Furniture Design Basics - Understanding the Warm and the Cool Shades

Colour is one of the most important aspects of interior design. It can be used to create a specific mood for your space or give you the ambience of being in a faraway place. Colours can even help you to relax or draw your attention when you enter a room and should be a major factor in determining which furniture design ideas you’d like to execute.

So how do you know which colours are the best choices for furniture for your home?

Designers always mention concepts like warm and cool shades when it comes to colour choices. But what does this really mean? Here are some furniture design basics so that you can understand warm and cool shades and how they work in your home.

Warm Colours

Warm colours generally refer to bright colours such as red, orange, yellow, and combinations of these colours. As the term ‘warm’ alludes to temperature these colours make you think of sunlight and heat. Warm colours tend to blend well together, which is why they are often used to make a space feel cosier.

Cool Colours

On the other hand, cool colours refer to the colours that remind you of water or the sky, which are transient elements of the environment that are more likely to change in temperature. Unlike warm colours, cool colours can work to make a space seem larger.

Balance and Contrast

As you design your space keep in mind that balance and contrast is important. You'll need a variety of colours to make your room look complete, not just one. While you can use warm and cool colours for the dominant colours in your space, adding neutral colours such as grey, black and white can make your space seem more balanced.

In addition, you don't only have to stick to the most saturated hues. A hue is simply another word for colour while saturated refers to how rich or washed out the particular hue is. You can also opt for pastels to create a more neutral or muted effect for your space.

To complete this sort of look, make sure that you also incorporate a variety of natural materials that show their natural colours to add depth and interest to your space. With many colour variations co-existing in the same space, your room will end up looking like the work of an experienced interior designer.

Your Mood

Though scientists don't completely understand the link between colour and mood, it has already been scientifically proven that colour does in fact have an effect on mood. If you think about the colours that you like best, as well as, the mood that you are trying to create for your space, it is a good idea to incorporate a bit of colour psychology as you design your space.

For example, red is often considered as an aggressive colour, while pink has been proven to reduce aggressive behaviour. Yellow is generally considered to be a positive colour, while cool colours, such as blue and green are considered to be calming.

For neutral tones, such as white, black, and grey, these generally have subtle undertones of colour when they are mixed with warm and cool colours. Make sure that you choose the shades that work best with the dominant colours in your space.

Get Design Help From Black Mango

As you can see, selecting furniture for your interiors isn’t always as easy as it looks! If you need furniture design ideas, our staff is available to help. Just contact us at info@blackmango.com.auvia email or call 03 9005 6000 with your questions and we’ll be happy to assist you. We look forward to hearing from you!