Colour in Decoration

Interior Colours

Colour in Interior Design

The colours can provoke feelings in people. Warm colours are active, exciting and sometimes irritating. Cool colours are passive, soothing and intimate. The physiological effect that each colour produces in people can be summarized in the following list:

• Red: active effect
• Green: passive effect, it calms the nerves
• Orange: warm effect
• Blue: cold effect
• Yellow: light effect
• Violets: dulling effect (the feeling of heaviness or lightness depends on the proportion of basic red, in addition to the relative obscurity)
• Yellow-green: intimate effect
• Purple: proud effect

The Location of the Colours

The effect produced by the colours can be intensified or attenuated because of its location and the lighting.

• Warm-light colours produce a feeling of excitement when applied to the pavement, seclusion when applied to the walls and lightness when applied to the ceiling
• Warm-dark colours produce a feeling of dignity when applied to the pavement, closure when applied to walls and security when applied to the ceiling
• Cold-light colours produce a feeling of luminosity when applied to the pavement, remoteness when applied to walls and dynamism when applied to the ceiling
• Cold-dark colours produce a feeling of menace when applied to the pavement, of sadness when applied to walls and heaviness when applied to the ceiling

The Power of the Colours

Orange is the strongest colour, and it’s followed by yellow, red, green and purple. In contrast, the weakest colours are blue, teal and violet (cold and passive colours). Stronger colours should be applied only on small areas, while the weakest ones are more suitable for large surfaces.

The Weight of the Colours

Dark colours are heavy; the higher rooms seem lower when the ceiling is accented with a dark colour. In contrast, light colours can rise; the lower rooms appear higher when the walls are darker than the ceiling. A long corridor can be seen shortened if the end-wall is highlighted with a darker colour.

Decorating in White

White is the colour of purity, cleanliness and order. While designing the colour composition of a space, white colour may play a key role in separating and neutralizing other colour groups.

Designing Artificial Lighting

Artificial Lighting in Home

Designing the Lighting Installation

The Living Room

Within a living room users don’t need the same light intensity throughout the whole room, so normally it won’t be adequate to light the entire space by a single central light in the ceiling. It makes more sense to design task lighting where needed and to subdivide the space in different lighting areas. The standing lamps are particularly practical in that sense.

The Dining Room

In the dining room, the light should illuminate the entire table, but not the face of the diners, in order to avoid glare. To achieve this, it is better to place the light source almost eye level, so that diners can look below the lamp with their faces out of the light beam.

The Bedrooms

In the bedrooms it is necessary to supplement the overhead lighting with reading lamps beside the beds.

The Office

If the house has an office, artificial lighting on the desk should be designed with the same caution as in the dining table, the lamp should light evenly across the work surface without producing glare on the user. Variable height lamps can be very practical.

The Kitchen

In the kitchen, it is imperative that the work surface is well lit, because poor lighting can cause fatigue. Luminaires installed under cabinets project the light directly on the worktop with no shadows.

The Bathrooms

Bathrooms and toilets are the only places in the house in which the lamps can (and should) directly illuminate the face. However, precautions should be taken in order to avoid glare.

Decorating the Bathroom. Basic Concepts.

Bathrooms, Storage Rooms and Closets

Design Criteria

How to Decorate a Bathroom

The design of the bathroom must be adapted to the family members. If possible, it must be designed comfortable and cosy. Normally, a good placement of the toilets gets more space in the middle and then the bathroom seems larger. The segregation of the toilet can prevent blockages in the morning, and odours for the next user.

The showers are mainly used for cleaning the body, while the baths can also be used for resting and recovery purposes. For young users, it’s often preferable to install a shower rather than bath. For seniors, however, it’s preferable the bathtub or at least the hip bath (bath usually shorter, with a seat on one side).

A proper design of bathrooms and toilets should provide lockers for towels and cleaning products, and the location of the water heater and a first-aid kit. A good interior designer should not neglect the design of the mirror and the lighting, and should take care of the situation of the holders for the towels, the toilet paper, the cup for toothbrushes and the soap.

When designing the bathroom, keep in mind that this is an especially moist room and, therefore, it is always better building surfaces that are easy to clean. The ceiling material must be able to absorb and release enough water vapour. The flooring should be slip resistant. In small bathrooms is better to choose light colours, while in the larger ones we may apply darker tones.

Storage Rooms and Closets

The storage rooms are used to store cleaning supplies, tools, ironing utensils, etc. Every home should have at least a 1 sq. m storage room. In large houses, at least a 2 per cent of the built area should be dedicated to storage rooms. A good interior designer should be able to take advantage of the space under stairs and sloping roofs and place in them storerooms, cupboards and drawers. Regardless of design, the cabinets should be well ventilated, either through cracks, vents or doors with slats.

Decorating Kitchens and Laundries. Interior Design Criteria.

Kitchen Interior Design

How to Design the Kitchen, the Pantry and the Laundry

The kitchen is a workplace within the housing, but for the housewife or househusband it’s also a place where to stay for many hours. If the kitchen counts with a place for eating, it usually ends up as a meeting place for the family.

How to Design a Kitchen

While designing a kitchen is necessary to take into account the size of the family, whether the components are right or left-handed, the height of the housewife or househusband and the suitable working height. You should always match the height of work surfaces up to users to take care of their posture; this is achieved by regulating the height of the baseboards.

The kitchen design should try to save efforts and get a fluid workspace with sufficient freedom of movement. To optimize the work carried out in a kitchen it’s essential that each job is rationally designed. To ensure that the work can be done in the shortest possible time, cabinets, work surfaces and equipment should be located in the proper sequence.

When designing the lighting in the kitchen, it is important to avoid shadows on the working plane.

The Small Kitchen Design

Actually, the usable working area is more important than the size of the kitchen, but the fact is that, very often, the kitchens are too small. None of them should be less than 8 sq. m. If the width of the kitchen is less than 2.40 m, it may be preferable to arrange the furniture in just one side or adopting L-shape.

The smaller the kitchen, the more careful the design. In smaller kitchens it’s important to select clear finishing for both the ground and the walls.

The Kitchen Pantry

Kitchen pantries should be cool, must count with easy ventilation and should have sun protection. Of course, they should have shelves, preferably up until they reach the ceiling.

The Laundry Room

The laundry room is used for washing, as a storage room for cleaning utensils, for ironing and, sometimes, for sewing. The laundry room must be designed with special attention for the comfort of work.

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