My theory is a little different than what I have read. I choose three colors for example gold, red and green. I then put sage green on the living room walls, some red in the rug, neutral furniture with accent pillows with all three colors. In the dining room (adjoining) I might put a light shade of the sage and use gold chair covers. The window treatments would have all three colors in them. Kitchen might be gold walls with red pots and pans and some green in the backsplash. Mostly gold in the bedroom with red accent pillows. Co-ordinate the bathroom with all neutral tile and use the towels and rugs to tie the colors in.

it depends on what's the basic color u r going to deal with , is any one ask himself the relation between light & pigment color systems or basics ? cause these two systems integrates with each other to produce a different color concepts also schemes . red is a basic light color , yellow is a basic pigment color - so its a complicated matter but we must understand color to be easy to deal with . otherwise using color at any space depends on many factors each space has its unique individuality in every part of , also - any opinion dealing with choosing colors its an individual one . it might be due to experience whict is common . but not due to update understanding of color acting , sience , influences , systems , combinations ......etc.

Edited by author 10-04-2005 07:28 AM
I think the base color should be neutral like ivory or cream. Then depending on what look one wants to achieve (Modern or Victorian), one can vary the color combinations for each room.

For instance, I would love a bright kitchen with sunflower yellow teamed up with light wood like beech. Or how about earthy shades like burnt red, amber, olive green, copper artifacts, wooden furniture etc. for a cozy living room?

it is a good idea to use a base colour, but if used throughout it adds to effect of continuity and spaciousness.i preffer to chose a neutral calm colour on the walls and flooring and then continue either of them throughtout the house to link spaces togather. colour is added either as accents on feture walls and accessories. even the sofas i choose are mainly a light neutral colour and the i pep it up with luxurious throws and tonning cussions. these kind of schemes allow for flexibility as u can change them from time to time , season to season, withought burning a hole thru ur pocket.

The basic colour could be very near to white being any shade. I prefer off white. with the false ceiling white. The furniture (wood) can be venge imean dark so that it gets highlighted if wanted. Then the flooring can be again off white but with a bit darker shade than hte wall colour.The coming to the artefacts you can have all your colour choice for smaller things.

My views are that it is best to choose one color as your base color for the scheme of your home and then start to use variations of it. For example forest green may be your main color as it is your sofa color, then you could use cream walls and curtains with forest green tiebacks, lamp shades, and introduce another colour like red for example and scatter that in the room, then the next room the kitchen for example you could use timber cabinetry and a forest green tile splashback and continuing with the cream walls, then the dining room, could simply use green on the dining chair fabric and have gold as the predominant color for curtains and table cloths etc. The bathroom can be white and use blue white and green striped towels to introduce color.
Then you continue this way throughout the house.
Sometimes the one color is achieved by simply picking a colored carpet.
I would love to hear some other ideas of using multiple colors successfully.