Dollhouse color choices

[sharon]

I would just like to know how everyone selects interior color choices on their dollhouses? Do you pick wall paper, paint, floors, carpeting all at once to see if it looks good together or just have color choices picked out and decorate room by room. I viewed Hyacinth's Periwinkle Tea House by MiniMadWoman( Teresa) and found the house to be really pleasing when viewed as a whole. The colors seemed to follow through the house, inside and out. I want the colors of my house to look good together when viewed as a whole but have as yet not narrowed down any definite colors.

[Minis On The Edge]

This is one reason why I hate to use wallpaper on the insides of the houses. I can not pick the right stuff unless my customer gives me detailed ideas FIRST!!

Coordinating the colors of things inside and out are not my cup of tea so any tips would help me too. I am So in love with so many houses here on the forum, C'mon and give us some pointers and tell us some of your secrets...Please

[Peggi]

With my dance studio, it was easy, I wanted a professional but pleasing reception area. The studio is mostly mirrors.

The cabin has been easy, cause its keeping its rustic charm.

The Lily was a challenge, I knew I wouldn't be keeping it in period. Wanted more of a combination,(like my real house) of comfortable mixed with good sort of antiqued feeling.

So it boils down to "I'm not help"

[hydroped]

Wish I could give some pointers but I'm at a loss here too. That's one of the reasons I hate painting so much - I actually have to pick a color.. and believe me I am not good with colors. When .. If I ever finish my haunted Arthur you'll all see why.. so far I'm going with purple orange and green... yea they're good Halloween colors.. but probably not the best choices for wall paint! And Orange and purple really don't look good in the same room.. I tried it already I have no clue what I'm doing! Help! How do you decide what colors/patterns to go with???? I mean know there are complimentary colors -Purple and Yellow are complimentary colors.. but I'm not really sure they look good next to each other in a dollhouse.. or a full sized house either... unless maybe they were pastels <?> So if "complimentary colors" don't really go together.. how do you know what to pick?

-David

[Lisa_F]

For me (and my experience is rather limited) my interior color selections for walls, floors & trims is based on what the furnishings of the room are going to be. I select the furnishings I am going to use and then build the wall & floor theme around those. So far so good Even if I don't physically have the furnishings yet for a particular room - going by pictures online or in catalogs helps me build the rooms around it.

Before I stumbled onto this way of doing it I was buying all sorts of wall paper just because I liked the patterns or colors - then I'd set it temporarily in one of the dollhouse rooms and would see that the pattern or color really didn't go well with the furnishings at all. Was a great way to get a huge selection of papers but very frustrating & costly. Now I always pick furnishings first.

Do you pick wall paper, paint, floors, carpeting all at once to see if it looks good together or just have color choices picked out and decorate room by room.

I basically decorate room by room. Once the house has a theme - I figure out which room is most important to me - and figure the colors/furnishings out for that room. Once I have that figured out - I use complimentary colors for the rest of the rooms (i.e. warm earth tones is the theme, or pastels, or rich dark colors, etc)

So far it's working out really well.

[nuttiwebgal]

I also like to keep the house flowing inside and out in a color or a theme....but for the younger set I get alittle wild.

if I am decorating for a girl I tend to choose pinks and purples unless I know she likes a certain color. I also like to use glitter. for the little girls.

personally I let the house pick its own colors and I try to find complimentry ones to go with. and if the house aint happy...you will know!

pick colors that make you happy.

nutti

[Deb]

Oh, I love to decorate! It's one of the best things about minis. Before I start building a house, I look at pictures of it and decide what theme/period it's going to be and if there will be any bashing going on. I usually decide on the color scheme when I pick the theme or period. Then I'll start looking at wallpaper and copying jpegs of the ones I like into a word document. I print it and cut out the "swatches" and make swatches (or use paint chips) of the paints and stains I want to use. I'll rearrange the swatches in the order of the rooms in the house so I can see them in sequence and make sure nothing clashes or looks out of balance. (ie: too many busy prints on one side of the house..........too much color in one place, etc)

When I start building, I put the house in dry fit and "audition" the wallpaper, paint and stain to make sure it's all correct before I start building. I also take digital pictures during that stage so I can keep the visual in my mind while the house is being built. If I'm going to do a lot of bashing on a house, I sketch a design of how it will look when it's done.

I do the same thing when I plan furnishings. I'll copy jpegs of the pieces I want to use and group them into a word document so I can make sure they all look right together.

<giggling> That's probably way more information than you wanted to know, but I'm a virgo. I have to plan everything twelve times in advance.

Deb

[prariegurl]

I usually start with something I love--a wallpaper that I have fallen in love with, a special piece of furniture, or the exterior of a home that I have seen (there are quite a few Victorians here in town, so lots of good paint ideas).

Sometimes I draw inspiration from real life. My latest inspiration came from the NRA national headquarters of all things! They had an exhibit about guns used in Hollywood Movies, so I went to the their museum to see that. But my inspiration came from one of the NRA's permanent exhibits, where they showed a vignette of a boy's cowboy themed bedroom. I thought how cute to do that in miniature, but the idea went nowhere for awhile. Then I discovered www.kawarthalakesminis.com printies site, which has two cowboy wallpapers available to print for free, which gave me the colors. Then I discovered this site and the Westville, which is now on my wish list, and the ideas for the rest of the house began flowing from there. So while the colors didn't come from NRA, the seed started from there!

Jeri

[sharon]

Oh, I love to decorate! It's one of the best things about minis. Before I start building a house, I look at pictures of it and decide what theme/period it's going to be and if there will be any bashing going on. I usually decide on the color scheme when I pick the theme or period. Then I'll start looking at wallpaper and copying jpegs of the ones I like into a word document. I print it and cut out the "swatches" and make swatches (or use paint chips) of the paints and stains I want to use. I'll rearrange the swatches in the order of the rooms in the house so I can see them in sequence and make sure nothing clashes or looks out of balance. (ie: too many busy prints on one side of the house..........too much color in one place, etc)

Deb

I like the idea to make swatches to coordinate since it would be less costly than buying paper and then finding that the house has too many busy prints. Thanks for the ideas! I am now going to search for colors I enjoy and start printing them into a document. It's a good place to start! I also have some furniture I made or purchased for the house. So I will start my color choices to go with those pieces and try to build on those.

[KathieB]

Wish I could give some pointers but I'm at a loss here too. That's one of the reasons I hate painting so much - I actually have to pick a color.. and believe me I am not good with colors. When .. If I ever finish my haunted Arthur you'll all see why.. so far I'm going with purple orange and green... yea they're good Halloween colors.. but probably not the best choices for wall paint! And Orange and purple really don't look good in the same room.. I tried it already I have no clue what I'm doing! Help! How do you decide what colors/patterns to go with???? I mean know there are complimentary colors -Purple and Yellow are complimentary colors.. but I'm not really sure they look good next to each other in a dollhouse.. or a full sized house either... unless maybe they were pastels <?> So if "complimentary colors" don't really go together.. how do you know what to pick?

-David

David, complimentary ("Oh, isn't that lovely") and complementary (colors on the opposite sides of the color wheel) are two different birds. They sound alike, but complementary colors really aren't complimentary.

Yellow and purple are complementary; they are found on opposite sides of the color wheel. If you mix them together, you get a muddy, dark gray to black shade. When you use them together in a room in the same intensity, your eyes do the mixing, and they don't look very attractive. The same goes for red/green and blue/orange combinations. But ... if you use them with neutrals/whites or in different values (lightness or darkness), they can be striking.

Orange and purple are both secondary colors (a mix of two primary colors: red/yellow and red/blue). If you use them both at the same intensity, they can be pretty powerful. But if you lighten one, it could be stunning, like a pale yellow wall color and medium and dark purple accents.

There is a good website on Color Theory. It may be worth your while to give it a look for some basic ideas on how colors work together.

This website explains how colors react when they are next to one another and touches on the emotional "vibes" that colors emit.

While we don't usually stick to the color theory precisely when decorating minis or our own homes, this website may give you some direction, or at least a place to begin color planning.

Good luck with it!

Edit: Check out the paint samples at Lowe's or other paint places. Many have put together "families" of colors that go well together. The colors in my own house are all from Olympic Paints "Shades borrowed from nature" series. Each room is different, but they flow together very well.

[hydroped]

...When I start building, I put the house in dry fit and "audition" the wallpaper, paint and stain to make sure it's all correct before I start building. I also take digital pictures during that stage so I can keep the visual in my mind while the house is being built. If I'm going to do a lot of bashing on a house, I sketch a design of how it will look when it's done.

I do the same thing when I plan furnishings. I'll copy jpegs of the pieces I want to use and group them into a word document so I can make sure they all look right together.

<giggling> That's probably way more information than you wanted to know, but I'm a virgo. I have to plan everything twelve times in advance.

Deb

Deb - definitely NOT too much information - It's perfect! I saw a pic of your wizards house sometime back where you were showing where everything would go but the house wasn't finished - I saved that for inspriation! In fact it's already saved me some problems in my caslte having an idea where the furniture will and won't fit before I start assembly I never thought of auditioning the papers and paint colors. I think from now on that's exactly what I'll be doing - you're a lifesaver! Remember David (banging my head against the wall to pound it in)- swatches - Swatches are goooood :yes:

...There is a good website on Color Theory. It may be worth your while to give it a look for some basic ideas on how colors work together.

This website explains how colors react when they are next to one another and touches on the emotional "vibes" that colors emit. ...

Thanks Katie!! I tell ya it's not easy being a color challenged person. Getting an idea about the emotional vibes of colors and info on how colors work together should definitely help! I never thought of them in that way or that complimentary colors aren't actually complimentary Thanks! Now wasn't I just looking at things backwards! - but between you and me sometimes I'm not the brightest bulb in the bunch.. shhhh don't tell anyone

Thanks again!!

-David

[Adallae]

Behr.com has a fun interactive paint selector called ColorSmart. When it opens, if you select Browse Colors option, and then choose a central color for your house, it will give you an option to Coordinate Colors. The program will take the color you selected and show you a variety of complementary color palattes. You can print it, so you can take it with you to the craft or miniatures store to find similar acrylics, matching wallpaper, etc.

[Missymew]

Decorating, wallpapering, painitng, trims, fabrics, upholstery, window coverings .... are what I love to deal with.

I always know when I start a house what colours I want it to be. Then when I see the first wallpaper or fabric sample that I love within the colour scheme, I work the rest of the house around that sample piece.

When I've decided on a colour and a fabric, I never waver. But that's just me. I choose my accessories and trims to compliment the colours and patterns (wallpaper/fabrics) that I started with.

-Susanne

[TinyJudi]

I certainly don't have the experience many of you have with dollhouses, but I thought I would throw my two cents in.

With my house, I chose a theme to start, and colors from there. I work in fashion, so coordinating colors isn't a problem for me, fortunately. I research the theme and take that information and apply it to the house.

[hydroped]

Angela,

Thanks for posting the link to Colorsmart by Behr - pretty cool! I've been playing with it a bit and I think it will come in really handy!

Thanks again

-David

[Annette]

For my garfield I got the furniture first and then decorated the rooms around that. Somehow each room had a softer color wallpaper which really makes the furniture stand out. I didn't plan it that way but I really like the look.

The way I'm picking colors for the harrison is by fabric. If I see a fabric I like in the oops bin at Walmart I get it and go from there. I'm not sure how it's going to work but if you don't try you won't know .

I don't really know if this helps but it might .

[heidiiiii]

A lot of you remember my saga with color choices for the MHM. I draw from inspiration sometimes but usually I let the house decide for me.

I look at the naked rooms and decide what they are going to be. Livingroom, bedroom, library..etc Then I just decide. Like the MHM library. It was going to be a gentlemans office. I wanted it to be dark. I stumbled on a green wallpaper with forest scene on it. It was perfect. I try to balance out the light with the dark. I dont want it to be too dark or too light in the whole interior. I might find a fabric scrap that would look great as curtains..then I will work the room around that color scheme. Just like you would do for your own real life house.

The exterior colors... The Hud house is the same color as my own house so that was ez. The MHM was starting out as a replica of this house I love in my city. I just added the yellow and gold to make it sing (just like Nutti said!), the Orchid started out good and then it was a disaster. (black and white with stones), So I papered the outside of the house like paper mache and went with the brown, white and turquoise. It just hits me. Nothing scientific there!

[havanaholly]

Purple and Yellow are complimentary colors.. but I'm not really sure they look good next to each other in a dollhouse

I used purple & yellow on my Arthur, as well as my Haunted House. I "hear" colors, literally, and I work with what "sings" to me. I used green & blue together in the Westville livingroom.