Archive for February 12th, 2009

Bedroom colors

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Restful shades of ocean blues and sea greens call to mind peaceful afternoons at the shore and turn a simple country bedroom into a tranquil retreat. Capture the spirit of water and sky with an aqueous palette that subtly shifts with the day’s changing light.

The colors you choose for a room immediately establish its mood. In a bedroom, color - especially on the walls - can mean the difference between creating a tranquil sleeping space, a romantic boudoir, or a vibrant morning room.
When selecting colors for a bedroom, don’t worry about rules. Each of us has an innate sense of color, rooted in personal history and geography. Trust your instincts.

While a single color palette employed throughout the house can give it overall harmony, the hues you choose for the bedroom don’t need to be perfectly matched to be complementary. Nor do they have to be the colors you’re “supposed” to use for bedrooms or with certain architecture or modern furniture. A neoclassical bedroom suite can be accented with bright fuchsia. A contemporary set can look crisp against restrained, classic colors. A country cottage bedroom can splash out in a modern palette of blues.

Blue is the color most often associated with tranquility and serenity, desirable attributes in a sleeping space. Begin building your palette with the palest blue that appeals to you and use that color for your walls. This gives you the freedom to use deeper hues as accents.

Blue is one of the most popular colors for bedrooms. A single hue might have felt too strong in this low-ceilinged room, but layering blues, whites, and greens throughout lends a comfortable sophistication. A collection of old bottles, right, adds interest without detracting from the sense of serenity.