Pull From the Pattern

Look at the colors in something you love in the room such as upholstery or pillow fabrics, an oriental rug or artwork. Then choose colors based upon that inspiration piece.  Finding your inspiration will make furnishing the rest of the room that much easier as it instantly narrows down the color choices. 

Choose a Color Scheme

You can also simplify the process of choosing colors by using a color wheel (available at most paint stores) to pick a color scheme.  Two of the most popular are:

Complementary Scheme:  Complementary colors are across from each other on the color wheel, such as red and green, blue and yellow, or purple and orange.  Rooms decorated with a complementary color scheme tend to provide a clear separation of colors, and often are more formal and visually stimulating.

Analogous Scheme:  Analogous colors are next to each other on the color wheel, such as yellow and green, blue and violet, or red and orange.  Rooms using an analogous color scheme typically are more causal, restful and muted in terms of coloration. This color scheme is often used in more informal areas of the home, (e.g., family rooms, bedrooms), as these are the rooms for rest and relaxation.

Employ the 60-30-10 Rule 

Use this rule-of-thumb (discussed in To a T's March 2010 Newsletter), to achieve a harmonious color scheme:  60% defines the space, 30% provides visual interest and 10% percent is the accent color (for a bit of drama).

Translated to a room setting, it typically means:  60% of the room's color is on the walls, 30% is in the upholstery and 10% is found in pillows, accent pieces and/or artwork.

Think Vertically 

Most people err, not with color, but with value. Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a color. Often you'll see a space that is not balanced in terms of value: one side of the room is too dark and becomes "weighty" or "heavy" while the opposite side tends to "float away" visually with light values.

To combat this effect, choose darker values of color for the floor, medium values for the walls and light values for the ceiling. If you divide your colors by value from dark to light as you decorate "vertically" in the room, you'll get a balanced room every time.

Flow the Color

In order to create a cohesive color palette for the entire home,  choose a color you're using in one room and restate it in a different way in an adjoining space.  For example, if your family room sofa is green, use the same green for place mats in the kitchen and then again in seat fabric in the dining room.

Lighting Rules

Whenever possible get a sample of new paint or fabric so you can see it in the space you are decorating.  Leave it in the room for a couple of days and see what the color looks like in the different kinds of lighting used in the space. Pay careful attention to how the samples look during the times when the room will be used the most.

• Do you have to get everything at once?  No, a good design plan can be implemented in stages. 
• Do you have to get all medium and high end items to get a high end looking room?   No, it makes sense to comparison shop and prioritize the biggest bang for the buck based on your available budget.  And, as Lauren points out, you can use vintage and flea market finds to stretch your budget.