The Color Scheme Bible: Inspirational Palettes for Designing Home Interiors

by Anna Starmer

Overview

100,000 sold in hardcover

It's hard to imagine a more comprehensive look at color scheme possibilities.

—Los Angeles Times

What a cool idea for the color challenged among us... 200 combinations fit for a king and queen and their royal family.

—Booklist

When it comes to decorating, the endless color choices available are enough to overwhelm the most determined home decorator. The Color Scheme Bible solves that problem, and with hardcover sales of 100,000 its value is well proven. This lay-flat paperback edition is sure to be an equally popular choice.

With 150 color scheme ideas to choose from, The Color Scheme Bible is an easy-to-use and inspiring reference to using color in the home. It describes how colors interact and the effects they have on a room. It explains how to choose colors that complement each other for a subdued effect, and which colors and combinations energize a room. The book also includes 50 recommended palettes that can be used with different materials for refreshingly original color schemes.

Features include:

• How color creates ambiance and atmosphere
• How to use color to give a small room the illusion of space and depth
• 200 distinctive color schemes inspired by nature, art, travel, and even a favorite possession
• 50 recommended palettes
• A "How to Use This Book" gatefold.

The Color Scheme Bible changed the way we approach choosing colors for the walls, floors and furniture in our homes. It is an essential handbook for decorators and interior designers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770850934
Publisher:	Firefly Books, Limited
Publication date:	08/30/2012
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	49,285
Product dimensions:	6.75(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Anna Starmer is a color and design specialist whose clients have included IKEA and Dulux paints. Her work has been featured in Elle Decoration, Marie Claire and Vogue.

Table of Contents

How to use this book
Introduction
Deciphering the Rainbow
Color Theory
Colors to suit you
Color and Mood
Looking at light
Color and emotions
Finding Inspiration
Using color scrapbooks
How to make a mood board

THE COLOR PALETTE DIRECTORY

• Pinks
• Reds
• Oranges and Browns
• Yellows
• Greens
• Blues
• Violets
• Neutrals
• Grays

Index / Credits

Introduction

How to use this book

This book contains 200 inspirational color palettes for home decorators and interior designers. The text accompanying each palette discusses the woods the colors evoke, and will help you create your desired ambience. There is also practical application guidance, which will help you approach the room as a whole, and advice on the kind of finishing touches that suit the particular scheme.

At the beginning of the hook you will find information on color theory, along with some ideas on how to create your own schemes and designs. While it is helpful to have some basic understanding of color theory and principles, it is also important to create a room that you, your family and your friends are going to enjoy. You can also use the world around you as a source of inspiration. gathering tips and ideas from everyday life, and learning to really enjoy color.

To help you make your own color choices at home, the hook is separated into nine color chapters: Pinks, Reds, Oranges and Browns, Yellows Greens, Blues, Violets, Neutrals and Grays. Each chapter contains many levels and tones of color, from bright, pure primaries through to delicate, tinted pales. We have chosen some classic color combinations with an almost timeless quality, as well as contemporary schemes that can bring a fresh look to any style of house.

Introduction
Color in the home

A house is much more than just a roof over our heads. Our places of dwelling have developed dramatically over the course of history. Homes today have to be incredibly versatile buildings, often serving as a restaurant, kindergarten, hotel, office, library and sanctuary. The places in which welive should be enjoyed, provide protection, respite, peace, inspiration and warmth to all who enter.

Color can dramatically alter any space within a home. The possibilities made available to us by modern paints are almost limitless, and traditional and modern homes alike can be transformed through the clever use of color. Pale colors and whites can instantly refresh a tired room, giving a clean look and creating a bright, spacious atmosphere. Rich colors, such as deep ruby or emerald green, will have an intense effect, creating a more intimate and cozy feeling.

Color in the home cannot be changed as often as we change our clothing, so the color decision is extremely important. This book aims to help you choose that all-important scheme, and to ensure that the choice suits your lifestyle and meets your personal and emotional needs.

Color for today

Color is one of the most exciting raw materials on earth. Since the beginning of time people have been using color to mark territory and decorate their surroundings. Color is powerful -- it can cleanse and revive a tired area in any home, and can change a mood and lift the spirits. Across the globe different cultures attach significance to certain colors. Color can be passionate and sensual, and it can be calming and meditative.

Colors make an impression on all of us, and color and texture help to make our world a fascinating and beautiful place to live. Yet color is a reasonably modern luxury. Only 100 years ago color was the preserve of the wealthy, and there was no color television, no glossy color magazines or hooks, no plastics and limited textile dyes. For the majority, the world was many shades of gray.

However, in the 1950s the chemical industry made it possible to produce many more colors in dye and paint. It is possible today to create over 16 million separate colors. Developments in paint technology have also meant that we can now buy thousands of different paint types, ranging from basic latex paints through to metallic finishes, eco-friendly natural paints and even magnetic paint.

Color with confidence

Using paint is a simple and cost-effective way to completely restore and revive any area in the home. Never before has there been such a wide choice of color in paints, wallpapers, furniture and fabrics, allowing us to make our own designs and statements with color. But with so much choice, where do we begin? With all these possibilities, making color choices for the home can confuse and intimidate both the amateur and professional decorator. Many paint manufacturers boast that they can match almost any color, which is an incredible resource. But how can we decide on that perfect shade?

This book can help you choose the right color for you, your room and its situation, and then show you how to build a stunning interior design around that color. Choosing the correct scheme for a room can transform a space from a tired living area into a stylish one. The right decisions made early on can have dramatic effects, which will not only impress your friends and family, but could even add value to your property. This book will arm you with the theoretical knowledge, a little inspiration and a conviction in your own tastes that in turn will give you the confidence you need to use color to its full potential.

SPEAKING PRACTICALLY

There are many factors to consider before you begin the work of filling a space with color. A small amount of practical knowledge and creative inspiration can go a long way in helping you to make the right choices. When choosing colors for your home, ask yourself some of these questions:

• What is the room to be used for?
• Who uses the room the most?
• What time of day will the room be used the most?
• How much natural light does the room receive?
• What important architectural features are there in the room?
• Which large pieces of furniture are, or will be, in the room?
• Which colors are featured in the rooms directly adjacent to the room?
• What feelings and emotions do you want the room to convey?

Write down your answers to these questions and keep them in mind as you peruse the information and visual references in this book. You will soon hit upon the perfect color scheme for your room.

Editorial Reviews

Exceptionally thorough.

Reno and Decor

Using color in the home can be intimidating, especially for an amateur. These two books present an abundance of information on how to choose colors and what types to use in the home. Whereas Tom Helme and Joseph Friedman's Paint and Color in Interior Decoration focused on the history and examples of color in interior decoration, Rompilla (color theory, New York Sch. of Interior Design) gives a more comprehensive study of color and its use in interiors. She discusses the historic, artistic, and psychological aspects of color as well as explanations on how texture, tone, and light affect it. She also describes how color has been used in the 20th century by both architects and designers. Starmer (Swatch Selector) discusses how to use color effectively in interiors and devotes the majority of The Color Scheme Bible to descriptions of 200 color schemes for the home. The main colors are given in a table-of-contents format where one can select a color and then turn to its page to find suggested room use, different tones of the main color, and accent and highlight colors, as well as the type of mood or look conveyed by each choice. One drawback is the lack of illustrations showing the color scheme used in an actual room, as Starmer provided in Swatch Selector. Color for Interior Design is recommended for large interior design collections, while The Color Scheme Bible is highly recommended for public libraries. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Mix colors with confidence. You'll find 150 color palettes ranging from pale to passionate.

Flare

What a cool idea for the color challenged among us... 200 combinations fit for a king and queen and their royal family.

Booklist - Barbara Jacobs

It's a sophisticated mix-and-match system with some surprising color marriages... a useful self-consulting tool for the typical homeowner seeking adventure in a can of paint.

CanWest News Service - Shelley Fralic

Instant answers.

Country Woman

An easy-to-follow and difficult-to-botch guide to the spectrum of home decor.

Interiors - Michael Gordon

Starmer doesn't waste a lot of time on the platitudes of how a color will make you feel but offers practical advice on how color combinations match up in each room. You'll also love her take on fabric and surface textures as they relate to color, as well as her tips for selecting task, ambient and mood-creating lighting.

Log Home Living - Mike McCarthy

It's hard to imagine a more comprehensive look at color scheme possibilities... What makes this book especially useful is the range of suggestions for adding color to every room in the house.

Los Angeles Times - Robin Hagey

Illustrates how color alters any space... [Starmer] explains colors, how they might work and how they work together.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Kathy Flanigan

Works well as both instruction manual and idea book. Full of wonderful photographs, yet conveniently compact, it is a well-written, spiral-bound walk through the color palette.

Nashville Scene

A sophisticated mix-and-match system with some surprising color marriages... a useful self-consulting tool for the average homeowner.

National Post - Shelly Fralic

200 color combinations for the hue-challenged, from modern and funky to reserved and traditional... a nice alternative to the wall of paint chips.

Orlando Sentinel - Rebecca Swain Vadnie

Includes a section on how to combine natural and artificial lighting with color to fashion rooms that will be cozy, even in the midst of winter.

Romantic Homes - Merrie Destefano

If you're scared of color, or scared of choosing colors for the interior of your home... [this book] could allay your fears.

Spokane Spokesman-Review - Cheryl-Anne Millsap

Helpful hints for working with light and creating mood... Believe it or not, pistachio-color walls really would look fab with that leaf green sofa.

Style at Home - Jenn Houlihan

Useful... readers will learn the best color combinations to suit their need.

Woodland Hills Daily News - Jaime Spangrude