Published by Programme B
Picking a colour scheme for any room is never easy. Interior designers spend years training in how to create the perfect colour scheme. If you know what colours you want to go for, sometimes figuring out how to pick a floor to match can be just as difficult. The floor is a big space and it can be hard to visualise what the room will look like once it’s complete.
Overall Colour Scheme Considerations
If you’re about to change an entire room, there are a few points you should consider before choosing your colour scheme:
Room Size
The colour you choose for your room can affect how big the room feels. This makes the size of the intended room important to think about. For instance, dark colours can make a large room feel cozy or make a small room feel cramped. Light colours are good for a small room, as they give a light and airy feel. However, light colours in a spacious room can make it seem too big and sparse.
Natural Light
Light in your room will change throughout the day and can drastically affect your colour scheme. Don’t just look at your samples at night under artificial light, you’ll be surprised by how different the samples may look in the afternoon sunlight. Take a look at several different times over several days to get the full picture of how your new colours will look.
What Is The Rooms Function
How you plan to use the room should also influence the colour scheme you choose. For example, you want a relaxing colour in the bedroom but maybe not for a more active part of the house. Colour has a massive effect on the atmosphere of a room. Yellow is often associated with happiness while greys can create a peaceful ambiance.
Think About The Big Picture
Whatever you do, don’t pick everything on its own and definitely don’t base your opinions on an empty room. Think about the room as a whole. Look at the floor, wall, and ceiling colours when planning your colour scheme. Do you have furniture in the room already? Think about whether you want these to stand out. Decorations and smaller accessories can make or break a colour scheme. So, be sure to think about what you already have when you plan your scheme.
Choosing A Floor To Match Your Colour Scheme
In a room that already has a colour scheme, finding a floor to match isn’t always easy. Choosing wooden flooring is often a good choice as they are neutral with subtle undertones. Luxury Vinyl Tile can also give this effect. Here are a few tips for choosing a floor to match your colour scheme:
Use The Colour Wheel
Using a colour wheel makes it much easier to choose the floor. Whether you are looking for complementary or harmonious colours, the colour wheel will help. The wheel shows colours that blend into each other, direct opposites for contrast effects and different tones of each colour too.
Neutral Walls
If you have neutral walls it can be easy to find a complimentary floor. Pretty much any flooring will match this minimalistic look. As the walls are plain, you can even mix the undertones without fear of crashing, especially if you opt for wooden flooring.
Coloured Walls
If your walls are coloured, you have a slightly harder job of finding a floor to match your colour scheme. Here are three methods for finding a good colour to match your coloured walls:
Tonal
There are actually two ways to use the tonal technique. First, you can pick one colour and play with the tones throughout the room. Or you can pick a tone and then use different colours in the same depth of tone.
Harmonious
This approach uses the colour wheel to choose colours either side of your wall colour. This can include undertones on wooden floors. For example, if you have red, terracotta walls, these can be complemented by orange-toned woods. Or if you have blue walls, look for grey flooring or wood with ash undertones.
Contrasting
If you want to make a statement, go for contrasting floors and walls. Just be sure to use a colour wheel to find direct opposites. For example, if you have a soft lilac on your walls, look for golden flooring. This creates contrasting warm and cool tones, which can have a big impact.
Don’t Forget The Intensity Of Colours
The intensity of your colours can also have an effect on your floor colour. If there’s a feature you want to highlight, choose a different intensity in your floor. For example, if your room is full of light pine furniture, choose deep colours for the floor (and walls) to make the furniture stand out.
The Most Important Tip
No matter what colour scheme you want to go for, the most important thing is to be yourself. Interior designers may have rules as to what makes a good colour scheme but at the end of the day, it’s you that has to live with the colour scheme, not them. So, pick the colours that you like. Use the above as a guide, but then let your feelings lead the way.
Photo by Andrew Neel from Pexels