How to Create a Color Scheme Continued
How to Prepare a Color Scheme
1. Make a cup of coffee or tea and sit in the space that you are going to undertake the changes.
2. Look around and familiarise yourself with the existing surroundings and how they are currently used.
3. Take a pen and paper and note all the things that work in the room and all that don’t – highlight any architectural features and note any eyesores that will need to be camouflaged.
Review the natural and artificial lighting. Take photographs of the room, (these are very useful for reference and also portfolio work later as "before and after shots").
4. Make a list of all the items, areas, surfaces that there are. To simplify this start at the ceiling and work down. You will use this information to collate your scheme for the client and trades people to work from.
5. Write up the list to resemble as follows:
| Item/Area |
Substrate |
Finish |
Color |
| Entrance |
|
|
|
| Ceiling |
Plasterboard |
Enamel Paint |
|
| Cornice |
Plaster |
Paint |
|
| Walls – General |
Plasterboard |
|
Blue |
| Dado Rail |
Timber |
Stained and Varnished |
|
| Below Dado Rail |
Pressed metal sheet |
Lacquer paint |
|
| Skirting |
Timber |
Stained and Varnished |
|
| Floor |
Carpet (timber floorboards under) |
|
|
| Features - |
Ceiling Rose - Plaster |
Painted |
|
| |
Pendant light fitting |
Brass & Glass |
|
| |
Turkish Rug |
Wool |
Blue & Red Hues |
(Continue with other rooms in a similar fashion)
6. Once you have done this, you then know what you have to select – so get to it! Use your inspirational piece or your client’s suggestion as a starting point for putting things together.
7. Select samples of paint, carpet, wall vinyl, fabric, trims, artwork and lay them all out together. Select one thing and start working around that. This now becomes a process of illumination, this works with that, that doesn’t - out it goes, you need a darker colour here, some texture there etc. Go with your instinct. I can’t stress that enough. (I generally find that the color or item that I picked first is usually the one I end up selecting after trying and eliminating numerous other choices!)
To continue How to Create a Color Scheme......
