Views On Hues Color For Your Home Live In Full Color Color Pro Kate Smith Sensational Color

Color for Your Home



For a sensational home--add color!

Archives

open all | close all

Image of Blogger

Madison’s pink bedroom

18th Apr. '08 • Bedrooms , Today's Decorating Dilemma • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Authored by Kate Smith

Today’s color dilemma…

I saw a post on Jill’s blog when I visited again after first learning of ‘Forever & Ever House’ when I posted my thoughts on the entries for “Spring green roundup”.

Jill was sharing that her four year old daughter wants a new room color. You can see the entire entry on her blog but here’s how it begins…

There was ONE exception to the “need to renovate” rule at our house and that was my daughter’s bedroom. Seventeen years ago, when our home was built, it was painted a very pretty, classic shade of yellow and it has remained that way to this day. So, when we moved into our home I said to myself “Self…well, at least THERE’S one room that doesn’t need to be painted.”

madison.jpg

Madison’s bedding and valance from our starter home even had some yellow in it and with a few strategic placements of art, the nail holes in the walls from previous owner’s art would be covered.

Easy-peasy. Yippy Skippy.Well, you know where this is leading now, don’t you?

My daughter really wants a pink room! (more…)   SensationalColor.com

Image of Blogger

Mentally stimulating, not physically stimulating color

5th Feb. '08 • Bedrooms • Tags: , , , , , ,

Authored by Kate Smith

Today’s color dilemma…

“We are moving into a new apartment soon, and I am creating an office and work room for the family, which includes two boys.

I want to pick an accent color that will be stimulating, but mentally stimulating, not physically stimulating. At first I thought I would use orange (with grey/beige/white) but I think that may be a mistake because orange is thought to stimulate appetite. Yellow? Red?

Or, should I keep their work area in their bedroom, which is indigo and a mossy/celeryish not dull not bright medium green - that’s the furniture, bedding, and the rug - walls aren’t painted yet.What do you think for an accent color for the work room, and would the boys be better off working in the room that is green and blue?

Many thanks.
-Wendi

Kate suggests…

You are on the right track by beginning with thinking about the functionality of the room and the mood you want to create.

The main color in you decorating scheme sets the mood of the room. Other colors are added that enhance that mood. The gray, tan and white color scheme you mention is a good choice for a family workspace and would go nicely with red or orange accents.

A color scheme of grey/beige/white can work well for kids too as shown in these two workspaces from Pottery Barn Kids

Yellow might be another good choice because it instills optimism and sparks creative thought.

Since an accent color generally occupies less than 30% of what is seen in a room it would not cause your boys to be more hyper plus red, orange and yellow all have the positive effect of being mentally stimulating.

A shared workspace becomes “family central” with spaces to display kids latest school work and keep track of activities.

You could set up their work area in the bedroom however if you have the ability to create a workspace that is shared with your kids this is what I would recommend. It gives you the ability to each be working independently yet be together, and allows you to keep an eye that they are actually working without having it seem as though you are checking up on them.

This solution would also allow you to keep their room focused on rest and relaxation rather than work. The color scheme you have chosen already is ideal for this because cool colors like blue and green have been known in color psychology to promote relaxation, which is why they are often a popular choice for bedrooms.

Architecture for beginners wall decals

If you want to allow your boys to help decorate their space a fun option would be wall decals like the ones shown here.

I hope you find these thoughts helpful as you decorate your new apartment. I’d enjoy seeing pictures of how it all comes together.

Resources:

  • Wall decals available at kidsmodern.com
  • Furniture and wall organizers from potterybarnkids.com
  • Do you have a color dilemma? Post it in the Makeover Gallery at RoomVues.com and you could be the next reader to have your color question answered on the Color For Your Home blog.
  SensationalColor.com

Subscribe via Email

Email:
Name:
We will never share your private information with anyone (privacy policy) and you can easily unsubscribe with just one click...so why not?

Grab the RSS Feed

Connect on Twitter

Follow Kate on Twitter