1. Pick a colour that you like and then decide how much of it you want to use – What’s your favourite colour? Is it blue, green or red? Blue and green are considered the 2 most restful colours of the spectrum, with green winning out as it is derived from the colours of nature. Can you use green or blue throughout your space? Most definitely. Some people will use one colour for most areas and then use a different colour for each bedroom which works since each bedroom is closed off by a door. Bedroom can be any colour that you want to be as they don’t necessarily have to tie in with the main or overall colour of your house. If you like strong colours like yellow or red, you might want to use those a little more sparingly. Having red all throughout your entire house (or office) can be a little bit tiring to look at, which makes them ideal as accent walls, to provide you that jolt of energy, or merely to add some visual interest to your house that may have neutral colours everywhere else. I have one client that I’ve worked with on 3 different homes. He always chose plain white, which made his growing collection of art from noted Vancouver photographer Fred Herzog stand out. It also made his medium-oak stained floors really pop, which was perfect as he liked to have warm-coloured floors. I’ve always had a soft spot for beige (which is a warm colour) or grey (which is a cool colour). But after moving to a house with walls painted green, I almost painted them a very light shade of grey that was almost white. Except I chose not to since it’s a restful shade of green that turns into a pleasant shade of grey depending on the amount of sunlight (or artificial indoor light) that hits it. So I’m actually getting 2 relaxing colours for the price of one so I’ve decided to keep it instead.
2. Make sure not to overwhelm the room (or entire home) with a strong colour – If you like statement colours like red, mustard yellow or orange, you might want to use these as an accent colour on a few walls rather than everywhere as this can get overwhelming or too dark if used too much. If you have one red wall in the living room for example, then you can use white everyone else. And then make sure to hang one large piece of black & white art – or an array of two or three black & white photographs – to create a nice and subtle counterpoint to the red. And then pick up a black leather couch and side chairs and a white carpet to further accentuate the red. And then pick up the red in the accessories, throw pillows. That way you have a strong accent paired with neutrals to create some balance. If emerald green is your thing, use it as an accent wall and then use a light shade of khaki everywhere. And then make sure to pick up the khaki in the art and on the carpet. And bring in some whites in the sofa and accent chairs to further highlight the dark green accent colours. And then to complement the green, make sure to bring in plants for one corner of the room and a smaller one to put on the coffee table and side table. Two things to keep in mind when using the accent colour is to (a) not use too much of it as it can get too overpowering, and (b) then to continue using it throughout the room in the various decorative elements.
3. Decide whether you’d like to go patterned or solid for your accent colour – The easiest and most cost-effective way to do accent walls is to use a solid paint. Not only is paint easy to apply, it’s also easy to remove, as in you can just paint over it white a neutral colour (such as white) once it’s time for a change. When you use a wallpaper on the other hand, you may need some help installing it if you’re not handy enough to do it yourself as it does require some wall preparation and a special adhesive. Take note that there are peel and stick wallpaper that allow you to basically put up wallpaper on your own if you’re willing to do this yourself. However, not all apartment landlords will allow their tenants to put up wallpaper even if it is just for one wall (or a series of singular walls in case you also want to do accent walls in the master bedroom and powder room for example) as taking them down can involve time, expense, and a level of complexity that just makes installation a bit tricky. Most landlords would agree to tenants putting in an accent wall for as long as they bring it back to the original colour when it’s time to leave. Right now, wallpaper is having another big moment, so if you’re into pattern definitely go with whatever pattern you feel whether its florals, animal print or geometric shapes in whatever colour you like. You can also use a secondary colour to compliment the main colour – such as lemon yellow if your accent colour is dark green, or a chocolate brown if your accent colour is a mid-blue, or a light grey if you’re into pink. And then I use a third colour as a neutral backdrop, like white. This is the so called 60-30-10 rule where 60% being the most neutral shade, 30% being the slightly bolder colour, and 10% being the strongest accent colour. So for the dark brown (10%) + terra cotta combo (30%) pictured below, I will use khaki (60%) on the rest of the walls as the neutral base to balance out all the dark hues. I can also use that same khaki for the light blue and chocolate brown combo. As for the pink (10%) and light grey (30%), I generally go for white (10%) as the overall neutral base colour as pink is very strong colour.
4. Keep on going using that accent colour on the art and decorative accessories – Wondering where to put that secondary colour? If you’re into dark green and yellow for example, you use the dark green on a large wall in the living room. And then you use the secondary colour (yellow in this case) in the decorative accent pieces: like the wall art, area rug and throw pillows. You can continue the yellow on the vases and coffee table books for the cocktail table. But I wouldn’t use it on any of the upholstery, especially if I already have it on my rug and on the art as yellow can be a bit much on furniture, which is why I’d probably keep these white, khaki, or a light grey (which goes well with dark green) so that it doesn’t tire your eyes (yellow can do that to you if used too much). Sometimes it’s good to pull back rather than put too much of a secondary colour so things don’t end up being too much If you’ve decided to use pink as the main accent in your bedroom, you can apply that in the wall behind your headboard and then use the secondary colour (which is grey in this case) for the duvet cover and curtains. I can do a pink armchair and accent rug under the bed to support the accent colour and keep things consistent. But I’d be careful of how much pink I use as it is a strong accent colour on its own and less is generally better than more in my opinion as I favor subtlety over using too much when it comes employing any kind of colour to prevent fatigue.
5. Don’t forget the walls, ceilings, and trim – Remember that you have a space that is not contemporary and leans towards farmhouse, traditional or even art deco, it’s an opportunity to install baseboards, crown moulding and door casing which can really heighten a room’s level of polish and sophistication by several notches. Do remember that people notice these things whenever they enter a room and if you’re into formal-looking rooms that feature a lot of detail in the ceiling and on the floors (via a herringbone pattern design for example), you may want to finish off the entire look with slightly fancier trim. It’s little details like this that add that bit of visual weight and acts in the same way that jewelry functions a woman’s outfit: it just elevates the whole look. In fact, my 8” inch high curved (around the corner) baseboards and 10” inch high crown mouldings (which are a bit uncommon) are what catch people’s eye as they enter my house as they’re higher than what they’re used to seeing. And it adds to the dreamy and romantic feel of the house, which is already quite old (for Vancouver) at 101 years. What are the best colour to paint trim (and ceilings)? I usually go for white, followed by silver. I’d hesitate before using gold, which is a bit much and if you’re thinking black or grey on trim and ceilings then you may want to think 10 or more times before going that route, unless you have a really dark colour scheme like charcoal or dark brown in which case it’s fine to use.
