Six Tips for Using Color Successfully

By Jay Johnson

As professional designers, we get up to three color-related questions every week. "What color should I make the walls in this room?" ,"What color goes best with this style of furniture?" ,"What color scheme will look great 15 years from now?" The trick is to give clients solid advice that won’t backfire. Here are color tips that have served us well over the years.

1. Consider Color Intensity. Usually the more intense the color, the less area it will cover in a room. Think of the man in a gray suit with a red tie. That's a classic, traditional combination. But consider the man in a red suit with a gray tie. That's very daring! There are opposing sides to every color scheme, and depending on the intensity of the colors, you will likely have one bolder and one tamer scheme, depending on how you prioritize your use of the more intense colors. Select whichever scheme best suits the job.

2. Use Color For Best Effect.  Color is a strong and inexpensive tool for decorating any room, but use it thoughtfully. Example: many designers paint the trim or molding in a room white. That's fine, but it's not a hard-and-fast rule. Here are two instances where that rule should be broken:

• A small entry hallway with many doors will look busy and claustrophobic if all the doors and trim are painted white, contrasting with a wall color. Paint the entry door white and all the others to match the walls. That way, the front door is seen as a focal point.
• If the ceiling is low in any room, painting the base and crown moldings the same color as the walls will make the walls look taller - and that illusion of height is what you want to achieve.

3. European Fabrics Can Inspire You.  Think a great scarf from Hermes or an expensive necktie from Etro, and you have an instant color scheme for any room. Go for an unusual set of color combinations. We once took a French scarf and a vintage Italian dress and got an amazing coral, teal, purple, and gray scheme. If the color combination sounds weird to you, we predict it will be great! Be brave with color and err on the side of European taste; they have a stronger and more fanciful color sense.

4. Take Your Room's Temperature.  Be sensitive to the "temperature" of your color scheme. Typically, one keeps the color scheme within the same temperature. Blues, grays, greens, and black are cool colors. Yellows, oranges, reds, browns, and so on tend to be warm colors. When using white with these schemes, the shade of white you choose (yes, there are zillions of white shades) should be either cool or warm, too. A safe bet is to select a white with a slight tint of the adjacent color mixed into it. Benjamin Moore, for instance, has a section of whites that's clear to see in which direction each white "shades off." Avoid pure white as it tends to be far too strong and glaring for a room.

5. Color Contrasts Add Punch.  Like night and day, sweet and sour, yin and yang, colors should be considered as contrasts to one another. This way, your color scheme can create interest and drama. Visualize an all-white room, with white walls, ceilings, and floors. This room might be quite calm and restful, but it might bore your client to tears. Now visualize your all-white room with a black floor and a punch of black accents in the furnishings and upholstery. Contrasting colors make all the difference.

6. Use Linens For Bedroom Color Schemes.  Your bed is a huge upholstered focal point. Select two coordinating sets of linens (alternate them every-other week to avoid wear) as a basis for your room's color scheme. Textile designers are incredibly skilled at combining colors in clever ways. Select one of the colors for the walls, another for the floor, and so on. Select the floor color(s) first as there are fewer choices to make with carpeting, rugs, and floor treatments versus countless paint colors and wall coverings available.

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In November 2006, Manhattan-based blogger Jay Johnson and his partner Irwin Weiner ASID applied the popularity of watching videos on the Internet to the house-and-garden arena. The idea for Design2Share was born. On D2S, they share their insight, tips, and strong opinions about how people design and decorate their homes, entertaining over 300,000 visitors a year; their syndicated original videos had over 22 million video views in 2010.

Photos © Irwin Weiner Interiors