How to choose wall colours and effects #1

For the start of our Room-DIY in the Ideas Magazine this year - we started the year with a fresh and positive outlook! To settle on a theme or idea for a room is always the most difficult step. We decided on a look that uses fun colour combinations - but that has an air of structure to it - basically a wish for the new year!:

Colourful but structured :

This is how we did it!

The room, as you can see in the before photo, is very bland and ultra boring.

To choose colours to freshen up this space we started with the idea of a bright and lovely PINK! (The happy Pink reminds us so much of a rambling, abundantly happy Bougainvillea bush, we will call it Bougainvillea Pink!)

Why did we choose pink? - Pink is the sister of red. Red is one of the most powerful and energetic colours around, but it can also be a bit too powerful. We wanted to be soothed into the new year - with a lovely whisper and cheering of:

"you can do it honey,

just get up and and show your beautiful face!"

So pink it is, our cheerleader for the start of the year!

Why did we choose the other colours? - I see colour like people, the either get along wonderfully, or they don't - they can also energise or calm each other down. We wanted our cheerful, Bougainvillea pink to have a positive team behind her. The colours we chose therefore had to highlight her happiness.

HOW do you do this? You use a bit of colour theory: The most vibrant mix of colours, when used together, energise a decor scheme the most - are the complementary colours.

Our Bougainvillea Pink is a sligthly purply pink, which means it is still in the red realm, but a little towards the purple side. See where the X is on the image.

HOW TO NAVIGATE CONTRAST IN PRIMARY COLOURS?

As you can see from the above diagram - red, blue and yellow are almost explosively lively together - we don't want super high energy in this space - we want a subtle and lovely cheer coming from the colour scheme - so instead of using Red, Blue and Yellow as they are - you can play with DEPTH of colour.

We jumped from very deep and dark blue, to pale almost white yellow to highlight our happy pink.

To break it down:

Instead of bright blue, we chose: P&D Midnight - this colour from our Shadows Colour collection brings a deep and calm blue to the scene.
Lace - a pale beautifully warm yellow from our Nostalgia colour collection sits very close to the white area of yellows and brightens up the space

This creates a very calm yet positive and energising space. Play around with depth and brightness when you use primary colours in a decor scheme.

We added some lovely printed wall art that we printed at the Durbanville Postnet (give them a visit, they print fantastically! 021 975 5569) and lots and lots of flowers!