How to choose the right color for the walls in your apartment. Black and white. Wall color - test painting is required

roomWhen we decide to make a small renovation, or buy new furniture, or simply paint the walls, or lay down new parquet, the question of choosing a color is always one of the first to arise. Even when ordering a project from an interior designer, you are still one of key points The task will include a choice of colors: darker, lighter... and I like red kitchen!!! :-)

How to choose the right color?

To successfully choose colors for your home, it would be nice to get at least a little familiar with the theory. Of course, color is a very subjective topic, but having a little knowledge will help prevent incorrect combinations of, say, wall color and furniture color, and make your home more comfortable.

So, when starting to choose a color for your interior, you should remember that There are only three primary colors: yellow, red and blue. By mixing them you can get green, orange and lilac. Next, to obtain new tones, we mix the color obtained from the two primary colors with one of the primary colors. This results in 12 “primary” colors: 3 primary, 3 secondary, and six “tertiary”.

Primary colors.

Secondary colors.

Tertiary colors.

For better clarity of the interaction of different colors, as well as directly for the right choice It is more convenient to represent colors and spectrum in the form of a closed circle.

Choosing a color walls or furniture for the room you need to remember that a large number of flowers in one room is more likely to harm than to embellish. It is optimal to use two or three colors and their shades.

Not all colors go well with each other. To protect yourself from wrong choice, it is better to make the room in the same color scheme, avoiding contrasts. Contrasting colors are difficult to choose so that they make the room cozy and harmonious. Dark brown and vanilla, cream and light beige, terracotta, dark blue and brown, brown and light green, red and black, black and yellow, chocolate and red-pink harmonize well with each other. And, of course, black and white :-)

It turns out to be very interesting to decorate the interior in a monochromatic combination - that is, use shades of the same color. If you complement the interior with bright details in harmonizing colors, the result will be very stylish.

When choosing a color scheme, you cannot make all colors equal. Some color should prevail, and the rest should complement. Should be used different types colors: it is better to choose a color from a cold palette for the main warm color, and vice versa.

Cold should not be used Blue colour with gray or metal, as the interior will turn out too formal and cold. In this case, a little black will help restore balance.

There are several proven color selection schemes that will help you achieve harmony. This triadic scheme, complementary, double complementary, alternative complementary, with a split element, monochromatic, similar, and... perhaps we’ll stop :-)

Most simple circuit, but at the same time very popular and effective - triadic. It is built on a play of contrasting tones. In order to use this method, you need to imagine an equilateral triangle located in color wheel: the places of the vertices will always indicate colors that go well with each other, no matter how you look at it.

A complementary scheme is an even more contrasting combination of just two colors that are on opposite sides of the circle.

The remaining circuits are shown in the figures.

But for the interior, most likely would be better suited last method - monochromatic and similar scheme. They suggest using adjacent tones, with soft transitions. And if you combine this approach with the first scheme, or the second, you can achieve good results.

If choosing a color turns out to be too difficult a task, you can use special programs or services like this: http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwizard.asp

You should still remember that when choosing the color of furniture or walls, you will most likely have to “tweak” the brightness or contrast of the colors so that they look more vibrant, and also focus on existing decors, colors and textures. The purpose of this article is to serve as a starting point, to indicate the direction of your movement in choosing a color.

All colors can be divided into warm and cold.

Warm colors include yellow, red, Orange color and their derivatives - yellow-orange, lilac, etc., as well as their shades.

Cool colors are white, gray, blue, cyan, green colors.

When choosing a color for the interior, the location of the windows on the cardinal directions and the illumination of the room are taken into account. More illuminated surfaces are painted with cool colors, while less illuminated surfaces should be painted with warm colors. Also, by mixing colors you can change their characteristics: when adding yellow to green, we get neutral or warm light green. But if you add blue, it becomes cold.

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Features of flowers.

Yellow color t is ideal for decorating a living room. It is light and warm. It visually expands the room, makes it more spacious, slightly replacing the sunny color. It is best used in the kitchen, nursery, office, as well as in rooms where there is little light, such as the color of furniture, hay or floors. This color creates a joyful atmosphere and has a beneficial effect on the nervous system and digestive organs. It has a positive effect on vision and can relieve stress. Suitable for sociable and energetic people, as it stimulates mental activity, and, most likely, is not suitable for people who are disappointed in life.

Green color. Depending on the shade, it can be cool, neutral or even warm.

Green color has both a calming and invigorating effect. It is a natural color and goes well with many colors: gray, black, purple, pink, brown, yellow. It is recommended for use in any room - from the bathroom to the bedroom. Better to use green color as the main one in the range.

You can paint the walls green, or make green furniture.

Red color. A very energetic, hot, exciting, and even aggressive color. To make it more feminine, you need to give it a lighter shade; when saturated, it becomes more masculine. Red color is chosen by energetic, emotional, sexy people. However, it is harmful for easily excitable people, and can be useful for people with weak temperaments as an irritant. In general, red color increases activity, body temperature and pressure, increases tone and has a positive effect on the functioning of the genital organs. But too much red can lead to nervous disorders. It is best to use red to decorate an office or living room, as well as in places in the kitchen - for example, red kitchen furniture.

Pink color - although it is a light shade of red, it does not have such an aggressive effect. This is a more feminine color. It is chosen by carefree and romantic people. Pink color calms, helps create a light-hearted mood, brings a feeling of lightness and puts you in a romantic mood. Best used in a bedroom or children's room.

Orange color symbolizes luck and prosperity. It suits impulsive and cheerful people. It encourages communication, increases libido and appetite. Since metal objects look good against an orange background, it is advisable to use it in the kitchen. It is also well suited for decorating a children's room or living room.

Blue color, like ice, it calms and slows down processes in the body, lowers blood pressure and body temperature. It is a cool color that symbolizes purity and tranquility. It is chosen by people who are reliable, calm and melancholic. People who lack peace of mind and confidence will not like it. It is best used in a room where concentration or privacy is required, for example, in an office.

Blue– a light shade of blue – the color of constancy, purity and tenderness. This is a calming color. In addition to similar features to blue, it promotes wound healing and helps with nervous disorders. Visually increases the space of the room. Best used in the bedroom, bath. You should not paint a room blue or blue, the windows of which face north.

Lilac color– the color of tenderness and femininity, humility and spirituality. This color is not suitable for pragmatic and purposeful people. This color is more suitable for reckless individuals. Yet lilac color has a positive effect on the body and can even improve vision. If you mix it with green or turquoise, it will become softer and have a relaxing effect, after which it can be used in recreation rooms, children's rooms and bedrooms.

Purple may increase the body's resistance to colds. Perhaps this is due to the large percentage, compared to other colors. ultraviolet rays, having antibactericidal properties. It also has a positive effect on the functioning of the heart. However, you should not decorate rooms with this color, except in places to indicate accents. It's better to bleach it and use it like purple.

Brown color too dark and dull to be useful. Painting a wall brown is unlikely good idea. To obtain nice effect from brown, it should be used as a contrast to the main one, for example, vanilla, light green or olive.

White color- the color of purity. It is a cool color, however painted in white room looks elegant, especially if the furniture is dark. White color visually expands the room; a white ceiling makes it taller. White color goes well with all colors and shades, so it is good for diluting too colorful interiors. White furniture looks elegant - for example, furniture in the Provence style. White can and should be used in all rooms.

Black color absorbs a lot of light and reflects little. This makes the room, decorated with a predominance of black, cramped. Although it, like white, goes well with all colors, large black surfaces should be avoided when using black as an accent color.

Black, white and gray are the colors of minimalism.

When choosing colors, as a rule, they use the international color palette RAL, but they often use other palettes from paint manufacturers, for example ICA, and others.

Armed with the characteristics of colors, as well as information on their combination, you can make a cozy and pleasant home. And vice versa, without knowing the simplest principles of color selection, you can live most of your life in an uncomfortable and tense environment. We have tried to describe here basic concepts choosing colors for your interior. But of course, this is a big topic and cannot be fully covered in this article. It is also important to remember that as many people as there are, so many preferences, and ultimately the decision is yours - the main thing is that the chosen colors decorate your interior and create the comfort and coziness of your rooms.


.: New on the topic

Color design plays an important role in modern interior. The color of the walls is much more important than the arrangement of furniture or the design of individual objects in the room. At the same time, the walls are easy to repaint or wallpaper, and furniture is bought to last for several years...

Wall color combinations in the interior

Sometimes colors don't go together at first glance. By combining warm shades with cold ones, you can achieve interesting effects. Contrast causes colors to enhance each other. Strong contrasts should be avoided in small rooms, since this way we optically reduce them.

How do wall colors affect the psyche?

  • White color creates a feeling of spaciousness, but if there is a lot of white color, then the room will be boring and uncomfortable.

  • Red - revitalizes, activates, excites the senses.

  • Yellow - tones, strengthens the nervous system, gives strength.

  • Blue - calms, increases concentration.

  • Green - puts you in a lyrical mood.

  • Orange - restores, warms, awakens the vital forces of the body.

  • Violet - inspires, calms nerves, promotes mental work.

Wall color - test painting is required!

The same paint looks different on different surfaces: on a smooth surface it looks lighter, on a rough surface it looks darker, on a matte surface it looks warm, on a polished surface it looks cooler. If you are not completely sure of the chosen color, paint a small fragment of the wall as a test.

Tired of walls of the same color? Take a contrasting color of paint and paint one wall with it. This simple change will make your interior look summery!

The color of the walls does not have to be a calm background for the interior. It is becoming increasingly fashionable to paint one wall in such a way that it is different from the rest - for example, it would be a contrasting color.

The contrasting technique of painting walls has many advantages. You will give the room the new kind, saving time and money. And if you get tired of the color, you can quickly change it to another.

Adjusting the size of the room using the color of the walls

By choosing the right color, you can visually adjust the proportions of the rooms - expand, narrow, make it higher or lower and highlight zones.

Long rooms can be shortened optically by painting a shorter wall with dark paint; Small rooms can be enlarged by using light pastel colors, and to add intimacy and comfort, choose dark, rich shades.

The color of the walls, or rather their painting, helps to hide the imperfections of the wall, masking unevenness, cracks and stains. Paints in soft, desaturated shades are best suited for this. When choosing a color, consider the intensity of sunlight.

Intense shades are better suited for rooms facing east or south, while light shades are better for rooms facing north. Do not forget that not only the walls are important, but also the floor, furniture and other interior details: they must form a color unity.

Consider the texture of the wall. Textured plaster makes the wall color darker. This effect can be explained by the fact that an uneven surface darkens the shades and creates a grayish shadow.

The final color will be revealed after drying.

The saturation and shade of a larger range of paints will appear only after complete drying. Even in ideal conditions Water-soluble paint dries within 5 hours. However, it is better to wait a few days to ensure the final result.

White wall color

White is a universal background and goes well with other colors. If it has dominated your apartment so far, feel free to “dilute” it with all the colors of the bright palette!

Pink wall color

By skillfully using paints, you can simulate the architecture of an apartment - for example, divide an elongated room into zones (dining room and relaxation area). Enough to paint bright color one of the walls.

If you have a large room in which light shades predominate, do not be afraid to use rich colors, which in combination with neutrals will give an excellent effect.

Wall color combination: cream carpet covering and combine light furniture with a fuchsia wall. Choose accessories in the same colors to complement the interior.

Orange wall color

Harmony is achieved through colors of equal intensity. Their skillful combination organizes the space: in wide room it seems that a wall painted orange brings the distant part of the room closer.

Wall color compatibility: a rich orange wall color will go well with green flooring or carpet. For this composition you can choose elements of yellow-green, white or cream shades.

Blue wall color

This color scheme will create an atmosphere of peace and relaxation. Cool colors, such as blue and gray tones, which have a calming effect on the nervous system, balance thoughts and feelings, and induce sleep.

Wall color compatibility: if you sleep in bright room with a large window, for painting one wall (for example, at the head of the bed), choose a rich blue color that goes well with shades of blue and gray colors the remaining walls and floor.

Spicy wall color

If you have a desire to create a truly exotic project in a warm color scheme, we can recommend using bright colors of oriental spices. Soft, unobtrusive tones of turmeric, spicy cinnamon and cardamom create a wonderful combination in a room that is reminiscent of the interiors of North African homes.

Wall color compatibility: the spice palette can be varied with many other subtle tones.

Earthy wall color

Earthy tones echo the natural colors of our environment and can be safely combined and mixed. They are often successful due to their naturalness and softness.

Wall color compatibility: the warmth of textured wood is combined with muted tones of brown and sand, which in turn create a natural, soothing color that is pleasing to the eye.

Elegant warm wall color

The warm, soft tone of the plastered walls - milky, baked milk, soft pink - will definitely be an excellent starting point when decorating the living room.

Wall color compatibility: a great combination with a dark blue curtain and a chair in an elegant tan color will look better than ever!

Neutral color

The most reliable and widespread is the use of pastel desaturated shades. If there is already some kind of decoration or furniture in the room, be guided by their shade. If the tiles or carpet in the room are not colored, neutral tones They will look great on the walls in the room.

Decoration of wall colors in the interior. Photo

How to choose the right color for a room? When creating a new interior, you will most likely want to radically change the color of the walls, floor and ceiling, add color accents. Make everything as beautiful as in some interior design magazine.
Regardless of which color in the interior is considered the favorite during the renovation period, first of all you need to take into account your own preferences for the color scheme. Fashion passes, but taste remains. In addition, in order to create a room design that is interesting and correct in terms of color combinations, the shape of the room, its size and lighting, you need to take into account some nuances.

Three main reference points will help you decide on the color of the room::

1. What color the walls should be is decided by the owner of the future room. Children, for example, choose warm, “cheerful” shades. If this is a living room, then the color is chosen neutral or taking into account the size of the room and its lighting.

2. The color of the room must be consistent with the future interior style.

Eg:
** is presented only in soft pastel, very light colors.
** Style – natural shades of wood and stone.
** “Baroque” – rich burgundy, gold, blue, etc.

3. An object that will become the center of attention in the room can be fundamental when choosing a paint color for the walls (floor or ceiling). For example, you decided to create a design around an antique mirror (portrait or painting) framed in a dark green frame. Accordingly, all other colors will be repeated ( different shades one color) in the design of the room.

How to choose wall paint color

Indoor color distribution:

  • 60-70% is the main color;
  • 20-30% - additional, second color;
  • 10% - color accents.

Basic painting (main) is done on the walls. And it is this color that we will see constantly. The most common recommendation is to choose neutral shades, or even white.

In this version, the walls seem to reflect everything else in the room: carpets, furniture, interior accessories. On neutral
With a light background on the walls, updating the interior is much easier: just change the color of the curtains, furniture covers, hang a new picture, change the lampshade on a lamp or lay a new tablecloth.

When choosing a base color, you must take into account the final result: visual increase or reducing the height and width of the room.

Pay attention to Itten's circle. It shows the combinations of the most harmonious combination of colors. Itten Johannes (1888-1967), a Swiss artist and teacher, developed schemes by which you can choose the most correct color for interior decoration.

(colors located at the vertices of a triangle (rectangle) combine well.

What color to choose for the floor and ceiling in a small room

Since it is easier to create an interior in large rooms, let’s look at how you can “expand” the walls in a small room using paint.

** To visually expand the space, choose shades of sand, beige and yellow as the base coat.

** If you want to visually lengthen the room, then choose cold and light shades of blue, green, gray-blue.

Floor in a small room It should also be light, in the same color scheme as the walls, but darker. If the floor and ceiling are made of the same (very light) color, you will get the effect of the absence of a lower plane - everything will merge together, which is also not very good.
** as if it absorbs part of the space, and this cannot be allowed in a small room.

What color should the doors be?

Previously, the color of the doors matched the color of the floor. Currently this is not considered the most a good option. The door in the interior of the room should give the impression of being one with the wall. In this regard, you need to choose “closely related” shades to the base paint.

We choose the color of the walls taking into account the lighting of the room.

Basic room color you need to choose taking into account natural and artificial lighting. Eg, purple at artificial lighting may take on shades of black.

In rooms with large windows Facing south, walls in cool shades of blue, gray, and purple will look best. If the main color in in this case choose warm shades, then combine with bright solar lighting There may be a feeling of increased body temperature.

If the windows face the north side of the house, you need to choose warm colors, which create a more comfortable atmosphere.


Additional colors in the interior of the room

As stated above, they occupy 20-30%.

Basically, these will be colors from the same palette as the main color, but darker or lighter. Thanks to the additional color, even the most nondescript interior acquires its own unique identity.

Complementary color is the color of furniture, curtains, carpets, pillows.

If you are bored of living in one color, vary the shades and create a contrasting interior. From the experience of designers, a combination of contrasting tones looks extremely advantageous from the point of view of aesthetic perception, but it is very difficult to constantly be in such a room - general fatigue quickly sets in.

Another important point: An interior in contrasting colors is not suitable for small rooms. Therefore, the primary and secondary colors in small room“dilute” with color spots.

How to apply a color spot in the interior

The role of color spots is played by small objects that attract the eye.
It could be:

  1. Picture or ;
  2. flower pots or flower vases;
  3. curtain rods;
  4. photo frames and even books with bright covers;
  5. figurines and other interior decorations.

There must be at least three color spots. This means three (or more) items in the same color.

For example: green pillow on the sofa, large climbing flower on the wall, a photograph (painting or mirror) in a green frame, green patterns on the curtains or a green napkin on the table. This entire ensemble will create a color accent.

** If you make three color spots, then it will already look like random, disparate objects (green pillow, red flower pot, yellow curtains...).

The color of furniture in the interior.

And finally, a little about the color of the furniture. Bright upholstery on a sofa or armchair, in contrast to the main color on the walls, will be appropriate only in big room. Typically, such furniture acts as a separate design object in the room.

In a small room, a more rational approach is suitable: against the background light walls more dark furniture(3-4 tones darker, but in the same color scheme).

Let your home be filled with bright colors: joy, warmth and boundless happiness.

The apartment or house in which a person lives is a separate small world, where there is its own character, a set of feelings and emotions, which together influence all spheres of life of their household. Therefore, it is very important in the process of planning future repair work determine a palette of colors and shades that will decorate all the walls of the home.

Colors in the interior work real miracles, because in addition to the fact that different shades have different effects on a person’s psycho-emotional state, they can also change the proportions of rooms, divide them into functional areas, and simply create a certain feeling from visual perception.

Features of choice

To make it easier to decide what color to choose for the walls, you need to soberly evaluate all the features of the room. Here you need to take into account the size of the room with the height of the ceilings, the lighting, and the presence of any defects in the form of cracks, protruding beams, etc.

When choosing a color scheme for a room, you should know that there are 3 options for combining the color of the walls in the interior:

  • similar colors are combined, for example, blue and sky;
  • a combination of tones of one specific color of different saturation, for example, turquoise and indigo blue;
  • contrasting duets.


There are also some tricks when working with the color wheel. So dark colors perfectly hide any defects and imperfections of surfaces, while simultaneously visually making the room smaller.

A light palette increases the area, filling the room with light and lightness. But multicolor can overload the space. Here it is important to choose one dominant shade, and the rest should be a harmonious complement to it.

As for the illumination of the room, for areas facing the darker northern side it is better to choose light colors. Whereas the colors of the walls in the interior of southern rooms can be chosen from a bright, intense palette of tones.

A very important note is that the same shade looks different on different surfaces. On smooth textures the paint looks lighter, on rough textures it looks darker. On matte canvases the color appears warm, while on polished ones it appears cold.

If there are any doubts before covering the walls with paint, it is advisable to carry out a test painting of a small area of ​​the surface to make sure that the choice is correct.

Basic combinations

Charcoal is a universal color. It goes well with all shades. The best companions for black are traditionally snow-white, rich red, shades of green, lemon and orange.

Red is considered a shade of passion and activity. It harmonizes perfectly with snow-white, charcoal, yellow, gray and green.

Lemon – tones the body and strengthens the nervous system. Goes well with sky, blue and purple.

The color of greenery is fresh and inspiring. Combines with a golden brown background, run.


Blue is associated with infinity, the depths of the sea or the expanse of heaven. Helps increase concentration. Harmonizes with steel, yellow and purple.

Room decoration

Hallway

The designers claim that it is the hallway that conveys the full impression to guests about the owners of the apartment. To decorate it, you can safely choose shades that inspire confidence, namely the color of dark cherry, copper, “mahogany”.

With the correct placement of accents, such a palette will not affect the visual perception of a small corridor space.

Saturated shades need to be diluted light colors. Beige and snow-white details will combine so perfectly with the selected bright colors. Dark background, complemented large mirror strict forms will seem endless.

It is also important to arrange furniture correctly without cluttering narrow hallway. To do this, you should limit yourself to a stylish steel hanger.

Bedroom

To decorate wall surfaces in the bedroom, it is advisable to use halftones. Smoky, slightly blurry shades will help you set the mood for rest and relaxation. Here it is appropriate to use a snow-white background in combination with soft purple, lilac and heavenly shades.


Kitchen

This room should set the mood for awakening and activity, because this is where household members meet after waking up in the morning. Combinations with juicy lemon, pink and orange tones will completely drive away drowsiness.

Stylization and coloring

Stylization also influences the choice of wall color. Thus, minimalism is characterized by cold tones in the form of pale sea, snow-white. Very often used in minimalist interiors grey colour walls

Baroque is distinguished by its multi-layered nature, so the finishing palette can contain 3 shades at once. For walls, as a rule, noble red and golden colors, emerald and natural brown are chosen.

For antiquity, the characteristic tones are beige, azure, olive and snow-white. This calm palette is complemented by plaster decor in the form of frescoes and stucco.

Modern style gives you the right to choose any shade for decorating wall surfaces. Modern design walls in the interior is considered to be painting one contrasting wall with a different color from the general background.

The main thing here is to choose this combination wisely. For example, a coal wall can visually lengthen a room, while an orange surface, on the contrary, brings the distant part closer.


Smart selection color palette for painting walls will help to achieve complete comfort in the perception of the living space.

Photo of wall colors in the interior