Start small. Try experimenting with a favorite color in a small bathroom or guest room or on an accent wall. It’s a great way to see immediate results and a quick fix if you find that particular color is not for you. Think of it as an adventure!

One of the most foolproof ways to inspire a great color scheme is to pull colors from something that you already have and know you plan to keep in the room-like a favorite piece of artwork, curtains, bedding, furniture fabrics or even a cherished family heirloom.

All colors in the spectrum can be classified as being either warm or cool. Reds, oranges and yellows are considered warm colors, which can help create an energizing effect in the room. Greens, blues and purples are considered cool colors, which tend to create a calming effect.

Neutral colors are low-intensity colors, such as grays, beiges, tans and taupes. Because of their low color intensity, they work well with even the brightest colors. Neutral colors are known to “play well” with others because they go with everything, making them an excellent choice to use in any room of your home.

When choosing a room color, it’s important to think about the mood you want to create in that room. For example, soothing neutrals and softer, more muted colors can help to create a restful, relaxing mood, which is perfect for bedrooms and bathrooms. Whereas brighter and more vibrant colors tend to create a livelier environment, which is better suited for the more active areas of your home such as a kitchen, dining area, craft room or a child’s playroom.

It is important to think about how colors flow from room to room to room. This is why neutral colors are a wise choice for hallways, entryways or other highly visible rooms in your home because neutrals go with every color.

Lighting can have a huge effect on a color’s appearance. For example, natural daylight shows the truest color, while incandescent lighting brings out warm tones and yellows, and fluorescent lighting casts a cooler, bluer tone.For best results, we recommend purchasing a pint tinted to your favorite color and painting a swatch on your wall, then viewing your color at different times of the day and night in the light sources used in that room.

There are three primary colors: red, blue and yellow. Secondary colors are made by combining any two primary colors together (for example, yellow + blue = green, blue + red = purple, red + yellow = orange). Tertiary colors fill in the six gaps between the primary and secondary colors: red-orange, blue-green, red-violet and so on.

A color scheme is a combination of colors used together to create a beautiful designer look. Some of the most popular color schemes for home decor are: complementary, analogous and monochromatic.

A complementary color scheme combines colors that are opposite from each other on the color wheel (like red paired with green or blue paired with orange)-creating a classic and timeless look. An analogous color scheme uses colors that lay directly next to each other on the color wheel (such as blue paired with green and purple, or red paired with yellow and orange).

An analogous scheme using cool colors will give rooms a calming and soothing look, while a warm analogous scheme will create an energizing effect.

A monochromatic color scheme incorporates a mixture of lighter and darker shades of the same color (like a deep navy paired with a mid-toned blue and a pale, sky blue), which creates a stylish and sophisticated look.