What Year Is Your Room Stuck In?

It’s not you, it’s your room.

Is your room’s dated decor stuck decades in the past? You’re not alone. The truth is, many rooms in many Canadian homes are stuck and haven’t been refreshed in years. 

Just like an old pair of jeans, it’s easy for a room to get comfortable with its decor. Take a step back, really examine your space and ask: What year is this room stuck in? If the answer dates back at least a decade, it’s probably time for a change.

It’s Time to Get Your Room Un-stuck

Fitness fads and dated hairstyles moved on long ago. Now it’s time for your room to embrace change too. And we’re here to help you get your room unstuck.

Adding colour with paint is one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to update a space. These colour-picking tips will help you coax your room out of the past and into an on-trend colourful future.

Pick a launching point.

Identify the elements in your room that are staying – the furniture, flooring, fabric, rug, artwork – as a place to start your scheme, selecting paint colours from the tones in these pieces.

Try the new neutrals.

While neutral paint colours are ‘safe’ choices when updating a space, sometimes a more saturated colour will do your room more good. Whites, beiges or greys that are infused with a small amount of colour are the new neutrals – select one for your room that works with your furniture or a favourite accessory. Add some extra punch to the space with an accent wall painted a deeper version of the neutral or a more vibrant, coordinating colour.

Confidently use more than one colour.

Using two or even three different colours can turn a room from dated to delightful. Select a base colour to use in about two-thirds of the room and introduce other colours in smaller quantities.

A monochromatic colour scheme (one main colour supported by others from the same colour family) will help your room feel relaxed yet elegant. Combine colours located beside each other on the colour wheel for a harmonious setting or complementary colours found directly across from one another on the wheel to dial up the drama.

Identify your room’s function.

Whether you’re sleeping, eating or relaxing in the room you’re updating, choose the paint colour accordingly. Yellow, red and orange, as well as soft grey, violet, blue and green, stimulate appetite and conversation. Bright red energizes while cooler blues have a calming, serene effect. Golden yellows and warm apricots flatter any skin tone.

Choose colour in context.

Once you’ve narrowed down your colour choices, take a look a the paint chips against the other elements in the room like the furniture, flooring and fabrics, making sure to test the colours in direct, indirect and artificial light at all times of day.

Trend Colour Inspiration

Our 2015 colour trends collection – ranging from majestic, dazzlingly rich pigments to coloured darks and faded mid-tones – is sure to inspire any room stuck in the past to embrace 21st century style.

Click on any of these 2015 trend colour chips to use our Colour visualizer and to see how these colours will look in your home, even before lifting a paint brush.