North of the City
March/April 2008
Three’s never a crowd when it comes to decorating — in fact, a combination of the right three colours can transform a room from blah to breathtaking.
“Gone are the days of painting a room one uniform colour,” says Melanie Rice, colour consultant for PARA Paints and a member of the Color Marketing Group, which creates an annual colour forecast for design professionals.
“Today’s trend is to use a mix of colours on walls, trim and accessories around the room.”
Achieving a tri-colour look with any décor is simple, says Ms Rice. The rule of thumb is to select a primary hue — or main wall colour — that should cover about 70 per cent of the walls in your room.
Next, choose two supporting hues to complement the primary colour. Use one of those hues as your secondary colour, for trim or an individual wall, covering about 25 per cent.
The final colour should be applied on accents, window sills or doors to highlight the rest of the room. For those hesitant about using three paint colours in one room, Ms Rice recommends applying two paint colours and incorporating the third hue in pillows, furniture or drapery.
Popular three-colour combinations from the PARA Paints line for 2008 include:
•- Midnight blue with off-white and turquoise, such as Blue Suede Shoes (P1910-5), Rice Paper (P2225-4) and Barbizon Blue (P1603-3)
- Steel blue highlighted with gold and cream, such as Flagstone (P2264-2), Robertson House Gold Tint 3 (P2060-2) and Almost Ivory (P1830-4)
- Rich red complemented by cream and deep orange, such as Elderberry (P2038-8-5), Wild Phlox (P2047-4) and Copper Nugget (P2376-3)
- Soft gray accented by deep red and brown-red, such as Greyed Pearl (P2208-4), Blaze of Red (P329-8) and Rich Russet (P392-8)
To help you select the most suitable three colours for your décor, PARA Paints has introduced a handy colour selection tool that is featured on www.para.com. Simply click on your favourite primary colour, and PARA automatically suggests two supporting colours.
“Be creative, explore and try new and unexpected combinations, such as blue with green, red with fuchsia, or navy with black,” says Ms Rice, adding that while these mixtures used to be taboo, anything goes this year.
“To help pick a primary colour to start with, we recommend selecting a colour you like best from a fabric, carpet or painting that already exists in the room.”