How to choose colour schemes

[Icklepickle101]

Me and DP have just bought our first 'house' and it needs completely stripping and starting again, every inch of every room. We get the keys next week so need to start deciding on colours etc as we only have 2 weeks to get the majority done before we have to move in with newborn DS!!

How did you decide your colours/themes? I've spent hours upon hours on Pinterest and have so many ideas but they are all so different and I can't decide!! DP doesn't help much as he is colour blind and isn't that bothered

Partly depends on whether you will be staying there fairly long term, and want your own stamp on it, or whether you envisage selling in the near future, in which case you will want neutrals.
As it needs to be done quickly, it might be an idea to paint the whole house the same neutral, off- white colour and then live in it to get a feel for the place. You could then repaint room by room as inspiration hits strikes.
By off- white, I mean creamy/ pinky white - not anything blue/ grey based. I think grey has probably had its day, and mushroom ( much loved by the men in my life) is not only over but drab and depressing. But that's just me, some people love it. I would just say, if you're not sure then don't rush a decision -
Get a feel for the house.

If you've not done it before I'd be tempted to keep it all fairly plain. You can always add colour / pattern later.

This is a really short time frame to do it all. The thing is that the lighting can affect colors quite a bit (see the grey thread to get the idea). Somes colors look great at night but terrible during the day and vice-versa. If I where you, I would prime the whole house. If you have time after you moved in to paint, I'd just take my time to choose the color. If you know it will take time before you get around, I would buy the cheapest paint to get it done. Where I live white paint can be baught in a huge bucket (enough to do an entire house) for 75$. Like that you don't wast your money and there is no rush.

When I plan colors schemes, I sit in the room, think of what I like to do in the room and what kind of atmosphere I want. I look what color would convey that feeling.

Start in the most central room of the house and move from there. Choosing the right shade is the hardest part (I've been dithering since 2 YEARS over the right shade for the living room!)

I started by choosing warmer colours for the north side of the house and cooler colours for the warmer, south facing side. Look at a colour chart and go from there.

This was from advice from a friend. I ignored it and put a cool colour in a shady room. I was wrong and repainted it as it felt 'cold'. It's now in a kind of plaster coloured buff (boys room but he doesn't care) and it feels so much warmer and cosier now.

Get a load of colour cards, narrow them down and then get samples to look at night day, sunny and cloudy days. There's so much to choose from. Don't rush it too much or you'll have to redo it all. (or you may just change your mind and redo it all like I did anyway! Not cheap!)

Unless you are buying all furniture, curtains, pictures, bedding fresh too. You probably have a starting point in most rooms based on what you can't afford or don't want to replace. Blue sky design is great but practicalities in first house can be restricting. Or looking on the bright side is lessens the hundreds of choices if you need to match it in with your current sofa! Then I find pinterest etc much more friendly as you can search for that item and frequently see it dressed in many different colour schemes and styles.

Bulk buy dulux trade supermarket or diamond matt white paint and go white as a base everywhere. Given your timeframe for decisions and to diy paint a whole house, you don't want to have to faff around with proper cutting in etc. You can then do rooms in the right colours as and when you decide on what you want.
Good luck!

I tend to start with soft furnishings, which dp thinks is crazy! He doesn't understand how a cushion can dictate a whole room. Usually I have a general idea so e.g. I want some blue in the sitting room, so I go and look at cushions and find one which is blue, teal, green and grey, another one I like which has green and teal, then another in grey and green, so I look for a grey throw etc. and I will pick out the other things in those shades, curtains, rugs, paint etc all based on the colours in the most colourful/patterned original item.

Good idea Shanghai, paint it all white first then if you want colour you can add a single wall or two of a different colour, or just add colour with long curtains, big pictures etc.

Think white is a good idea!! We moved in together 6 months ago and knew it would only be a temporary flat so bought everything cheaply or second hand as we knew we would replace them when we bought the house. It's made it difficult having so much choice!! Luckily we have been saving u till we could afford to decorate and furnish a whole house before buying, just turns out the one we fell in love with is inhabitable u till it's been done, I'm in mat leave so it's a nice project for me :)

I like the idea of choosing furnishings first too, especially curtains! I can see myself basing a room on a nice pair of curtains

If it helps, I've just repainted our newly plastered bedroom wall in Brilliant White! I painted the ceiling then just really couldn't be bothered to choose a colour, so I went everywhere with the white, simply because I had 10 litres of the stuff. Surprisingly, I love it! I didn't need to mask everywhere as I normally do - it was sooo much easier. We're not staying in this house anyway, so a blank canvas is good.

Doing it all white will save you loads of time and effort, and you can then choose colours as and when you've settled in, and according to the light at different times of the day. Always good to live in a house for a while anyway, before deciding what to do with it.

And if you're getting white (ceilings etc), I'd recommend Wickes Trade paint - it goes on really, really well with excellent coverage. It's not cheap but again, will save you time.

I'm incredibly boring and had the whole place done in dulux white cotton
My second place now and I always seem to have similar colours!
Living room and kitchen is all one so sort of chocolate brown/duck egg blue loose theme. Bedroom - no idea, I fell in love with a gold mirror and a chandelier so worked around that
Spare room is lilac and bathrooms turquoise. All accessories wise I mean, every bit of paintwork is white!

There is some good advice here however, she plays it very safe with one colour, you can be a bit bolder.

I have oak flooring throughout and the front of the house is north facing, back, south. Downstairs, I've gone for warm neutrals in the front and a palette of greyish blues and greens in the back - green is my favourite colour so I won't get bored. All throughout I have used golden yellows and burnt orange as accent colours.

Upstairs, there is a range of flooring: tiles, carpets and laminates (kids with allergies). I've colour matched everything as much as I can so not too jarring, and it's all kind of taupe. I'm going for a dark inky blue in our room, blue-green in one kids room and a warm pink in the other (DD1 will only accept pink). I'm using the colours of the other two rooms and gold as accent colours in each bedroom to try and tie them all together. Hallways will be as neutral as possible with curtains/blinds in a golden yellow/green/blue pallete, bathrooms will be blue-green and white.

So in all, I've taken my favourite colour and gone for an 'analogous' scheme: colours either side in the colour wheel with plenty of complementary neutrals thrown in. I am on pinterest here lots of ideas of the kind of thing.

Another idea is to pick out some fabric collections you love and see what colours they use together and use them for inspiration. I love Scion's Levande and new Lohko ranges, so they have provided a few ideas and I have used some of the fabrics for curtains and soft furnishings.

I like your house hollinghurst - I think we might be the same age too

Personally I just choose colours that I know I look nice in. Saves any issues :)

Like PP I tend to start with some curtains or a blind or bedding that I've seen and take it from there.