5 Steps to a Perfect Palette: Analyzing a Color Scheme

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Maybe your field trip to the market led you to marvel at the blend of colors in a single fruit. Consider an almost-ripe black plum, for example. A rich and complex scheme is hidden within that little sphere. There’s deep-purple skin, of course, but see how the flesh gradates from tints of gold-green at the stone through pale and deeper golds to a hint of brilliant pink just under the skin. You can be flexible when placing elements in a scheme like this: You might use golds and greens for large areas and provide accents with dark plum and pink, along with the rich brown-gold of the seed.

Gather and assemble samples of all the elements—fabrics, carpet, wallcoverings, and furniture—along with your paint chips. You’ll see that different fibers, surfaces, and weaves reflect similar hues differently. Allow light to play over the various textures.

Your color scheme may emerge from a single source: an Oriental or Navajo rug, a kimono, a painting. Pull your colors out of the piece; it’s like working in a color partnership with the artist who created it.

Step 4: Test your colors.

Narrow your paint choices to a few possibilities, then buy a quart of each. Paint blocks of color two feet square on each of two walls. Let them dry and look at them day and evening, in natural and artificial light. Don’t skip this step. Real paint on large areas is never the same as a sample on a card. And don’t forget to plan your lighting before you paint because lighting always affects color.

To complete this testing step, reassemble your favorite choices of fabrics and carpets, and choose the ones that make up the most pleasing overall scheme. Harmony is the goal, and you’ll be surprised by some of your choices. A favorite fabric doesn’t really fit, gold gives way to lemony yellow, the rich red in your antique rug finds a bright echo on a small carved chair.

Step 5: Get into action.

Go ahead and paint, order your fabrics and carpet, and reupholster or buy new furniture. Once the major elements are in place, you can choose the art objects and decorative pieces that bring the crowning color touches to your room. Buy—or make—one bright pot or bowl or a brilliantly colored toss pillow. Frame something in your new colors for a wall. When the season changes, cast your eye around your beautiful room and think about adding, subtracting, or changing a few of those touches to reflect the subtle change of color and light in the air. Your natural palette, reflected in your rooms, is yours, an ever-changing, ever-richer kaleidoscope to gladden your spirit.

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