The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

How To Remodel Basements And Attics

Painting

FOR THE COST of a few gallons of paint you can change the size of rooms, raise or lower ceilings, subdue objectionable furniture and, in general, give your home a pleasing and inviting appearance. It is all done with the correct use of color and can be carried on along with other remodeling work.

A long, narrow room, for instance, that gives a feeling of being in a hallway, can be "widened" by painting the ends a darker shade of the color on the side walls. The darker shades "pull" the end walls in.

High ceilings in narrow rooms that tend to make the room seem even narrower and give large rooms a barn like appearance can be lowered by painting ceilings a dark color that contrasts with wall color.

Color selection

While specific colors are unimportant in color-sizing of rooms, the color scheme usually being determined by unchangeable factors such as rugs or furniture, specific colors are important in the warmth or coolness of a room. Selection is made on the basis of sunlight exposure of rooms, cool colors, greens, blues, yellows, etc., for maximum sunlight and warm colors, reds, browns, etc., for minimum exposure. Intermediate color hues are used in rooms exposed to sunlight only part of the time. With warm colors in bright hues you can lighten dark rooms, or with cool colors add an illusion of refreshing coolness to rooms that might be hot during summer months. In rooms where west light conflicts with east light use neutral tones, or warm and cool colors reduced in intensity.

A color wheel will show you how it is possible to create a color plan for the home by intermixing the primaries of yellow, red and blue and building up almost any hue desired. A secondary color is made by mixing two primary colors. As an example, red and yellow primaries give an orange secondary color. Red and blue result in a violet secondary and blue and yellow mix into an attractive green. There are three general types of color schemes, the monochromatic consisting of shades of one color; the related harmony, or analogous scheme, is worked out with adjacent colors, while contrasting schemes are developed from color hues that appear opposite each other on the wheel.

Certain colors are suitable for use as dominant hues in rooms of varying exposure. As an example, yellow is generally selected as the dominant color in a room having an east or north exposure. The largest areas of the room—usually the walls and floor coverings—normally carry the dominating color scheme but it often is desirable to relieve this by combining two or more harmonizing colors to supplement the general plan.