Guide For Incorporating Color

Congratulations. Now that you have your whole house color scheme, you can start the process of incorporating color in your home! We’ve included a few hints on how to do this from room to room. Let’s get started.

Keep One Color Consistent:

One of the easiest ways to give your home a continuous color flow is to use one of your accent colors in every space in the house. If you have chosen teal as one of your accent colors, that could be the color for an accent chair in the living room. In the dining room, you might have teal in the pattern of an upholstered dining room chair(s), and in the bedroom you might use teal again in your bedspread or duvet cover.

Incorporate Tint, Shade, Tone of Each Color:

Along with weaving your accent colors into each space, you can create more variation and possibilities when you bring in the tint, shade, and tone of your accent colors. Even when you introduce this variation, the base color is the same, and the eye makes the connection. The tint, shade, and tone of each color creates a color family. If your accent color is teal (which is blue green with black), you can incorporate all variations of this color all the way up to the lightest aqua (blue green with white).

• Tint: Pure color mixed with white.
• Shade: Pure color mixed with black.
• Tone: Pure color mixed with gray.

Vary the Scale and Application by following the 10-30-60 Rule.

The 10-30-60 Rule is a very simple way to come up with a balanced color palette for your space. It states that 60% is the overall (dominant) color, 30% should be a secondary color, and the last 10% should be your accent color.

The overall/dominant color of the room (60%) is the background color. When you look at the room you will say that this is a gray room (or whatever color you select). The 30% color will support the overall color but be different enough to give the room interest. The 10% is your accent color. It can be bold or subtle depending on the look you want. This color gives the room character or maintains a neutral feel – whatever you want; it’s what you prefer – and make you feel good.

Not sure about the Dominant, Secondary, or Accent Colors?

Give Samplize Colors a try. For a small cost, you can get a large color sample sheet with an adhesive backing for Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore. You can also use the paint company color strips to help you choose the secondary and accent colors. Click on the image below to visit the Samplize website.