How to make a colour scheme work in your Gold Coast apartment

Choosing a colour scheme for your Gold Coast property can be a daunting task. If the colours you choose don't look right when you finish redecorating, it can be a costly mistake to rectify. The risk of getting it wrong means that some people stick to neutral colours throughout their property. However, you don't need to be afraid of strong colours if you know how to pick shades that complement each other and test your ideas before you paint.

Follow our tips to get started.

1. Start with colour theory

Colour theory tells you how different colours relate to one another and which ones work well in the same space. Colour wheels visually position colours according to how they work together. How you then select colours from around the wheel is down to which colour scheme you want to apply.

Colour schemes are a set of structures, guidelines, for mixing and matching colours from around the wheel. For example, if you opt for an analogous colour scheme, select three colours that are adjacent to each other. A complementary colour scheme means choosing colours opposite each other on the wheel, while the triad requires that they are evenly spaced.

Using a scheme lets you decide how much of a contrast you want in your design, and a wheel enables you to pick colours that follow the rules.

2. Know what you want from a room

When selecting your colour scheme, think about how you want to use the room, and what kind of feeling you want it to evoke. If you want to make a room feel more spacious, opt for cool and light colours. Dark and warm colours are good for creating cosy rooms that you want to snuggle up in with a good book.

Thinking about shades and tones is also important to generating the right mood. While a bright bathroom might help to wake you up in the morning, it won't be conducive to unwinding in a hot bath after a hard day. Determining what your primary use of a room is will go a long way to ensuring you select the right type of colour.

3. Create a moodboard

Before you start putting any paint on the walls, pull together images of things that inspire you. Think about furniture and accessories that evoke the sense of space or comfort you are after. You don't have to commit to buying all the things you have on your moodboard. It's about bringing together the ideas you have so you can work your colour scheme around it.

4. Get samples first

What your colour scheme looks like on your Pinterest board and what it looks like in your room can be very different things. If the room you are using as inspiration is flooded with daylight, and yours has one tiny window, the colours may look very different. Pin a sample of the colour in the room and see what it looks like in natural light, morning and evening, as well as under artificial lighting.

5. Test your theory with accessories

If you're really not sure that you can commit to a strong colour on the walls but still want to see it feature in a room, an easy way out is to use it in furnishings that are easy to change. Curtains, cushions, rugs and throws are great starting points for getting confident with colour. If it doesn't work, or you change your mind, they're easy to replace. 

To find the perfect Gold Coast property to put your stamp on, contact Ray White Surfers Paradise today.