Good Color Combinations for Interior Painting

Initial Planning

• Before you settle on a color scheme, ask yourself a few questions about the room. Think about its location in the house, its size and its use. Choose light, cool colors for small rooms with little natural light. Transform a large room into a cozy space with warm dark hues. Also consider the atmosphere you want to create. Whites and neutrals create a serene, calm space suitable for a peaceful room such as a bedroom. Bright, bold colors create an exotic, fun and welcoming space, perfect for family rooms and entertaining areas such as a dining room.

Psychological Affects

• Color can affect your mood, so it's worth examining its psychology before settling on a color scheme. Red inspires energy and excitement. Yellow feels welcoming but can be tiring on the eyes. Orange elicits feelings of enthusiasm and excitement and aids concentration and creativity. Relaxing blue brings about a calming response for a serene environment. Lilacs and light purples act similarly to blue. Green is the easiest on the eyes. It's calming, relieves stress and, according to the website Freshome.com, can aid fertility when used in the bedroom. Combining colors allows you to counteract the psychological effects of each color. For example, tone down energetic red with cool, calming green.

Visually Receding Colors

• Cool colors such as light blues, light greens and lilacs visually recede, making a small space seem larger. Combining light blues and greens evokes a natural, aquatic feel. Lilac and pink creates a light, feminine atmosphere. If you are unsure of appropriate combinations, consult a color wheel. Simply look at the shade opposite the color you want to use. For example, you can pair cool lilac with its opposite on the color wheel, yellow, which adds a touch of warmth. Accenting cool colors with white creates a clean, fresh atmosphere.

Visually Advancing Colors

• Visually advancing colors do the exact opposite as receding colors. These warm tones such as reds, oranges and yellows create an intimate, cozy atmosphere. Combining reds, oranges and yellows with brown creates a fall-inspired color scheme. Using brown as an accent color adds to the feeling of warmth. According to a color wheel, green complements red, which together create a wintery feel reminiscent of holly and berries. Blue tones complement orange for a Mediterranean vibe, and light purples complement yellow for a soft, springtime feel.

Neutrals

• Browns, grays, black and white are the neutral tones. Brown adds warmth and gray is often combined with pink to lend a feminine touch to a masculine color. Black adds depth to any color scheme, and white, the most frequently used interior color, creates a clean, fresh look. When using neutrals, add a pop of color to create a livelier atmosphere, or keep it monochromatic for a calmer, more serene environment.