Our inspiration and passion to create surroundings that express our creativity and style is what fuels the desire to redecorate a living room, bedroom, office, or kitchen, but when you stand next to a wall of paint colour options at your local home improvement store or search online for home decorating products, are you considering which direction the windows face in this particular room?
All of the colours in a room, be they from the wall paint, home furnishings, and even throw pillows will reflect a certain colour intensity based on the level of sunlight in a room. When you shop for wall paint, bedding, curtains, and even table linens at a store or online, you are seeing the products reflect their optimum colours under fluorescent lighting. Your bed linens, for example, may look very different in the natural lighting in your room, and so unless shoppers know the effect of natural lighting for particular colours, they may be in for quite a shock when the products are brought home and the colours do not seem to stand out as greatly as expected.
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North-Facing Room
A room facing the north receives the least amount of natural lighting, and is likely going to be one of the coolest rooms in the house, so keep those throws and area rugs handy. In the fall and winter, a north-facing room will receive very little direct sunlight. Warm colour schemes work best in home decor for a north-facing room to heighten feelings of warmth, and you will want to include decor accessories like extra pillows, throw rugs, and drapes that not only convey warm colours, but symbolise warmth as well. Bright warm hues like =yellows, creams, oranges, and reds will use limited sunlight to reflect naturally lighter colours; however, cold-coloured blues, dark greens, and greys will darken the room considerably.
Picture the rustic decor of a cool New Zealand mountain home. The warm decorating palette of the living room in this cabin retreat includes cream walls with rustic crackled-textured paint, large area rugs, plush throw pillows and cushions in varying reds, yellows, and oranges, and large furniture pieces in light cream suede.
South-Facing Room
Rooms receiving natural light from the south are generally warm and sunny, and you will not necessarily have to force colours to appear lighter like the northern room; a child's bedroom decor, for example, could be a blend of darker and lighter colours (maybe dark blue walls with pale green accessories). Rich espresso browns are particularly popular right now, and are oftentimes complemented in light-coloured decor accessories. Brown with baby blues or pinks is now seen quite a bit in kids bedding and baby bedding sets, living rooms are being decorated more and more using espresso browns with bright greens and reds for a look of modern sophistication, and bedrooms are now seeing a surge in tans and browns in bed linens, wall colours, or curtains alongside other soft accent colours.
East-Facing Room
A mix of colours works best in the decor for an east facing room. This room receives a powerful dose of sunlight in the morning, but the light fades more and more from midday through the afternoon and evening. Play on the change of lighting with both warm and cool colours that are often paired together as complementary: blues and oranges, violets and yellows, greens and reds. An east-facing room is safe for any colour theme that you prefer! Artsy modern styles will really look great in the east-facing room.
West-Facing Room
This room is all about the sunset, and how lucky are those with large windows facing the west during the later afternoon time. This room will receive a very dull light in the morning, but be weary of overemphasizing warm colours in this room. The afternoon sun can be particularly brutal with heat, and your houseguests may not need to feel any warmer than they already do during the spring and summer months. A neutral colour scheme will work very well in this room. Cottage decor or beach decor typically favour light cool or light warm colours accented delicately with a dominant neutral palette like creams and whites.
Natural lighting plays an important role in colour choice. Think of how colours in this room will stand out when direct sunlight pours into the room, or on a day when skies are gray or overcast. Take into account both the direction that your room faces, and the amount of light it receives before choosing your colours for your interior design plans.
Using Natural Light to Decorate With Colour - Influence of Natural Lighting on Interior Design
This is a feature article from The House Queen: your go-to resource in home decor. For more helpful decorating information, visit The House Queen website at http://thehousequeen.com.au/ or the House Queen Blog at http://blog.thehousequeen.com.au/.