Color Schemes Made Easy

by Better Homes and Gardens and Shelley Stewart

Book Overview

Encompassing more than sixty-five color palettes and more than 160 photographs, this innovative guide to using color as an integral design element in one's decorating schemes explains the fundamentals... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0696221268
• ISBN13: 9780696221262
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Better Homes and Gardens Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.2" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

A good reference book

Learning from experience takes too long. It is better to read this book so that designing with the right combination of colours is more cost effective and less hassle.

Unique and helpful

Excellent book to provide inspiration and ideas for selecting and mixing color schemes. Information is divided by color families. Each room has a sample color palette. In addition there is a complete section at the back of all the color palettes used so you can bring them with you when you select your paint. I refer to this book often.

Does What It Says - Great Book

This is one of the best books for helping you determine color schemes. I knew I had a winner when there was a 2-page spread called "One Room - Three Looks." The three photos show the same exact room with the only difference being the wall color. The differences were interesting, but all the rooms looked great. Color Schemes explained the effect the various color walls have on the overall look and feel of the room, thereby helping you make good decisions about selecting a color. (page 22) The chapters are divided by color and each chapter has various shades of that color. This book totally makes up for the other BH & G book, Express Yourself with Color which now seems mediocre in comparison. This book shows each of the color schemes used in the room, using nice size paint swatches. The color swatches are large enough in size that it would be easy to find a comparable color. Near the back of the book (pg 150-159), there are full page Q & A's that include photographs that address the question. The last few pages are the entire color schemes used in the book, again divided by color. I found just the right color for a room I am redecorating. The walls are yellow and the rest of the decor is black and white. I knew I wanted one more accent color, but I was having a really hard time deciding. I found the perfect color combination by using this book. This is THE book to have if you are looking for ways to incorporate color in your decorating scheme.

My builders designer even liked it!

This book really helped me out. I was involved in building a custom home. My builder had a designer on staff for a huge fee, but I said no thanks, I'd rather spend that money on my house. I mean how hard could it be? Then I actually started looking at color charts and was I overwhelmed. While looking for inspiration in my Home Depot, I found this book. First of all it has a quiz to take that by my answers, told me what colors I would be the most happy living with. This was important to me, as I had briefly talked to a designer and wasn't happy with the direction she wanted to go. I wanted my house to feel warm & welcoming. She was talking neutral colors. It also has tons of bright pictures of beautiful room settings, all with the color palettes displayed to show what colors were used in the pictures. Then if you're still having problems (like me) all the color palettes are grouped together in the back with the corresponding page numbers of where a picture can be found using that color scheme. Once you make your selection, you do have to take your color samples to the paint store to match up your hues. My builders designer was awed by my color choices and wanted to know who "did" my house. I told her all and she laughed about the quiz, but hey it worked. My house was also in the parade of homes and everyone kept asking for my paint colors. I couldn't have done it by myself without this book. Simple, easy and timesaving!

Great reference

We are remodeling our whole house and determining color schemes is really overwhelming. This book is a great alternative to hiring a real decorator. It's helped me limit the color palette I'm using to a few main colors, then add a few for particular rooms. It does a great job of giving ideas for how to get the color in the room using paint, furniture, etc.