want the right color scheme for every room. After all, color sets the mood and the tone and provides the landscape for your aesthetic. Color is the starting point of your design and a reflection of you. Yes, it can be a little overwhelming but, choosing the perfect color palette for your home is easy if you follow a few simple rules. 

The Key to Your Perfect Color Palette? Wait on Paint

When you begin, you’re probably going to be tempted to select the paint first. Paint is inexpensive and is available in any color you want. Therefore, the temptation to choose a wall color and use that as your guide is strong. But when you choose the perfect color palette for each room, you should hold off on the paint until you select those less accommodating features. 

First, find your perfect furniture, flooring, and wallpaper, and choose those dream items you’ve always coveted. Then, you’re free to choose the complementing color for your perfect color palette. Here are some more of our suggestions to help you choose the perfect color palette for each room in your home.

Take Stock of Your Space

Because color is so essential to underscoring the overall vibe of a room (and a home) you need to take stock of the room before you settle on a color palette. 

• What is the room meant for?  Is it a bedroom? Dining room? Great room?
• How will you use the room? Is it a formal dining room or will you convert it into a home office space?
• Who is the primary resident of the room? Will you use the room for a playroom for the kids? Is it a teen’s bedroom? Guest suite? Family room?

You may want bright and lively colors in your kids’ play area and soothing, calming colors in a guest suite. The heaviness of a dark wood-furnished home office can be lightened up with airy and lighter colors. 

What is Your Overall Aesthetic and Style?

Look around your home and determine what makes a room “you”. Where do you see your sense of style reflected most? To what colors do you gravitate? What colors are most prevalent in your wardrobe? Choose a few of these hues and go forward with your perfect color palette. 

Remember color is a personal choice. There is no hard and fast rule about what the perfect color palette is for you or anyone else. The colors that draw you in are the foundation for your home’s aesthetic and style. 

Make Sure to Consider the Lighting

Lighting has a pretty big impact on your perfect color palette. Natural lighting presents colors in a far different way than ambient lighting. Skylights and large windows make the perfect light source as their natural light is typically uniform and present a clear spectrum of color. The shifting of natural light from season to season and even sunrise to sunset alters the spectrum 

slightly so we advise you to spend different times of your day in a particular room before selecting the palette you desire. 

Custom home lighting makes a difference. Ambient lighting should also be considered. Incandescent lighting emits warm red-based illumination, so it can alter some colors. Fluorescent lights are cooler and blue-based. LED lighting comes in a variety of colors, from cooler-toned soft white to warm red-, yellow-, and orange-emitting lighting. Whatever your primary source of lighting when the room is in use should be measured against your color palette and vice-versa. 

Embrace the 60/30/10 Rule for The Perfect Color Palette

Interior designers often refer to the 60/30/10 rule when choosing the perfect color palette for each room in a home. This rule helps to create a cohesive color flow by using the dominant color in 60% of a room, the secondary or complementary color in 30%, and finally the accent color may be used in 10% of the room. 

Here’s how to utilize this design rule:

• 60% Color Rule: The main color of the room. Use this color on walls, area rugs, and large furniture pieces. 
• 30% Color Rule: This is a secondary color that complements the main color but is different and provides contrast and depth. Use this color half as much as your main color in things like window coverings, accent walls, linens and bedding, footstools, accent chairs, dining room chair upholstery, painted curios, and small furniture. 
• 10% Color Rule: This color is like the spice in a prize-winning recipe. You want it to flavor your room. The accent color provides pizazz even as it pulls the room together. Find this color in a piece of art, a pattern of upholstery, or patterned wallpaper. Let this color guide you in your selection of decorative lamps, throws, and throw pillows, frames, vases, artwork, and other accessories. 

If you’re unsure of the colors you should use for your 60/30/10 rule refer to a color wheel. 

Speak with A Professional

For more on how to choose the perfect color palette for each room in your home, please reach out to the design professionals at Seiffert Home Design. We are ready and waiting to assist you in designing your custom home. With professional knowledge and experience, we are your best Quad Cities source for any project. Contact Seiffert Home Design today.