Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Design Notes...







I find there are a few basic design principles when transforming any room. Mark McCauley from HGTV offers 10 helpful tips for adding colour to any space. I'd like to share with you the five that I find the most helpful when designing in my own life. 


1. Work around the largest pattern in your house. It may be your furniture, upholstery, or area rug. Pull individual colours from the patterns to use throughout the space; it's less expensive to change a wall colour then to buy new furniture.
2. Use the 60-30-10 Rule. When designing a space, divide the colour into percentages:
60%- Dominant Colour (Typically your wall colours)
30%- Secondary Colour  (Upholstery or Furniture)
10%- Accent Colour (Throw pillows, Floral Arrangement, Candles or small decorations) 
3. Typically a successful design entails going from dark to light vertically. Usually, the darkest colour will be found on the floor and the lightest on the ceiling. Dark flooring is ideal because it hides stains and blemishes, while having a light fresh colour on the ceiling makes any space feel large and open. 
4. Add Black! When you add black as an accent in any space it enhances the colours around it. Try it!
5. Flow. When designing a space you should try to create a cohesive effect. When entering from one space to another you should incorporate similar colours in different ways. For example, if you have a red couch in the living room you should not use a large amount of red in a nearby kitchen. Instead, opt for red accents that carry the colour from the living room into the kitchen. 


Enjoy & Have Fun!


Reference: Mark McCauley, ASID "Top 10 Tips for Adding Color to Your Space", www.HGTV.com









3 comments:

  1. Very exciting! welcome to the blogging world. Looks good :)

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  2. Thanks Kass!
    I am still trying to figure out a few things but I think it turned out pretty good. Thanks for taking a look!

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  3. My first attempt at participating in a blog - how exciting that it is yours! This is wonderful Megan! It will help me immensely in the very near future as I have a 3300 square foot home to start decorating. It's up on a mountain overlooking the ocean. Two stories with a pool. I'm overwhelmed already and have only picked deck tile and floor/bathroom tile. I need your help!!! You can go to Mexico anytime, come here and help me! After reading your information I've already done things backwards. I have a white textured tile throughout the house and a wood ceiling. :(

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