Is your room feeling tired and old?
It might just be the color combinations you are using.
There are certain colors that can make a room look old, and tired if not combined with the right accent colors, or elements.
I am not sure why, maybe it is because it was a big color in the early 70's when I became a wife, and homemaker, but this color has always felt old and dated to me.
Of course this is just my opinion and not anything that is stamped in a book in the design world but this color is.......
BROWN
Brown can look drab, and heavy in a room, so how does one make it look fresh and current?
You will notice that everything is BROWN except the walls, and they are a gold that just adds to the dreariness of this room.
It is not that the room is horribly decorated, it is neat and tidy the proportions seem right,(except the lamp.) It just feels sort of Blah!!
If you look at this color wheel you will notice that the brown family falls under the heading of yellows/golds so by painting your walls gold, you have basically just added more brown to your room.
So what do you do if you love BROWN?
Take a look at colors that are directly across from the brown family, and use those as accents to give some life to your room. If you choose a color that is directly across from another color on the color board, it is a compliment to that color.
Try adding some fresh colors to your color scheme…..
Dark floors, charcoal and cream rug, gray/blue walls and accents in coral make this sofa almost disappear, and the room feels fresh, fun and current.
Here is a color scheme taken from nature using brown, blues and grays. Keeping Brown as a secondary or accent color keeps the room from feeling too BROWN, dated or heavy.
This is such a fresh take using brown with bright, playful colors. This would make any room feel light and happy.
The brown sofa is smiling with new life, thanks to happy pillows.
Adding new fun pillows in happy colors will help make a brown sofa feel new and fresh in a room…
Using one patterned pillow as a jumping off point will help establish your new color scheme.
(Found on Etsy, made by Wilma Long)
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Painting your walls in a cooler hue will also make the room feel a bit more current. By keeping everything in the brown family it will only tend to age your room.
Brown, Pink, and Gray!
A brown sofa with brown walls?!! Wow! Lots of brown, even the floors are brown.
So why does this work?
The pieces of furniture are classic with a touch of modern. Lots of white molding is used. The entire fireplace is white, and the hints of pink are a muddy, or a grayed pink, in a very pale value.
Notice the pink is in the pillows, the back wall of the bookcases and in the flowers. Subtle? YES, but still pink.
The operative word here is SUBTLE uses of pink.
Also notice that the soft pink is a blue based pink/blush. This is a cooler accent than an orange based pink such as coral.
So next time you look at your room that has too much brown in it, or for that matter, too much of any color, try shaking things up a bit by adding a cooler hue as a backdrop, and use bright, happy accents in pillows, lamps and artwork.