White walls may seem the simplest choice for anyone not used to dealing with colors, but there are many shades and tints of white, and, moreover, white is a color very easily influenced by what is around it. Off-white paints are more common than pure white, and they can introduce either a touch of warmth or coolness.
Which direction you choose to move in will depend on:
- the result you’re trying to achieve,
- the light conditions in the room you are painting,
- and the atmosphere you are trying to create.
- There is also the question of which colors you want to combine with the particular white you have chosen.
Now, a good tip for novices who want to proceed cautiously when it comes to colors: since white, gray, and black are not included in the color wheel, any color added to a white or gray base will be experienced as a strong contrast. So, as a start, the simplest thing to do is to add green plants and plain wood in order to soften the colorless effect and open it up to other colors and shades.
Then, as a shortcut, paint the walls of the room in a slightly off-white color so that the other colors automatically blend more easily.
The most common mistake people make when creating their own color schemes is to be too doubtful and consequently use too few colors in too few parts of the room.
You might, for instance, have a white sofa and a gray floor and think that putting two blue cushions on the sofa and a couple of blue candles on the coffee table will be sufficient enough to introduce more color, but the effect is likely to be very two-dimensional and overly neat.
The key is to make the color scheme harmonious without anything feeling overmatched. A complete color scheme might therefore consist of between three and seven colors or shades in the proportions of the 60/30/10 + S formula.