LIFESTYLE DIVA DECORATING HOME COLOR FLOW SYSTEM

Today we’re diving back into the Lifestyle Diva Personal Decorating Style Toolbox.  I’ll be teaching you how to use my Decorator’s Home Color Flow System to decorate your entire home in your personal color palette.

In my Lifestyle Diva Personal Decorating Style Profile System, we use color as the Master Link that ties your entire home’s décor together.  By using the Decorator’s Home Color Flow System, you’ll create an entire house that is harmonious and makes you feel fabulous.

 

This is the third installment of the PERSONAL DECORATING STYLE PROFILE SERIES.  In the first article we discussed just what a Personal Decorating Style Profile is and helped you discover and explore yours.

   Here’s the topics I covered in the article:

• What is your Personal Decorating Style Profile?
• Identify the 6 Main Decorating Style Categories
• Breakdowns of Each Style Category with Pictorial Examples
• Personal Decorating Style Profile Quiz to help you nail down your style preferences
• Personal Decorating Style Profile Categories/Subcategory Reference PDF

 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE:  WHAT’S YOUR PERSONAL DECORATING STYLE PROFILE? TAKE THE QUIZ!

 

PERSONAL DECORATING COLOR PROFILE

Next I delved into the world of COLOR, teaching you how to go about finding your PERSONAL DECORATING COLOR PROFILE.  But that’s just a technical term we use for your personal palette of colors.   

 

To help you develop your own Personal Decorating Color Profile, I created my Personal Decorating Color Stylebook.  

It’s filled with all the worksheets that you’ll need to help you along this very personal journey.  You’ll gather fabric and paint samples, pictures of rooms that “pull” you with all the colors and various combinations that light your fire.

 

 

COLOR-MOOD ANALYSIS & WORKSHEET

Inside the Lifestyle Diva PERSONAL DECORATING COLOR STYLEBOOK, you’ll also find a Color-Mood Analysis exercise.  It will help you tune into your own responses and mood shifts as you move through each of the color groups.

What will the results tell you?  Once you’ve filled out the Color-Mood Worksheet, you’ll see which color/combinations bring you the most joy.  Whether they excite or relax you, you’ll have a much better understanding of the colors you want to be surrounded by in your home.

 

Then the article covers the topic of “color”, giving you a complete COLOR PRIMER.  You’ll leave with a much better understanding of what part color plays in the home decorating process.  Believe me, you’ll find it incredibly enlightening!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE:  WHAT’S YOUR PERSONAL DECORATING COLOR PROFILE? GET YOUR COLOR STYLEBOOK

 

DECORATOR’S HOME COLOR FLOW SYSTEM 

If you’ve read both articles and done the “work”, you’ve identified your Personal Decorating Style and Color Profiles.  You now know much more about the colors you want to “live” in throughout your home.

Next I’m going to tell you how to identify where you’ll get the inspiration to build your home’s color palette.  One that’s perfect for you and your family.  You’ve already gathered colors and fabrics in your Stylebook that stir your soul.  Now, how to put them to work!

A home’s color scheme doesn’t come with the wave of a magic wand.  It begins with an “inspiration”.  Look around stores, magazines, or even your own living space.  Were you drawn to a piece of furniture? A color? Or perhaps the bowl you brought back from Spain.

The point it, you chose that item because you were drawn to it, and you might even LOVE it.  So, that’s where we’ll begin…

Or, if you want lots of fabulous combinations from which to choose, wallpaper books can be an incredible resource.    Don’t forget that these designs were created by professionals who understand how to combine colors with expertise. Your head will be dizzy with the selections they contain.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:  Go find your inspiration piece(s)!

 

DECORATOR’S HOME COLOR FLOW SYSTEM

Take a stroll through your home and note where one room ends and another begins.  It isn’t always a clear division, is it? 

Depending on your home’s architecture or a shared border or wall, your rooms are not all islands unto themselves.  That’s where my Decorator’s Home Color Flow System comes into play.

 

Using this system will allow you to use your color palette to tie all your rooms together.  You’ll be creating a harmonious home through the strategic use of your chosen color palette.  

Now let’s get started and find out how this system works!

 

USING YOUR INSPIRATION PIECE TO DECORATE YOUR HOME

Now its time to analyze your inspiration piece and find your home’s new color palette.  I’m going to show you how to use the Decorator’s Home Color Flow System and worksheets to plan your entire home’s color scheme!

COMPOSING YOUR COLOR PALETTE – Let’s Find Your Colors!

STEP ONE:  Analyze and Extract the Colors From Your “Inspiration Item”

• Download and print the Inspiration Analysis Sheet contained in the Lifestyle Diva Decorator’s Home Color Flow System PDF
• Write down the colors and their proportions in your inspirational piece; what color is dominant, secondary, etc. These colors will be the start of your personal color palette.
• If the inspiration piece uses a pattern, make sure you look at it from a distance, say about 10 feet away. Do the color ratios change with distance? Record your impressions accordingly.

 

STEP TWO:  Head to the Home Improvement Store

• Head to the home improvement store with your Analysis worksheet and inspiration piece in hand or snap a photo to take for reference. DO NOT rely on “color memory”. Humans are notoriously bad at choosing the right shade when confronted with a rainbow of variations of each color.
• Choose the paint color strips that most closely match your palette colors.  Make sure to choose samples that include 3-5 variations of the shade.  The more colors, or variations of them that are in a room or structure, the more creative you can be when decorating
• Take home 3-4 strips of each of your colors to use filling out your Decorator’s Home Color Flow Worksheets.

 

THE SAME COLOR PALETTE THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE – Boring!

But, no two rooms will have the exact same color/shade combinations.  Hmmm… How does that happen?

What we’re trying to achieve when using the Decorator’s Home Color Flow System is exactly that – FLOW.

When you walk through a home that’s been professionally decorated, how does it make you feel?  Do you notice a connectivity between the spaces, that each room’s decor blends or “connects” to the next, and so on, and so on?

But it’s no where close to boring, is it?  That’s because professional designers understand the concept of FLOW.

SHHHH!  I’m going to tell you secret behind the concept of FLOW…

EACH ROOM’S COLORS CHANGE DOMINANCE AS THEY MOVE THROUGH THE HOUSE – Light blue walls blend into a medium blue patterned rug in the next room, which connects to the dark blue accent vases and couch in the living room. They all work together because you’ve used the various shades in your paint strips!

That’s how you can use 12-20 different shades from your inspiration piece’s color palette and not have a repetitive or boring decor.

 

USING THE COLOR FLOW WORKSHEETS – Let’s decorate!

I’ve created a set of Color Flow Worksheets that will allow you to work out your entire home’s color scheme.  Using the color palette you extracted from your inspiration piece, you’ll use the worksheets to pull those colors throughout your living spaces.

 

HOW THE WORKSHEET “WORKS”:

A – Floors (most dominant and largest areas of color)

B – Walls (2^nd largest are of color)

C – 3^rd Largest Area of Color (third most impactful item in the room/area)

D – Accent Color #1 (accent chair or small rug)

E – Accent Color #2  (pillows or art work)

* A and B are interchangeable, depending on your home’s floor plan and architecture. 

* D and E are accent colors used in descending order.

 

 

LET’S FILL IN YOUR DECORATOR’S HOME COLOR FLOW WORKSHEETS

Now you’re armed with paint sample strips in front of you, each with 3-5 shades.

If you’ve chosen 3 colors, that’s 9 to 15 different shades to work with. And that means if 4 colors are in your palette, there will be 12-20!  Can you believe the creative force you’ll be with that much color ammunition?

And you can feel confident that each color strip’s shades were professionally chosen to work together.  You’ll build on their expertise when creating your home’s color scheme.

NAN’S TIP:  I cut apart a few of my paint sample strips and use them to help fill out my Color Flow Worksheets.  Each horizonal line represents one area/room in the house and that let’s me see the color scheme at a glance.

 

 

 

MOVING THROUGH THE HOUSE, ONE SPACE AT A TIME…

Working the Color Flow System, you’ll have the colors changing priority in each room and changing its significance in the room’s color scheme.   This how you create a subtle connection between areas throughout your home using just 3-4 colors and their variations. 

Don’t neglect choosing a few patterned pieces or upholstered items in a lovely print.  These additional companion fabrics will help reinforce the color scheme while adding much needed variety in your spaces.

If you want to mix and match your own patterned fabrics, look for prints that vary in scale – like a large scaled buffalo plaid mixed with a small floral. 

 

 

WHAT IF I’M NOT REDECORATING MY WHOLE HOUSE?

Even if you’re not redoing the house this year, you can still benefit from this valuable resource.  You can fill in the Color Flow Worksheets with your existing room color schemes.  

• You’ll be able to see your home’s color scheme in one place and spot any color/decor disconnects that exist
• Perhaps a color issue in one room may be solved by bringing in a color used in a different space
• What pieces do you own that no longer are “working” in your space?  Would it work better elsewhere?
• Do your surfaces, accessories and furnishings FLOW?  What can you change up to help?  Sometimes a quick fix is all that’s needed!

 

While you won’t be changing everything you find at once, you’ll have a much better idea of how to improve the FLOW in your home’s color scheme. 

The Lifestyle Diva Decorator’s Home Color System will help you decorate your home using the secrets the pro’s use.  

Grab your purse and inspiration piece and let’s get to the home improvement store.  I can hardly wait to get started!

 

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