Start With What You Have

What you have is inspiration!

Inspiration for making your house reflect who you are is all around you -- in your furniture, a fabric, a picture, a chair, a tablecloth, even a tea towel or a favorite candy dish.

Most color selection, even at the hands of a designer, begins with a piece of "inspiration."

That can be anything that attracts your eye, that you enjoy seeing and having around you.  You have it in your home because you liked it enough to buy it, or it was given to you and you value it not only because of it's meaning but because it makes you happy.

If you don't already have an idea of what that object or item is, look around your house and select several things that catch your eye.  Put them all together and think how each one could be built on to create a color theme that pleases you.

Color themes are inspired!

Once you've done this, now pick out your favorite of the items you love and study it for a moment.  Write down the colors you see and like.  Is there a dominant color?  Do you prefer it over one of the less dominant ones?  What other colors do you like in the design or pattern?  There is your palette.  You can now build a coordinated color scheme for your whole house around that one item.

If you are starting from scratch and literally have no inspiration, then start looking for inspiration where ever you go.  Look in magazines and fabric stores. Wallpaper books are a great color combination and design source.  My daughter found this plate at an estate sale and it would be a gorgeous inspirational piece.

You may want to use the background color on your walls for instance; a dominant color in the design for your sofa, and secondary and tertiary colors for accents.

The importance of carrying colors from one room to another is because you mentally carry the color scheme of one room into another for three seconds.  Isn't that interesting.  It is important because mentally, your brain is expecting the color to flow and when it doesn't, it feels disjointed, like a collection of rooms from different houses.

Color is the grand connector!

Look for other items already in your home that compliment and can be used.  It may mean repurposing some of the items that have been in the same place for decades.  Look at your house and possessions with fresh, new eyes for possibilities.  Like we teach about wardrobe planning, shop in your own house first.

Now go forth and find that inspiration that you can use to make your house flow and make you happy every time you enter.

I would love to hear how you have found your inspiration and what changes you have made.