Christmas Colours for Your Home

Colour is more essential to decor themes than what shapes or objects are used, and when it comes to Christmas decorations the same principle holds true. Home decorators must have a colour scheme in mind before they begin to trim the room for the Christmas season. Traditional colours for December are still as beautiful today as they have been for hundreds of years, but the preferences of the family members living in the home should be consulted because the theme and joy of the season speaks best through colours that appeal.

Colour Combinations: Appeal and Preference

In order to decorate the home with an attractive colour scheme, the decorator should keep in mind that colours of similar depths complement and enhance each other. For instance, a medium hue of purple looks tremendously well with turquoise and other medium colours like medium green and yellow. Additionally, deep colours of reds, greens and blues mix well together.

Metallic colours like gold, brass, silver and pewter seem to enhance any colour scheme. They can be used in combination with any colour scheme such as deep colours, pastel tones and medium palettes.

Now, white, ivory or cream are contrasting colours. They look attractive and blend well with most colours.

Any colour scheme can look festive for the Christmas season and fit in a theme. Even purple Christmas trees chosen by little girls or creative adults can look superb for the season if the rest of the room and the trim on the tree are of the same depth of colour to enhance that purple hue of the tree.

Decor that Reflects the Joy

The colours of the home can be authentically and traditionally Christmas colours for December or they can be any colour scheme chosen and still have the Christmas cheer. People can express the essence of Christmas with their favourite colours. Homeowners can choose pastels, primary colours or medium hues. They can go metallic in rich gold with hints of deep purples and greens.

The main point to remember is that colours that look well together are those of the same depth, with the exception of metallic, white and ivory that can look grand in almost any colour scheme. By the combining of colours of similar depth and keeping that depth of colour consistent throughout the room, the joy of the season and the spirit of Christmas can be reflected in the home.

Spring Colours in Your Home

Now that springtime is in the air, people are ready to brighten their indoor rooms by exchanging their cosy cabin with the fire-in-the-hearth look for flowers, gardens, birds and bright spring colours. The world is alive and home owners do some spring cleaning and open windows to the air. Then, a few home improvements can help to invite the spring season inside with simple tasks that owners can do for themselves, using the spring colour palette to bring the outdoors inside their interior spaces.

Simple Do-It-Yourself Changes

Bringing the feel of spring into the home can mean just making a few simple changes. Most decorating projects can easily be executed by the owners themselves or they can hire someone to come in to do the work. Still, either doing the work or hiring it done does not have to involve thousands of dollars.

Some of the changes could be a coat of paint to trimmings or walls, new photographs and paintings hung and adding new pillows and slip covers to the sofa and plush chairs in the living room. A wall painting job could be just one contrasting wall that gives the room a fresh look. New mantle decorations or window treatments can speak a new theme of springtime.

Colours that Look like Spring

People can put pictures into their minds of their favourite outdoor places to visit in the spring like the beach, the garden and the park. The colours found in those places during the season of spring and early summer can inspire the indoor colour palette with hues like light blues and bright yellows, greens and pinks.

Spring is the celebration of new life and many bright colours are a part of the celebrating. Still, people should keep in mind that indoor rooms should avoid looking cluttered and busy with too much variety. Simple and lovely accents and one or two bouquets or spring paintings strategically placed will give the natural look of spring as well as expressing a casual invitation into the fresh earthy pleasures of the season.

Bringing the Outdoors Indoors

Decorating the home and bringing in a few improvements can make the indoors look like spring. Outside the activity of the birds and the explosions of flower colour sing songs of new life, and the interiors of people's homes can reflect at least the essence of the best of the spring season as well.

Bold Is the Word for This Fall's Interior Decorating Colours

Interior decorating trends for fall and winter 2011-2012 feature bright colours that pop against natural materials such as wood, metal or stone. There are a number of different palettes interior decorators as well as do-it-yourselves can use. They all have one thing in common: they’re not bland or boring. Whether these colours are timeless shades used on a wall or part of a geometric pattern employed in accent pieces, they certainly aren’t the neutral beiges and off-whites preferred in previous years. This year, the colours jump right out and grab your attention.

Purple continues to be one of the more popular colours preferred by interior designers. This colour evokes so many different moods depending on the shade or tint used. Rooms swathed in purple walls and furniture pieces can be relaxing, while a bright purple accent piece shouts, “Look at me!” The colour stands out on the runways of high fashion; why shouldn’t it be featured in a home too?

Autumn colours that mimic the turning leaves and comforting foods of the season, such as bronze, gold and cocoa, continue to be popular. Vivid hues, including maroon, black and olive green, shout for attention. Northern African inspired shades feature the blues and stuccoes of Mediterranean climates.

While more tranquil, colours that bring to mind South Pacific lagoons, such as aquamarine or bright blue, offer a relaxing yet fresh appeal to a room. Even the timeless and classic whites, blacks and greys can brighten a room when they aren’t muted but rather highlighted with a bright gloss. Any room featuring these colours will make a statement.

And don’t forget patterns this year. Designers are going back to the 1950s for inspiration in wallpaper and fabrics. Geometric patterns are coming to the forefront too. However, this fall, the patterns, while bold, are still muted enough that they don’t completely overwhelm the senses. Muted colours do have their place in design, but they aren’t its focal point this fall.

While bold and vivid colours are the main component of this fall’s interior design, texture also plays an important role. Unusual textures such as cork are becoming more popular. The juxtaposition of very different textures is also a popular trend. For example, silk screen material may be paired with rough, unfinished concrete blocks. The contemporary look fits in well with this season’s bold and bright focus.