Mistakes to avoid while Choosing a Color Scheme for your Home Decor

A dining room with wall painting and sofa set

When it comes to home décor, there’s no such thing as the right or wrong color. When planned properly, one color can complement another. But the opposite can also be true; if the colors are mismatched, then the interior would end up looking chaotic and unattractive. That is why, before decorating any house, designers tend to come up with a color scheme.

However, the process is a lot more complicated than it sounds, making it easier to make mistakes. After all, balancing and combining different colors with different patterns and scales can easily be tipped in the wrong direction. If you are planning to decorate your house, then it doesn’t end with painting your wall.

Rather, it also depends on your furniture, your decorative elements, flooring, and ceiling. This is also one of the main reasons why people don’t take up the task of decorating their homes themselves.

Here, we will discuss the common mistakes to avoid while choosing a color scheme for your home décor. These tips are guidelines for you if you are creating your color scheme from scratch.

Mistakes to Avoid while choosing colors

1.Matching Every Element:

Matching the colors of every element may seem like a simple and easy idea, but it would be easy to figure out that you have been playing it safe with the colors. Also, your room would end up looking it had suffered an overdose of a single color, which may not be the best approach for home décor. So, for bigger elements such as walls, floors, ceiling, furniture, make sure they all have different colors.

Picture of a pink painted room

2.Using Flashy Colors too Much:

Colors can a great accessory as well. It is always a good idea to play with flash colors that can double as a focal point in a design. But having too many flashy colors would have the opposite effect than what you might desire.

It would end up creating a chaotic space and not give the user’s eyes any place to rest. To avoid that, make sure you incorporate empty space in rooms or include large elements in neutral colors that balance out the color scheme of the room.

Picture of a living area using flashy colours too much

3.Not Using Accent Colors:

Many people tend to play it safe by not using accent colors at all. Although it is not suggested that you should use too many flashy colors in one space, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use any.

Using one or two accent colors is a vital point in a design and puts emphasis on the important spaces of the room.

Living room area with simple white colour

4.Overlooking the Ceiling:

Another major mistake while choosing the color scheme of your house is overlooking the ceiling. People often tend to leave it white and flat without considering the overall color scheme of the room.

To maximize the impact that your ceiling has in your room, choose a pale color tone that compliments the wall like a high-gloss white or beige. If you want a bold hue, then make sure you create it as a focal point and balance out the entire room accordingly.

Living room area with beautiful interior and colours

5.Forgetting the 60-30-10 Rule:

Lighting changes the overall look of your entire room. Some colors will look just the same in bright sunlight, but they would differ under artificial lighting. Before committing to color on all the walls in a room, always put up a sample swatch and observe the changes according to the lighting. This would help you avoid any colors that wouldn’t look nice under different types of lighting.

paint ratio picture

6.Ignoring the Lighting:

Lighting changes the overall look of your entire room. Some colors will look just the same in bright sunlight, but they would differ under artificial lighting. Before committing to color on all the walls in a room, always put up a sample swatch and observe the changes according to the lighting. This would help you avoid any colors that wouldn’t look nice under different types of lighting.

living room with lights

7.Overlooking the Flooring:

Just like the ceiling, flooring is also an important element in the home décor. Usually, it contrasts the color of the walls, but often, designers prefer to have more striking floors and plain walls. Either way, floors should never be overlooked when planning a color scheme of your home décor.

picture of living area with beautiful sofa set

8.Using the Wrong Finish for Paints:

Among the color scheme mistakes, this is one of the most common ones. The finish of the paint is the final touch of the entire process. It creates the overall look of your wall and thus, your entire room. If you have darker walls, then opt for a high-gloss finish instead of a matte finish. The opposite can be said in the case of lighter walls.

Green painted walls with white curtain

9.Same Color for Furniture and Walls:

Never have the same color of furniture and your walls. The first step should always be choosing the furniture and then painting the walls. The fabrics and textures you incorporated in your furnishings should be complemented by the color of your walls.

For that, you should always start with the items that occupy a room such as rugs, sofa sets, etc, and then choose the paint color that works with them.

Living room area with painted walls

10.Mismatch Colors of Curtains or Blinds:

In many rooms, windows can be used as a focal point and curtains or blinds also play a huge role in achieving that. The color of your curtains or blinds should always compliment the color of your walls. You can either go for a simple choice by choosing a color in the same hue. Or, you can be a bit bold with your choice and choose an extremely striking color to create a beautiful contrast.

image of a room and furniture

It’s not always possible to keep on redecorating your house over and over again. So, this process should be done carefully with little or no mistakes, if at all possible.

The above-mentioned mistakes are to guide you in the arduous process of home decorating. When the color scheme of the interior is fixed, the rest of the process should go on smoothly. So, by properly analyzing your choices, needs, and your home, you can have a perfectly beautiful without any issues.