Generally it’s a good idea to stick with a color scheme of no more than three colors. Less can be boring, while more risks creating chaos, Skriloff said. Combinations based on colors that are complementary, or based on opposite sides of the color wheel, work well, such as blue and orange or red and green. Another strategy is using colors that are contiguous to each other, such as green and yellow. One color in different shades can also be stunning, perhaps with a bright accent or two. Designers noted that there have been some beautiful rooms designed entirely in white, although these tend to be in southern climes.
Your choice of color should fit with the style of the house. Neutral earth colors can look gorgeous is an older, historic home, but might be drab in a contemporary setting, which generally need more pigment, said Raven.
Change the lighting
Dimmers are an inexpensive and effective way to enhance a room’s ambience.. They cost $25 each for a wall (floor and tabletop dimmers are also available). One way to create drama, if you have recessed lighting, is to install a high intensity pin-spot, which is a very small bulb that focuses light on a single spot, such as a tabletop arrangement of flowers.
Skriloff recommends installing Edison bulbs, whose amber wires are exposed, which can become a design element in itself. A colleague took a cheap, $5 ceiling figure, sprayed it black, and replaced the three bulbs and glass covers with Edison light bulbs, which cast a warm light reminiscent of gaslight.
