There are many ways to come up with a color scheme when decorating a room in your home from picking the colors you see in a photo in a decorating magazine, the colors in a fabric that draws your eye, your favorite colors or simply winging it with an eclectic mix of colors.
In this post I am sharing another way to choose a color scheme for a room, one that you may not have considered.
I have used all of the above methods to choose the color schemes for all the rooms in the homes I have lived in, until I lived along the shores of a lake. It was when I began to choose the colors and decor in general for my living room in a new to me way.
Many of you write to me with all sorts of questions and choosing a color scheme for a room or an entire home is a popular one.
So I thought I would share how I chose the colors for my home, but especially my living room.
How I Chose The Color Scheme for My Living Room
I like to call my decorating style for my whole house, White & Woodsy. Nature is my guide, along with a laid-back state of mind.
I like to keep the basics of the living room furnishings neutral in color so I can change the accent colors when the seasons change.
For my spring and summer living room I zeroed in on the colors I see out the sliding glass doors in the room… the grass, trees, lake and sky.
I want the inside of the house to blend in with the outside so they feel like one.
Over the years I have pared down the decor I add to the room each season. I will never be a minimalist, but I found I do like the look and feel of less decor in the space.
I have been happy with everything I placed in the room so far for the spring and summer seasons, but have not been able to find a piece of art or the inspiration to make my own wall art to hang above the mantel for the summer.
You may remember I painted a canvas last spring for the room and then another canvas to use in the fall.
I was going to use the spring canvas I made last year, but I found it was too bold as I was looking for a more serene piece of art. Turns out the bold painting looks great above the bed in the room I call the pretty guest room.
Filling the Empty Space Above the Mantel
The space above the mantel has been bare since taking down my holiday decor in December. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I found inspiration when searching for links to post in my Sunday Style Scouting posts.
I got the idea to create a canvas using the colors and view outside my door after seeing this photo on an interior designer’s website. See the canvas above the fireplace?
I have all the whites going on in my living room, seeing the colors of the waterbody and sky in the art had me grabbing a blank canvas that I had in my attic decor stash.
I like the colors in the art and the subject matter in the interior designer room, but not how the waterbody, sky and clouds were painted. I wanted something more serene. I also needed a shorter and longer canvas to fit the area above my mantel.
I am not a fine artist and truly have no desire to be one. I painted this canvas because I couldn’t find anything to buy that I liked or that wasn’t $1000 dollars.
So I searched online for a piece of art with the subject matter of a serene waterbody and sky to get an idea of what I could paint to get me started.
I found a watercolor that I liked and printed a copy of it on printer paper and used it as my guide for colors to use and the perspective to copy.
To learn how I paint from an inspiration piece, see this post, Art Made Easy, Paint Your Own Canvas.
Once I had the canvas painted to my satisfaction, I add pine lattice molding to frame it. I stained it a barnwood color and nailed it around the canvas to frame it just like was done in the interior designer’s room.
I am very happy with how my art came out. I try not to be to be too critical of my amateur skills. 🙂
It feels nice to finally have colorful art above the mantel. I am glad I didn’t just buy anything to fill the space, getting the look I was after took some time, but was worth getting it just right for my vision for the room.
Waiting to find just the right piece of art also saved me money since I had all the supplies I needed to paint the canvas from leftover supplies from previous projects.
I have quite a few canvases that I once had hanging in this room when we first moved into the house. I kept them in my attic decor stash all these years knowing that one day I would find another use for them.
Adding Accent Colors to the Other Parts of the Room
For the warmer months of summer, I always rearrange the living room furniture. Since we don’t need the fireplace in the summer, I move the sofa in front of it and place the two recliners where the sofa was across from the sliding glass door so when we are sitting in them the lake is in full view.
I usually remove the dark area rug on top of the seagrass rug and will most likely do that on the day summer actually begins to truly welcome the season.
I went around my house to find blue, white, and green accents to use.
I have had most of these accents for years. Some are very old like the small burlwood box that my dad made in his high school Shop class.
The new blue ceramic vase I bought at a local furniture store. The blue sofa pillows are from Target quite a few years ago and the blue throw is vintage IKEA.
I posted about this tray and use it almost everyday.
I am sure I will find a few more decorative items to add to the room and will rearrange things over time. That is the fun of decorating and living, letting the room evolve to make it better for the way you live in the space.
So the next time you want to decorate a room and are looking for inspiration to help you choose a color scheme to get started, don’t forget to look outside the windows or glass doors in the room and let nature be your guide.
How did you choose the color scheme for your living room?
