How to Select a Color Scheme for Your Home Design Project

You've made the decision to redecorate a room or space in your home, and now are faced with the reality of making design decisions.  For some, that is a very nerve-wracking thought!  If you can afford the services of an interior designer or design consultant, they can take most of the stress off of your shoulders.  But if your budget isn't large enough for both purchases and expert assistance, you need to find a way to get through the process of designing your space successfully with minimal stress.    There are several decisions you should make at the onset of your project, and one of the most important is the color scheme for the space.  Determining the color scheme before you make any purchases or other design decisions will benefit you in several ways.    First, an explanation of what is meant by 'color scheme'.  Your color scheme represents the primary and  secondary colors you will be using in your design project. You should select up to three primary colors and one or two secondary colors to work with.  By making this decision at the beginning of the project you will ensure consistency in your selections and purchases.   How do you go about deciding on on these colors?  One of the most effective ways to make this decision is to look around your home and see what color selections you have made in the past.  Walk through the rooms of your home and write down all of the colors you see. in no particular order.  After you have done this, take a few minutes to reorganize that list into the colors that you really enjoy seeing, those that are okay, and the colors that you'd rather not look at every day (you know, those impulsive purchases and decisions of the past!).     For example, you may have listed moss green, buttercup yellow and light blue as the colors you really enjoy and have used in other areas of your home.  Those colors make  you happy. Your list of 'okay' colors included light brown and navy blue. Consider the space you are going to decorate/re-decorate, and decide which of those colors you want to use.  You decide to use moss green and light blue as the predominant colors for your project with accents of navy blue, buttercup yellow and deep gold.   You have added a new color, or shade, to the color scheme by the inclusion of a deep gold.  It is in the yellow/brown family and will fit in quite nicely with the rest of the colors in your home.   You don't have to, and most likely don't want to use the exact same colors in every area of your home.  There are some homes that use this technique very effectively, but unless you know how to accomplish it properly, your home could easily look quite uninteresting.  So for most of us, using two or three primary colors throughout our home, with two or three secondary colors as accents, is the most successful way to home design.   You now have the color scheme selected for your home design project and are ready to turn your vision into a reality that will be beautiful in the designed space and consistent with the rest of your home.