13 Tricks For Designing With Color That Are Actually Just Super Interesting

When in doubt, use the rule of three.

Decorating with color can be hella intimidating, especially if you're looking to paint or invest in new furniture.

NBC / Via imgur.com

Thankfully there are a few simple, and interesting, design tricks that can make it feel a lot less overwhelming.

1. If all your decor is colorful, keep the walls white so the room doesn't feel too cluttered.

jungalow.com

Designer and founder of Jungalow, Justina Blakeney, makes sure to balance her signature maximalist style with empty spaces that act as little "moments of calm."

2. If you definitely want to paint or wallpaper, consider accent walls that won't overwhelm the room.

instagram.com

Interior designer Robert Novogratz recommends using color on one or two walls, and leaving the rest neutral. "You can be bold, but not go crazy," he told BuzzFeed.

3. And don't leave the accent wall totally bare, because it can throw off the balance of the room.

Instagram: @thenovogratz

4. You can also split the room with neutral paint, if you love color but aren't sure a bright accent wall is really your thing.

@brittnimehlhoff / instagram.com

This trend can feel pretty intimidating if you're wondering how you're going to get that perfect crisp line — but it's a whole lot easier than it looks!

First, clean the walls, then draw a line and check that it's level with the floor before laying painter's tape across it. Roll-on up to two coats of paint, then peel the tape away when it's completely dry.

5. Or strike the perfect balance with the 60-30-10 rule.

instagram.com

Designers use this trick on the regular. The idea is that the main color should cover 60 percent of the room — so, the walls and/or the central piece of furniture, such as the bed. The lighting, textiles, and accent pieces should make up another 30 percent, and the artwork or decor items cover the remaining 10 percent.

6. Apply the rule of three when mixing patterns, and maintain the same color intensity no matter how wild things get.

@eviekemp / instagram.com

Working with odd numbers is a good general rule in design, but it's especially true with patterns, which are tricky but (clearly) not impossible to combine attractively. The patterns should vary in scale with the most dominant being almost twice as large as the second.

7. Choose warm colors if you want to feel energized, cool colors to feel relaxed, and a mix of both to turn some heads.

Tiffany Kim / BuzzFeed / Via buzzfeed.com

If you spend time with your guests in the kitchen, choose a warm color such as red, yellow, orange, or beige to create an inviting and energetic feeling. Blues, greens, and grays — or cool colors — are a good choice for spaces like your bedroom where you wind down. Because mixes of both are so funky and unexpected, use them anywhere you can to make an impression without throwing off the mood of the room.

8. Play up a bold color with high-contrast accents, but keep the rest of the room totally neutral.

instagram.com

Complementary colors — red and green, orange and blue, yellow and purple — are on opposite sides of the color wheel, so they can be tricky to design with. To keep the pair from battling for your eye's attention, one should dominate at least twice as much of the space as the other. Everything else in the room should be in neutral tones — white, beige, and black — so there's enough negative space for the eye to rest.

9. Or try a triad if you're feeling brave — just make sure to maintain the consistency of the the color saturation.

Instagram: @bossycolor

A triad is three colors that are equally spaced on the color wheel. Mix warm and cold colors to your heart's delight, but choosing bright pink with light yellow and dark blue is going to throw off the balance of their relationship. Play with Adobe Color to experiment with more color pairings.

10. Design your color scheme around the biggest piece of artwork, to anchor the room around a centerpiece.

Emily Shwake

The color in the artwork will tie the rest of the room together. Complement the colors in your photo with curtains, pillows, or frames.

11. If your room is quite minimalist, add colorful accents so it doesn't feel too sterile or uninviting.

@anitayokota / Instagram: @anitayokota

If all that color isn't for you, that's cool, just incorporate accents that have warm undertones. Think wooden furniture and reddish textiles, as they're going to feel more cozy than metal or blues.

12. Go through your photo album to find fresh inspiration from everyday life.

Emily Shwake / sherwin-williams.com

The Sherwin Williams ColorSnap Visualizer app helps you find the perfect match to your favorite colors. Once you've found a paint that matches the shade you fell in love with out in the real world, test it out with a simulation of the color in an actual room.

Get it for your iPhone here or your Android here.

13. And follow designers and bloggers on Pinterest to find more inspiration for every color aesthetic.

Emily Shwake / Pinterest

If you don't want to copy an interior designer's room exactly, find them on Pinterest and see where their inspiration comes from.

Follow Sugar & Cloth's Spaces & Architecture board if you like pastels, Oh Joy!'s For the Home board for bright colors, Poppytalk's Bedroom board for neutral spaces with pops of color, and Preciously Me's Home & Colors board for dark, moody rooms.

Now go wild! You've got this.

Disney / Via giphy.com