Some design rules are meant to be broken. And then there's color. While the vast array of palettes and fabric colorways allow some room for interpretation, too many options means even the pros among us are bound to take an occasional wrong turn around the color wheel.Tobi chatted with the Huffington Post about the most common mistakes we make when choosing paint color for our homes... and the best ways to avoid them. Mistake #1: Picking Your Paint Color First "It's one of the last things I pick, because I wait to see what all of the fabrics and other elements in the space are. If you pick the paint color first, you can really pin yourself in a corner as far as finding the right things to match." Correct It: Get the room planned and then select the paint to support all of the other things going on in your space. You can take your color cues from fabrics, whether it's accent pillows or an occasional chair that has a pattern or print to it. That's usually my jumping off point for selecting a color for a space.

Mistake #2: Picking A Color That's Too Bright Or Saturated "A bright cobalt blue, which is really trendy right now, can look great as a ceramic lamp, because it has a sheen to it, or as a silk pillow, because it has depth or interest, but when you put that same really bright color on the wall, it's a whole lot stronger. home decor ideas living room indiaLighter, muddy colors (meaning they have more gray or black mixed in with them) work better than a really bright strong hue."easy decorating ideas wedding cakes Correct It: If the walls are going to scream a bright color, you want to wrap the rest of your furnishings in neutral tones or even white. diy wedding decor tips

Decide what your focal point is. If it's the wall color, then let everything else support it, not fight with it. Mistake #3: Not Considering The Home As A Whole "Even if it's a small apartment, transitioning color from one room to the next can be tricky and it doesn't flow well if you've got bright orange in one room and bright pink in another." Correct It: Use other things to bring the spaces together. Mistake #4: Losing Sight Of Your Emotional Goal "I hear people say things like, 'My favorite color is red, I'm going to put that in my bedroom,' but what they really ultimately wanted was a space that was relaxing and calm, so there's a disconnect between picking colors and what the space is intended for." Correct It: If you want a room that's really serene, you might want to look at cool colors on the color wheel, like blue and green; if you're looking for something energetic and exciting, warmer colors like yellows and oranges. Mistake #5: Ignoring Trends

"Even though I'm known for using really bright colors, we are trending back to softer colors, more muted tones and a lot of black with metallic accents. A lot of the hot orange, painted lacquer furniture -- all of the things that I've really enjoyed using over the last several years -- have become overexposed. Correct It: When you see it everywhere, which is where we've been seeing tons of bright colors of the last several years, it's time to think of something different that's maybe a little fresher or softer or moodier. Look to colors like lavender and black... metal and brass... things that work well and support a rich, sophisticated, even a little bit more masculine look.Check out HuffPost Home on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram. Do you have a home story idea or tip? (PR pitches sent to this address will be ignored.) Paint Colors Color Mistakes Decorating Donts Color Decorating With Color /home/How-Pick-Paint-Colors-41885571 on this server.

Your technical support key is: 36fe-50df-1756-6707 Decorating Dilemmas is a weekly column in which our stylists answer your design questions, so you can tackle your home decorating project with complete confidence. Natalie has worked with us here at Ballard Designs for years, so when we caught a glimpse of her chic, layered family home, we knew we had to share. We posted her whole home tour here on How to Decorate yesterday, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get even more decorating goodness out of her to share on the podcast! We talk about decorating with kids, styling, layering, and so much more! Some people are just born with great style, and as soon as you meet stylist Natalie Nassar, you’ll immediately see that’s she one of those people. We’ve had the pleasure of working with Natalie for years. First as an in-house stylist and now as a freelance stylist, Natalie makes sure every detail of our seasonal rooms are perfect. So we weren’t surprised to find that she designed the Atlanta home she shares with her husband and daughter Noura with the same care.

Every room needs a focal point — it’s a basic design principle. Your eye needs somewhere to land, and a focal point draws you into a room. But if you’ve got a big empty canvas, how to you create one in your space? We’ve got some ideas. Alright, we’re about to get a little sentimental here. 2016 flew by in the blink of an eye, and we want to look back and share some of our favorite memories. From show houses to publication covers to store openings, Ballard Designs had another great year!His meteoric rise, thanks in large part to his fearless way with color, has made Patrick Mele a designer to watch. “I’m not afraid of color. I like bold statements with color. I like rich hues,” he proclaims. “I don’t tend to work a lot with muted or tertiary colors. I like crisp white, crisp black; I like crisp vibrant color as an overall statement.” So how does he do it? We scored a sneak peek at one of his latest design projects and asked him to decode his color choices, room by room, and the lessons started flowing in.

Prepare to look at color in a whole new way. Think in Color Families At first glance the home’s entryway looks like a riot of color, but after talking to Mele you realize he was actually working with a tight palette. “I wanted a lot of white, first of all, and then a mix of blue and orange,” he reveals. Working with various hues within each of these two complementary color families. His blues included “cobalt, turquoise, delft, navy. Within the orange family, corals, tangerines, grapefruits. Really rich hues, not muted.” Blue & White Always Works For Mele, using a combo of blue and white is like “wearing a white shirt with blue jeans, or a navy-blue blazer and a white shirt. It never goes out of style.” The classic color combination in interiors can be similarly dressed up or down. In the living room, Mele used a decidedly denimlike shade of blue grasscloth on the walls to add color and texture, which helps the silhouettes of the white accessories and the wingback chairs really pop.

The overall effect is polished yet casual. “I think blue and white is the equivalent of black and white; it’s just not as fierce,” says the designer. “It’s more welcoming to most people.” Pick a Palette, and Repeat Working within a streamlined color palette not only helps the rooms themselves feel cohesive, but it also helps with the transitions between rooms. “When you’re in the middle of the foyer and you’re able to see all the other rooms throughout, you have the same family of colors repeated but in different ways in each space,” says Mele. Case in point: The walls of the breakfast room are coated with a similar blue to the family room, but this time with paint, and as in the entryway, a pop of orange upholstery has a striking yet grounding effect. A genius way to get even more mileage out of a small group of colors is to do a flip-flop of sorts, pushing what was previously used as an accent color to the foreground. This is precisely what Mele did in this music room by using statement orange curtains and tangerine lamps while letting the blue and white recede to a single armchair.

“It ties in blue to fit in with the rest of the house,” says Mele of his design. Use White to Freshen Things Up Mele is a huge proponent of painting things white, especially furniture. “I think white modernizes and freshens,” he says. “People are afraid of their old grandmother’s found furniture, but their forms are so fabulous and remain timeless. White just gives furniture a contemporary personality, I think. A fresh youthful spirit.” To strike the right color balance in the home’s formal dining room, Mele had the dining chairs bleached white from the original brown. Strike a Color-and-Pattern Compromise When dialing up the pattern, it’s sometimes best to dial down the color to achieve a calmer, less chaotic effect. When designing the home’s master bedroom, Mele started with a bold, Matisse-esque pattern and made his color choices, or lack thereof, from there. “I just wanted to use that pattern everywhere and not break it up with different colors or patterns,” he says.

To that end he refrained from introducing any of the vibrant colors he used on the home’s ground floor. “I wanted it to feel a little calmer, quieter, even though it’s not a calm, quiet fabric.” More Mele Color Tips! What’s a great way to bring in brighter hues without it feeling overwhelming? “If you aren’t comfortable using strong hues in a big way start small, with key accessories like textiles—pillows, throws, area rugs—that can be switched out as your mood changes.” What are a few of your favorite decorating tricks for adding instant color to a room? “Fresh flowers, books, lampshades.” What are common color decorating mistakes you see? “Dreary, gray, dilluted versions of true color, I think, are overused. Too many institutional creams. Creams can at times be lovely, but more often than not they are sad and feel dirty and dated. Instead of cream, opt for true, crisp white. Instead of sand, try cocoa.” Any specific rooms that are great for experimenting with color?