Association for Environment Conscious Building Colour rules Living with colour Sensible samples Fashion is your choice Getting technicolour Colours and their ‘meaning’ Getting technical Who has what? Here’s a tip! Proportion, Contrast And Effects With Colour Colour rules?! So what rules need to be followed when choosing colours? Well, the first rule is there are no rules. Your personal preference should guide your choice. go to top menu Living with colour White, cream and magnolia. Good safe bets. But living with colour can definitely be a big plus. Choosing your colours should be an enjoyable, creative experience, but it’s all too easy to get stuck and find you end up going back to the safe predictable choices. We will do all we can to help you find the right choice for you. It’s true that colours are a little more difficult to choose but go on, give them a go! Colour blind We all know someone who has daubed their walls with those little tester paint samples or miniscule colour charts, after all, the challenge is imagining how the colours will look on your surfaces. Helpful as ever, ecoartisan can leave you with colour charts from natural paint manufacturers. Sometimes these matchbox sized samples are difficult to picture on your walls, so for your convenience we have a range of hand-painted A3 sample boards in a range of popular and pleasant colours from our natural paint suppliers to help you make your choice! Fashion is your choice It’s absolutely fine to look in the interior design magazines - I do regularly – and they’re a great source of ideas. And if you choose to go with a scheme that’s been recommended by a TV stylist and is destined to change every time the fashion changes that’s fine too. After all it’s easy enough to repaint your walls. It can also be worthwhile finding something that suits our personal style and not get suckered into the hype that persuades us to buy and buy with each fashion change. I really believe that it’s profoundly pleasing to live amongst ‘our own’ colours, those that we choose simply because we find them really pleasing, without the need for justification or knowing it’s the thing to do. Colour is within everyone’s reach. Getting technicolour Some people like to research the theory and psychology of colour, and whilst this is a fascinating subject it can also be rather too deep, time consuming and confusing for many. Colours and their meaning Colour is a way people express their creativity. The choice of particular colours apparently says a lot about the way we feel and want to feel. Colours have traditional values and associations, and people's attitudes to colour can be very much influenced by these, e.g. red = anger, or love, I haven’t included anything regarding what the pundits claim certain colours signify. I’ve read many interpretations of them and whilst I can agree with some, others mystify me. Which leads me to think, we are all (hopefully) individuals, (sorry marketing people) who make our own interpretations, or are influenced by the pundits, see? It can all get confusing. If you are so inclined I’d rather let you find out for yourself, and, as stated before, ecoartisan will offer all assistance in making your choice. I hope you get something out of the rest of the information herein! Getting technical What function does the room being painted have? What sort of exposure does the room have? A lot of sunny southern exposure may be a good spot for cool colour tones while a shaded and northerly facing room might be best served with warmer hues. Consider who spends the most time in the room. They should be involved in the process and allowed to voice their preferences. Look at the adjacent room colours. Some say there should be a relationship between them and the new paint colour for the sake of flow and continuity. I say consider this, but remember who lives there! If you want to manipulate the perceived size of the room with colour, think about the palate; light monochromatic colours and white ceilings to increase size, and dark bold tones with a darker ceiling causes colour to shrink. Think about the mood you want the room to evoke for its inhabitants and visitors and then you can consider looking at the psychology of colours. Consider the style or decor of your home. Is it modern, traditional, or eclectic. You may want to research colours from different periods like Victorian, Colonial, or Arts & Crafts for the colour roots of an old house, or for colours appropriate to the period that inspired your home's design details. (look at www.bricksandbrass for a fascinating gamut of information on period properties in the links section) If you have already chosen the furnishings for the room bring swatches and samples when choosing the paint colour. In comparison to the apparently millions of ‘colours’ available from synthetic paint manufacturers natural paint suppliers have a slightly more limited range of colours available. Nonetheless natural pigments and tinters offer a marvellously large & varying range of light, mid and dark tones according to the amount mixed in emulsions. When discussing your requirements we can look at manufacturer and hand painted colour charts to give you an idea of the colour range. Who has what? All our suppliers have a wide range of base colours for emulsion, gloss/eggshell, woodstains along with colour concentrates, tinters and pigments which can further increase the range of colours and shades. Some even offer ‘glimmers’, metallic (mineral) colourants in gold, silver and bronze which can be added over emulsions. Some of our suppliers have paints suitable for walls and internal and external woodwork based on an historic colour range. Tierrafino have beautiful clay plaster finishes in six colours which can be mixed together to produce even more shades and a range of beautiful clay paints in seven colours which again can be mixed with each other. Check our links section. You can contact suppliers in the UK & Belgium for colour charts, some will charge, especially if they are offering hand painted charts, or if ecoartisan are quoting you for works, we will of course bring a selection of colour charts and our selection of A3 handpainted sample boards allowing you to get the ‘real feel’ for the colours! And here’s some tips! Proportion, Contrast And Effects With Colour Colour can be used to create ‘illusions’. Colour can highlight the good features of a room and help camouflage defects. You can actually change the shape of a room visually by the use of colour. By using strong colour on the lower part of the walls, from the picture rail down, and a lighter colour above and over the ceiling the room can appear more enclosed. A dark colour on the ceiling and walls down to dado height, with a lighter colour on the lower part of the walls to match the floor, can change a room's proportions. By painting the floor and ceiling in a similar colour, and the walls painted a lighter colour the room can seem wider. A ceiling can be lowered visually by painting the ceiling and the walls above the picture rail in a deep tone, and painting the walls, from the picture rail down, a light colour. By painting the walls to match the floor and using pale, cool colours can give the feeling of space and airiness. A long, narrow room can be made to feel more evenly proportioned by painting a warm deep colour on short end walls, and adding a lighter colour on the adjoining longer walls. This can be used in hallways. And: Obviously a light coloured paint will make a room appear bigger, painting walls with stripes can enhance the sense of height. The use of darker colours in a room can draw the surfaces in. The use of diagonal stripes everywhere in a room or on one of its elements, like a chimney breast can create movement. Horizontal stripes can create the illusion that a room is longer than it actually is, and has a lower ceiling. Using vertical stripes gives walls more height and makes the ceiling look higher. If a room includes architectural details that bother you, such as lots of nooks and crannies in a small room, we can paint the entire room in the same colour. If the ceiling is the culprit, we can paint it in the same colour as the walls. This way, inconsistent elements will stand out less. Architectural details such as mouldings, window frames and ceiling ornaments constitute assets you should not neglect. To set them off, we can paint them in a colour that is lighter than the walls, and in a paint that is glossier that the walls. This way, mouldings will better reflect light. Nice to have choices isn’t it? Should you have any further suggestions, ideas or comments for the colours page, please feel free to email me: jamie@ecoartisan.org