Adding color to your home’s design is remarkably impactful on the atmosphere. In fact, designers believe that the best way to completely change the environment is by painting your walls. With this in mind, you can see how important choosing the right color can be. However, there are millions of colors to choose from, and this task can feel overwhelming. When trying to select a color for your room, there are four basic rules you should keep in mind. With these in mind, your search can become a little less random and more focused on the right color choice for your home.

Color Inspiration

You will want to have general inspiration going into your project. What colors do you like? Do you have a style or design theme that you would like to mimic in your home? What colors are used as inspiration in those themes or styles? These questions can all help you dial in the choice of where to begin. Do you want a warm-toned atmosphere or a cool-toned atmosphere? Perhaps you are just looking for a neutral color tone in your room. Your color inspiration can come from many different influences. Determine what you want your home to look like before beginning your search.

Match Your Current Furniture and Belongings

If you still have no idea where to begin, use your current furniture or belongings to create a color theme. For instance, maybe you have a blue couch or beige lamp shades. Your personal belongings can be a great start at picking a color. Use these elements to help determine a theme. Even if all your furniture is a different color, the choice you choose should help harmonize your furniture.

Team Effort

If you do not live alone, you should not make this decision alone. Check with your spouse or your roommates because paint is there to last. You want to make sure everyone agrees before making the commitment of painting a room.

Test Your Paint on Your Walls

Lastly, paint can look completely different on a swatch in the store than in your own home. Most stores will have overhead fluorescent lighting. Take your paint choices home and put them on your walls. Look at them throughout the day. They may look different with the influence of natural lighting. Make sure the color you choose agrees all day with your home’s theme.

These rules can help narrow down your decision. Yet, all in all, choosing the right color comes down to you and your personal preferences. Try picking several colors or shades. Decide which one works best with what you want to accomplish in your home.

The holiday season is amongst us and full of cheer! It is always fun to decorate for the holidays and create a festive atmosphere in our homes. There are many ways to spruce up your space for the season. For example, adding a Christmas tree with a variation of lights, ornaments, and tinsel, as well as garland on the fireplace mantle, are all great ways to help make your home feel festive.

Décor can be placed throughout your whole house to help encapsulate the holiday spirit. While traditional Christmas décor can feel uniform and balanced throughout your home, you can always take your décor to the next level. For instance, if you have a neutral color palette home, Christmas décor will really pop. That being said, making your Christmas décor color palette match is essential to help the flow of the atmosphere. To help readers better understand, here are four great seasonal color palettes to consider in your home:

Red, Green, & Gold

This traditional color palette looks great in any setting since red and green are most commonly affiliated with Christmas décor. To spice it up, you can add some gold into the mix to help create a more luxurious feel. You will find that this color palette can be used in a variety of ways. For instance, a green pine tree with all red bulbs will look great with gold lights and tinsel. You can even carry this theme throughout the whole home, making green your primary color, red your secondary, and gold as your accent.

Silver, White, & Blue

Are you looking for an elegant and winter-inspired wonderland? Try using a silver, white, and blue color palette. This light and airy Christmas color palette can make your home feel elegant and beautiful. You can get a white Christmas tree and decorate it with silver and blue. Plus, this dazzling look can be added throughout the whole home. You can add white stockings and snow-inspired décor to create your winter oasis.

Warm, Earthy Tones

Are you not feeling the cold this winter? If so, make your home feel a little bit warmer with this rustic Christmas palette. You can add earthy, warm tones throughout your space while still being festive. The forest green from a real pine tree and garland in your home can be a great start. You can add pine cones and some candles to take a warmer approach on decorating your home.

Eclectic Style

Since Christmas is fun, you can be as creative as you desire! Perhaps you are into all the colors this season has to offer. From the diverse wrapping papers to rainbow-colored lights on the tree, this eclectic styling can be a fun way to decorate as well.

Let your holiday décor feel more uniform by adding a color theme to your space. What colors do you use during the holiday season? Have you tried any of these color themes? Let us know below in the comment section.

When it’s time to select an area rug, a little forethought will help you make just the right choice. This rug pulls all of the colors together to create an island in the middle of the room that really suits its style. With a few simple decisions, your rug can be just as integrated and effective as this one.

To start, determine the right size rug for your room. In this case the homeowners chose a rug that would add warmth to the space while still allowing the beautiful hardwood floor to appear. If you want to cover a floor that is not as lovely, consider a rug large enough to cover the entire conversation area. Of course, the larger the rug the more expensive it is, so be sure to factor your budget into your decision.

The second issue is color. This room has a lot of warm tones between the floor, the fireplace and the walls. The rug is primarily warm too, but it grabs the cool colors of the sofa and loveseat as well as the lamp bases and echoes them in the rug’s central design. The grey stripes in particular link the two seating elements together across the room.

Third is design. This room is fairly contemporary and the rug is a style match for that. Its central motif works because the coffee table is airy and simple. Many tables would hide that central design. In those cases, look for rugs with a border pattern or an overall look that won’t be hidden.

An area rug like this one can really pull a room together and provide the final element needed to make a room complete. Spend the time you need to find the perfect rug for your space.

Would you like to take a break from the everyday priorities of life and plan for a bit of romance? Valentine’s Day is around the corner, but on a birthday, anniversary or just for the fun of it, it’s nice to let your honey know that he or she is still special to you.

To begin, take a look around your house to choose a location to create a romantic indoor picnic. If you have a fireplace, that’s a great choice. Other possibilities would be a window with a view, a corner of the family room, or the center of a den.

If the flooring is tile or wood, grab some area rugs from other parts of the house. If the room is carpeted, you can still put at least one rug down to anchor your romantic space. You may want to pile two or three on top of each other to create a cushioned spot that resembles the feel of a Moroccan or gypsy tent. Don’t be afraid to mix colors.  Add some pillows and position a small tablecloth or scarf in the middle for serving the food.

Complete your décor with the fresh flowers of your choice and candles. For the cushioned area, using the new LED lights that resemble votives such as the ones in the photo are much safer and worry free.

Choose favorite foods for your lunch or dinner. Finger foods are easier to manage when sitting on the floor. While it’s fun to make this event a surprise, you may want to ask your sweetie to bring some wine, just to provide a hint that a fun evening is planned.

Once you’re finished, take a step back and make sure everything looks inviting. Turn off the room’s lights, creating an island of warmth in the room. For a final touch, pull apart one of the flowers and sprinkle the petals around the area. Now you’ve created the right atmosphere for romance!

What makes this room work? It’s the study in contrasts that make a traditional design like this stay new and interesting.

The classic elements such as the design of all the furniture, the moldings and most of the accessories contrast with the contemporary approach to color and design.

Painting the walls this dark green grey provides the first leap from the standard. The fabric choice for the loveseats and drapes also depart from a traditional approach.

The carpet, while traditional in color, departs with its willingness to include pattern. Both the base pattern of the carpet and the overlay of a matching rug with a contrasting border take this room up a design notch. Both the colors and the carpet choices make this room stand out as a fresh take on an old look.

This room shows the power of contrast in design. Taking a chance on a dark wall tone, combining different patterns, and encouraging both very light and very dark elements to interact makes for an exciting room.

Does your home show your more daring side? How about challenging yourself to take some chances with your décor? Even if your taste is traditional, let your creative side experiment. You never know what may happen!

Do you wish you could redecorate your home but don’t want to go through all the hassle? A fresh coat of paint can make an enormous difference in a space. Painting is the simplest, most effective home improvement out there.

The most difficult part of painting is not the actual labor of painting; it’s selecting an appropriate color for the space. When trying to decide on a color, keep in mind what color fabrics are in the room.

Before purchasing enough paint to coat the entire space; buy a small pint of the color you are considering. Paint a large enough area, so you can get a feel for what it will look like on all the walls. This will allow you to see what the color looks like with the type of lighting in the space. If you are lucky enough to have natural light in the space, check out how the color looks during different times of the day (morning, mid day, afternoon, dusk and evening). Doing so will prevent making the wrong choice and having to buy more materials and painting over.

There is more to decide than simply what color to paint. Sheen is an important aspect to consider. High gloss sheens tend to highlight imperfections on the walls; but it is easily cleaned with water and a towel. Satin and eggshell sheens go on smoothly and have a nice matte finish. These are the safest choice for paint sheen.

Painting a room or two can be done over one weekend. There are paints available now that have primer built and usually only require one coat. You may need two coats if your color is really bright, intense or dark. This home improvement really is worth considering if you are looking to enhance your space.