Transforming your home or business space through color can be an affordable solution to any decorating project. By selecting and thoughtfully using various colors through paint, fabrics, textures and artwork, you add light, drama, balance and a modernized feel to any space. The following are some handy tips to incorporate color into your interior design projects.

Layer Your Colors

If you’re looking to make your work or home environment more dynamic and visually interesting, try adding a layer of colors to your room space. Begin by painting one wall a darker color and use a shade or two lighter for the other walls within the room. Hues within the same color scheme usually look best and for a less dramatic effect use only two shades on the room.

Bring Color in Through Fabrics and Materials

Another inexpensive way to change the look of any room in your home or business is to change the upholstery on your furniture. Paint the colors of your walls one solid color and bring in matching patterns and materials through fabrics and prints for your sofas, chairs and love seats. You can also pull any room together with accent pieces such as artwork, matching throw pills, vases and decorative rugs.

Modifying window treatments and curtains is another affordable way to add more color to your work or living space. If you’re looking to create an intimate environment, keep the window treatments and walls similar in color. However, if you’re looking to create something a little more dramatic, you can select patterns and rich tones that accent your wall colors. Bed sheets, lace and bolts of fabric make affordable window coverings.

Pull Color from Artwork

If you have a particular piece of artwork that you love hanging in your home or office space, you can decorate to pull specific colors from the piece. Concentrate on a certain accent color or  repaint the wall that the piece hangs on to bring out it’s brilliance. You can also easily change the matting or frames of your art to create a totally new affect in your room.

Room Colors and the Effect on Your Mood

Colors typically affect a person in one of three ways, neutral, energetic, or calming. Reddish hues can bring energy and excitement to a room. Try hanging a red print, curtains, or other accent to stimulate conversation and get the heart pumping more than any other color. Yellow is a cheerful color that can instill happiness and warmth in a room. Kitchens and bathrooms in the home and office that are popular choices for a yellow color theme. However, studies have shown that young infants tend to cry more in nurseries painted in yellowish tints. If you’re looking to create calm and relaxation in any of the rooms in your home, blue and green have been shown to bring down blood pressure and promote comfort. Neutral colors create more of neutral mood and may have less affect on energy or comfort level.

If you’re looking for ways to change the mood of your work or home environment, incorporating color through paint, fabric and textures are affordable options. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to bring about drama or relaxation through just a few simple touches.

Author and Free-lance artist Molly Pearce also enjoys exercising her creativity and love of vivid color in the rooms of her home and studio. Artismo.com is an online resource offering high-quality, framed art reproductions featuring every color of the rainbow, from a fiery, red print to a black and white pen and ink illustration to a multi-colored landscape painting.