Drama in the Bedroom
Kristen wanted to repaint her bedroom. She asked me to help her in choosing two colors, one for the main area and an accent color in the reading nook. She was looking for a dramatic, deep teal for the main bedroom and possibly a light yellow for the reading nook. I was tracking that the colors would also need to work with the wood floors in her home.
It is easy to forget that wood floors are a color. Like jeans, which go with everything, we can see them as a neutral. Of course all floors have a value, hue, and saturation (i.e. how light or dark, color, and color intensity respectively) and Kristen’s are a relatively bright honey-orange.
I wanted to create an analogous color scheme (orange, yellow, and green) rather than a complimentary one (orange and blue). This is because the floor is part of the room, of course, but we wanted the wall to be the main attraction. Had I recommended a warmer yellow (think banana), it would have connected the yellow walls with the orange of the floor and brought out the teal’s blue side. Instead I focused on finding a cool, lemon yellow. This created more connection of the yellow with the teal by bringing out its greens. Success!
“I had been thinking about painting my bedroom for a few years but changes can feel daunting. In the end it turned out even better than I envisioned! When the time came, Jessica helped hammer out the specifics quickly. Evaluating subtle nuances in color and how a space works and feels is something she has mastery over. I’ve worked with Jessica before and she provides plenty of space to explore while easing the way to creating a joyful space and pleasant surroundings.”
Space Magic: Colors look different depending on what’s around them.
Compared with the original walls being a soft blue-grey color, the high saturation of the teal and yellow on the walls has seemingly increased the colorfulness of the floors. That intensity has made the floors seem more orange. Looking at the Before and After pictures here, even the camera shows the floor color differently. Your eyes would also perceive this difference.
But this isn’t the rule. In some situations bringing in a dull or neutral color can cause the adjacent colors to appear more colorful.
