Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52If you’re about to create a colour scheme and don’t know where to begin, here’s a six-step process to get you started. 1. You need to love it There’s no point painting your interiors in vintage pastels if no-one in your family likes pink, lemon and pale blue. The best colours are chosen with the owner’s personality in mind. A nature lover may prefer greens and blues to bright reds, while an out-going owner may prefer bold colours. You may already know what colours you like. Even so, use this book, magazines and websites to inspire you. Don’t over-think it, just collect or tag what appeals. Then, when you have a decent-sized collection, look for common elements. It might be that your choices are all light, casual and beachy, or all moody and masculine. Visit your local Resene ColorShop or reseller and pick out colours that you’re instinctively drawn to. Together with your collected images, you’ll soon see a pattern emerge. If you thrive on change, you might choose a the 6-step tiles or timber flooring then mid-range colour on the walls and pale colours on the ceiling. 3. Use a starting point Using a favourite painting, wallpaper, curtain fabric or a recently purchased cushion as the starting point for a scheme is a great way to create good colour composition. You can already see that the colours work together so draw them out of the art/wallpaper/fabric neutral colour scheme so that you can regularly choose new accessories like cushions and rugs without affecting the entire scheme. 2. Style and setting A big driver of interior style and colours is the style of the house. An old character home will inspire a different look to a modern box, or a mid-century suburban home, or a timber-clad retreat in the bush. It’s the same with the setting. If there’s a dominant feature nearby like the sea, bush, rolling farmland or city skyline, you might use colours inspired by those aspects. If you want to highlight the view, choose a lighter colour palette. If you want to distance the view make your interior colour scheme more contrasting. Which leads on to the next point. Nature conditions us to expect balance and harmony, and offers good guidelines to using colour. In nature, darker colours are often underfoot, like the earth, while mid-range colours are at eye level, like trees and leaves. The lightest colour is above us, like the sky and clouds. This can translate to interiors by using darker carpet, colour scheme top tip Once you have narrowed down your colour choices, use Resene testpots to confirm your colour scheme. Apply two coats onto a piece of A2 card, leaving a border around it so the colour isn’t influenced by anything else. When the paint is dry, pin your colour to the wall and view it in daylight and artificial light, moving it around different areas of the room and folding it into the corner of the room for a true feel of the finished effect. Resene Wild Thing 2 |