I’m always a firm believer of minding my own business. Especially in home design, let people paint and decorate their living spaces the way they want. Though, I’ve gotten to gain more knowledge on designing one’s home, especially as I’ve learned a lot about different aesthetic styles. While we express ourselves through the appearances of our homes, we do it in a way that is still pleasing to the eyes. And in reality, there really are some “ugly” color combinations in interior design that you want to veer away from.
I say ugly with quotation marks, because while those color combinations are not pleasing on paper, some people might like them for different reasons. And I get it. Daphne from Scooby-Doo rocks a chartreuse and purple outfit that you may think those colors look nice together for your home. They might not, but you do you!
After all, there are ways to pair up your favorite colors while still making your home lovely to live in. Design your home thinking you’ll live there for a long time. Transform your selected hues to be consistently pleasing by trying out these tips.
Insert a third color
Some color pairings may feel too intense. Take red and pink, for example. Common colors to symbolize romance and passion, they’re lovely colors that you may think go well together. Unfortunately, two bright hues can be hard to work with in interiors.
Adding a third color, especially a simple neutral can help off-set the intensity. For red and pink, a lovely white can make your home more balanced and elegant.
Try to shake off the instinct to only use combinations of two. You don’t need to limit yourself to a pairing, three can also be golden. Triadic color schemes can be wonderful for your home.
Like these choices above, use only two of these colors as a pair, and they may look tacky. But use all three together, and you may create a more complex and interesting look.
Adjust the value and saturation
Another magic of color theory is that even a simple adjustment of value and saturation can do wonders to make your chosen color look even better.
Let’s say you’re a big fan of blue and yellow. Individually, these hues stand out, but a highly chromatic combination of the two can be very stark and unsettling in a home.
You can decrease its saturation to make this pairing more pleasant and compatible when used in your home.
Alternatively, you can add shades and tones while adjusting its value. Darker colors can create a cocooning effect which can make for cozier spaces. In fact, you may only need to adjust the value of one of the colors from a pairing, to make it look better.
A bright yellow can stand out better with a more subdued shade of aqua.
This deep blue is complemented more with a yellowish copper tone.
Follow the 60-30-10 rule
This tip applies even with a conventional complementary pairing. And for combinations not usually used, proportioning your color choices may be the way to make use of them in your home. In interior design, the 60-30-10 rule is key for a cohesive look.
Since walls are likely going to showcase the dominant color, this is where sampling a paint color first becomes important. It would greatly help you decide which is the main wall color, and which one can be used for moldings or an accent wall.
When you create colors to form a palette, remember that they’re only visual guides. Your color choices help you decide which curtains, rugs, tiles, or furniture you’ll use.
At the end of the day, use colors that match
There’s that hugot saying that used to be popular—kapag hindi talaga pwede, huwag nang ipilit. Don’t force a combination with colors that just doesn’t go together.
You can try out all the tips above to increase the appeal of your color choices, but it’s far easier to just go for paint hues that work. Colors from the Boysen Medley series, for example, are selected as pairs that are immediately complementary.
You can also visit palettes and color combo suggestions from our blog that you can incorporate in your home.
Turn “Ugly” Color Combinations into Pretty Pairings
It’s still your choice to pick colors to design your home. After all, we have thousands. Though, these tips are helpful to make more timeless living spaces while you have your favorite colors in mind.
All the colors mentioned in this article can be prepared in Boysen Mix & Match Color Stations all over the country. Visit this link for a list of locations.
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