Use Nature as Your Color Palette
(Page 3 of 4)
January/February 2002
By Deborah Coburn
Identify the Room's Focus
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Nature uses color to communicate messages about where to focus attention. Why are wildflowers in a spring meadow so bright and colorful? The colors offer a strong “notice me” signal to pollinators that increases the flower’s chance of survival. Many flower petals even bear guide marks that lead an insect or bird to the nectar.
The first rule of designing a room is to decide where you want to focus attention. Is it on the fireplace? On a beautiful view? Give this focal point notice-me qualities by helping it stand apart from its background. You can do this with color by introducing contrast of hue, value, or intensity (see “Color Scheming,” left). Putting a different color on a fireplace wall, for instance, will lead the eye to the fireplace. Keeping color muted on the walls around a painting will direct attention straight to the stronger colors of the art.
In the same vein, you can camouflage less desirable features of a room, such as awkward corners or exposed pipes, by painting them to blend into their surroundings. Any chameleon can tell you that!
Pay Attention to Dimension and Proportion
In nature, the temperature, value, or amount of a color can change an object’s dimension. Warm colors seem to advance and cool colors recede. A yellow flower moves toward us when seen against a field of cooler hues. Paint a far-away end wall in a warm color, and it will appear to come closer. If a ceiling feels low, paint it in a cool tint of white, and it will recede; if too high, use a warmer, deeper shade.
The value of an object appears to change its size. Lighter or paler colors appear to expand, while darker colors tend to contract. Use pastels to make a room appear larger or a deep color to make it feel cozy. The larger the area, the more intense or strong a color will appear. To help keep bright colors under control, allow them to work their magic in small doses.
Color Confidence
“Fear of color is the number one decorating mistake.” —interior designer Anthony Baratta
To many people, selecting colors seems mysterious, even intimidating. A few lucky ones appear to have a natural aptitude or eye for knowing the right colors. Consciously or not, they are applying color principles that anyone without a natural eye can master. While colors defined by systems such as the color wheel assume that colors are solid hues—uniform, flat, and applied to a smooth surface—in reality, nature’s colors are always changing, creating subtle variations through texture, pattern, and light.