Home colour choices can say a lot about your personality. Lisa Grosse from Cedral discusses how to use the ‘colour wheel’ approach to get the look you want for a new build home or a makeover
Colour is one of the most important elements in any design scheme to set tone and mood. When choosing colours for your home, it makes sense to go for those that you are naturally drawn to.
COLOURS THAT SUIT YOU
Blues and greens, the colours of nature, signify harmony and stability and surveys suggest that if you are drawn to these colours, you favour serenity and order. People who like blue are thought to be generally quite sensitive, while lovers of green are considered to be open and loyal.
On the other side of the scale, vibrant red denotes passion and excitement, while purple is generally considered an artistic and spiritual colour. White means you are organised and logical while black suggests you value your privacy. Those who like brown are said to be dependable and reliable and yellow is the colour of sunshine and happiness.
White is a clean and sophisticated choice for any home exterior and works well in every setting, but a sun-facing wall may be blinding at certain times of the day. Consider creating an accent wall with a different coloured cladding or creating a textured finish with a patterned colour scheme, mixing in additional colours to break up expanses of large white walls. Here you could let your personality shine – by choosing sophisticated shades of charcoal, red or blue.
Greys and blues are very contemporary and will appeal to lovers of nature, creating a calming house to come home to. Or you could combine complementary shades of these colours side by side to add interest and texture.
When we recently asked 2,000 homeowners about their dream exterior property colours, the top three choices were white/coastal whitewash, red brick and light grey. The primary reasons for white were that it looks smart, timeless and traditional. In the case of red brick, these reasons were also significant but being in keeping with the surroundings was shown to be important. For the grey, another key factor was that it’s ‘trendy’, and blue grey and sage green were seen as inviting.
WHAT’S THE COLOUR WHEEL AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
The colour wheel is one of the most tried and trusted design tools used by experts to help you update your facade. Sir Isaac Newton created the first colour wheel, proving that light contains the full spectrum of the rainbow. All colours in the spectrum are created from the three primary colours of blue, red and yellow, and the colour wheel shows the relationship between them. Cool colours sit on the blue/green side of the wheel, while warm reds and yellows sit opposite. The most important thing to remember is that the position of colours on the wheel shows how they will work together, and colours are grouped according to this philosophy.
In the early 19th century, the German artist and poet, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, took this one step further, studying the impact of colour on human psychology. We now understand much more about the subconscious and physiological human responses to colour: for example, how green is the most restful colour to the eye and that blue will lower the pulse rate.
Contrasting colours – such as blue and orange, red and green or yellow and purple – sit on opposite sides of the colour wheel and create a dramatic effect when used together. Harmonious colours – like blue and green and orange and red – sit close to each other on the colour wheel and create a tranquil, balanced effect when used together, perfect to create a restful, pleasing exterior. Their receding qualities are also a great way to give a smaller building more ‘oomph’. A way to create a vibrant home with strong visual appeal is to choose a colour such as red for the facade and then add accessories or outdoor plants in contrasting colours. Another is to use ‘pops’ of contrasting colours for the trim.
Tonal schemes combine several shades of one colour for a look that is easy on the eye. The different shades work perfectly together as they are all from the same colour family. A tonal exterior in beautifully matched shades of greys, charcoals or pale blues for example, will create a very pleasing visual effect.
Other elements to consider when choosing your exterior colour include your home’s natural environment, the local landscape, colours chosen by your neighbours and how light affects the colour throughout the day. Durability is another key factor to think about when making your colour choices, particularly when it comes to outdoor colours at the mercy of the environment.
OPTIONS FOR FACADES AND COLOUR
The various options for a facade include timber, stone, vinyl, external foam, metal, weatherboard, fibre cement, concrete and glass, and these offer a range of different colours. Fibre cement cladding – for example, comes in a choice of colours and wood stains with a choice of finishes including wood grain and smoothness. The planks can be mounted vertically or horizontally to create different effects when working with a tonal colour scheme. A low-maintenance facade in a material such as fibre cement will not need regular re-painting in the way that wood will.
With so much choice available, the first step is to decide on your colour scheme, and then to make use of the various tools, including digital ones, to find the perfect look.
Lisa Grosse is brand manager at Cedral