Dulux Let’s Colour [Part 1] : 6 steps to choosing the perfect colour for your home

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After the stressful part of purchasing a new home, comes the even more stressful decision of how to redecorate and renovate the house into a home. The people from Dulux Singapore have kindly offered to sponsor a paint job for my home, and I am really looking forward to the transformation. The perfectionist in me wants everything to be picture perfect such that I will have a home to be proud of, and more importantly, to have a home that I am inspired to come home to each day.

Photo Credit : Dulux Pinterest

Although what we have bought is a DBSS, which means that the place is in move in condition, there is much scope for improvement. For one, there is no differentiation to any of the rooms, apart from the size. I want a home where each room boasts its own unique features and identity. Case in point….guess which room is the study room in my house?

Guess which room is the study room in my house???

Can’t tell right?? Every room has white walls! Although white walls do go well with the parquet flooring, still, there must be more to life than just white, right? The people at Dulux told me that Singaporeans’ favourite paint colour is WHITE! OMG, I do not want to be just like everyone else! I think there’s a tendency for people to be a little complacent in this regard. When we first moved in, the white walls look pleasant enough, so it’s natural to focus the renovation ideas on other aspects such as furniture and woodwork, not realising that the colour of the walls plays a very important role in the look and feel of the house. The colour of the walls is like a foundation, a canvas that sets the theme and mood.

Ok so the easy bit was deciding that we won’t settle for white walls in every room. The hard part is deciding on the colours! The very thought of having to choose something that I will permanently have to live with, at least for the next few years is enough to send me into months of procrastination!

Luckily, Dulux sent us on a 3 hour crash course on colour inspiration, where I learnt a few nifty tricks. Here are 6 steps that anyone will need to take in order to select the perfect colour for each room.

Know about Colour Psychology
Check out the Dulux Colour Wheel
How Colours affect a space
Find inspiration from Dulux Inspiration booklet, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram
Use the Dulux Visualizer
Call or email your friendly DuluxColour Consultant

1. Colour Psychology

First of all, as a precursor to any colour task, it would be good to have a background on the intricacies of colours. Did you ever wonder why you like a particular colour over another? There’s some science behind all this, in the form of Colour Psychology and Colour Harmony.

Colour psychology is the study of colour as a determinant of human behavior. Simply put, colours tend to cause an effect on your mood and actions. For example, while we always suspected that Red is the colour of energy, did you know that coffee in a red cup may seem hotter than in a blue cup? Orange is a colour that stimulates, but take care not to paint your kitchen orange if you are planning to go on a diet! And did you know that Violet inspires creativity with intellect? I could do with additional doses of that in my study room! You can watch this 4 minute video if you want to know more about Colour Psychology. Knowing your goals for each room will help you to select the best colours that amplify those goals.

2. Colour Harmony via Dulux Colour Wheel

Even though you may have your favourite colours, everyone knows that not all colours go together. In order to achieve a finished look that is pleasing to the eye, you need to make sure the colours don’t clash! There are a number of colour harmonies:

Monochromatic harmony uses various values (tints, tones, and shades) within the same colour family.

Analogous harmonies are based on three or more colours that sit side-by-side on the colour wheel.

Complementary colours (or Direct Complementary) are those that appear opposite each other on the colour wheel.

A split complementary colour arrangement results from one colour paired with two colours on either side of the original colour’s direct complement creating a scheme containing three colours.

This all involves hue, value and chroma…. but to cut the mumbo jumbo short, you can just rely on the Dulux Colour Wheel to help you.

Looking at this example above, if I want my room to be Orange, I can then get Blue if I want a complementary colour. Or if I want an analogous colour, I can get either red or yellow.

3. How colours affect a space

Now this was pretty mind blowing to me. Previously I’d been thinking about colours for the entire room. But, nobody ever said you had to paint the entire room! In fact, you could simply just paint the ceiling, and that alone is enough to transform a room.

Photo Credit : Dulux Pinterest

Check out this most mind blowing picture of all. I seriously would not have thought of just paining the ceiling on my own. And the great thing is, you can use bold colours, like red, without worrying that it is too overwhelming! I adore the colour red, but I would have been hesitant to use it. Not anymore!

In fact it’s not just the ceiling you can paint, the various permutations evoke different responses. Of course, for most of us living in HDB flats, we’d want something to make the room as spacious as possible.

And of course, if left totally white, the space becomes ”formless”.

4. Find inspiration from Dulux Inspiration booklet, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram

After understanding the intricacies of colours, the next step would be to decide on what colours or the theme to have for your rooms. For me, I find that the easiest way to do this is to take reference from beautifully appointed rooms. You’ll be amazed at the different ideas out there. If you’re a worrier like me, wondering whether the colours will work out or not despite the colour wheel and all, it would be comforting to look at the pictures to assure yourself that there is more to life than just white or a single colour.

Check out the Dulux Inspiration booklet for pictures of rooms in all the popular colours. You can even recreate a piece of your romantic holiday to France, Japan or the Maldives with Dulux’s suggested colour combinations. You can request for a copy to be mailed to you or download a copy here.

Multitude of colours available in the Dulux Inspiration booklet pull out swatches

More ideas can also be found on Dulux social media portals:

Facebook : http://fb.com/dulux.sg

Instagram : http://instagram.com/duluxsg

Pinterest : http://pinterest.com/duluxsg (see my favourite Dulux colours here)

Youtube : http://youtube.com/duluxsingapore

www.dulux.com.sg www.letscolour.com www.colourfutures.com

The Dulux website in particular also has some nifty tricks such as colouring a gender-neutral nursery, creating a cosy reading colour, or brightening a north-facing room. Check it all out at http://www.dulux.com.sg/en/colour-inspiration.

5. Use the Dulux Visualizer

But let’s say you already have some colours in mind and don’t want to go for the standard tried and tested tones, how do you know if the colours will fit your room? And how do you know exactly what colour it is on the colour swatches? Now I cannot for the life of me understand how is it that people can look at small squares of colour and decide that that’s the colour they want on their walls.

The last time I did that, it ended in disaster. I had my evening gown dress for my wedding tailor-made. I knew I wanted it to be red, but exactly how bright? I had shortlisted like 10 of my favourite red wedding dresses but I just couldn’t pick out which red it was that matched what I had in mind. To make matters worse, the tailor said that the colour on the swatch would be slightly different as the material was different! Needless to say, I had the most stressful time, and in the end the dress turned out a few shades darker than I had hoped for.

Download the Visualizer app for free on your smartphone or tablet and see the world with new colours.

Picture it before you paint it!

With the Dulux Visualizer, you can paint your room in all the colours you can imagine! Download the Dulux Visualizer app and go wild with it!

Download the Dulux Visualizer here. It works on tablets and smartphones. In just a few simple steps, you can pick and choose the colours you want to test out in your room. You can even do several colours within a single room. Just use the masking tape feature to draw an imaginary line across where the next colour should start. If you already have existing colour in the room, such as a wooden flooring, you can also get the Visualizer to recommend complementary colours. Full instructions on the Dulux Visualizer can be read here.

How do you like this colour? At first I thought brown might be a bit too boring or dark, but here it actually looks pretty calming to me. And it does have an air of stability, something I would like to have in my study room when I want absolute peace and quiet.

Wow, this colour combination looks great, even though I would not have thought so before. Even my rubbish pile looks more artistic!

Or how about a 2 toned room? Blue or pink ceiling? Orange or yellow walls? Sorry I got a bit carried away with the Dulux Visualizer, it’s so addictive! I wish I had 20 rooms in the house for me to paint!

6. Call or email your friendly DuluxColour Consultant

Well we did the first 5 steps in trying to determine a colour for our study room, almost becoming colour experts in the process. But we still wanted a reassuring voice, to tell us our choice are right or to prod us gently in the right direction. Guess what, Dulux has already thought of that by sending us a helping hand in the form of the Dulux Colour Consultation Service. It’s FREE!

Shoot a photo of the room(s) you wish to paint.
Email : Customer.care.sg@akzonobel.com and tell them what your preferred colours/shades or themes are.
Visualize your dream home with the colour scheme images from Dulux Colour Specialists.
Paint the room yourself or get the Dulux Professional Painting Service at 6265 0677. Quote the discount code : DH550 when you call to get an additional $30 off the painting packages!