Choosing Color: A Guide from Mylands

Choosing color is an important and often overwhelming task. The appreciation and use of color is a personal matter, and how each of us perceives a color and our instinctive reactions to color are so individual. This can be a matter of personal associations with a specific color, or cultural and traditional connections to colors.

At Mylands, they have carefully refined their three core collections: Colours of London (a refined palette of 120 timeless colours for both indoor and outdoor painting), Greys & Neutral (24 colours) and Film, Television and Theatre Collection (20 colours), which has recently been joined by The Archive Collection (12 colours).

Mylands has created this guide to help you choose color, with useful tips and advice to get you started.

160+ TIMELESS COLORS

Color has the power to transform a room, where color sets the tone and creates mood. The shape, purpose, and style of your room or house can affect the color, as can its direction and light – both natural and artificial – and how it changes throughout the day.

Before you start choosing a decorating scheme, it's a good idea to think about the look you want to achieve and how you'll use the room. If you're painting a dining room, a powder room, or a hallway—where you might spend less time or pass through quickly—you can afford to be more bold if you want.

Most of all, choosing color is a personal thing. Think carefully about the colors you feel comfortable with before choosing a scheme that feels right for you.

Useful Tips

Color can be subtle or significant for a striking statement or a tasteful backdrop. Start by thinking about:

Mood: Think about the mood and atmosphere you want to create. In a bedroom, do you want the feeling to be calm and peaceful or dramatic and intimate? Color affects mood; soft, cool colors usually create a calmer feeling while stronger colors create drama.
Function: Consider the purpose of your space. In a dining room or kitchen, do you want a stimulating social environment or a formal entertainment space? Warm, contrasting – and brighter – colors create a friendly atmosphere, while deeper blues, greens, and neutrals give a more formal feel.
The effect of color on a room: Warm colors (red, orange, yellow) tend to come forward while cool colors (green, blue, purple) recede. With this in mind, color can be used cleverly to change the shape of a room or to create the illusion of more space.
Features: If you're nervous about using paint but still want to make a statement, choose a small room like a powder room or consider an accent or feature wall. This way you can experiment without too much commitment - painting a small area means you'll see results faster and can easily change it if you want.
Flow: Think about how colors relate to each other in your home. If you’re decorating a hallway, think about how colors in adjacent rooms interact, especially if you have doors open most of the time. Try to have colors in adjacent rooms harmonize or contrast rather than clash. Another trick is to make sure the colors have equal weight to achieve balance; a deep blue paired with a pastel pink will create imbalance, while a soft shade of the two colors will achieve a more seamless flow. Of course, intentionally offsetting colors can be a great way to create an unexpected, edgy look.

Sample jars

It is always best to test your final colour choice in the actual environment with sample cans. All 120 Mylands colours are available in 100ml sample cans of Marble Matt Emulsion. This allows you to see the colours in the right light and situation - throughout the day - to ensure you get an accurate feel for how the room will look.

Remember to view the color horizontally on the walls rather than vertically – paint on a large piece of paper or thin cardboard and move around the room to view it from different positions. If possible, view the colors alongside fabrics and furnishings or sample pieces to help you visualize your color scheme with other important elements in your room.

The power of red interior design

Red is a versatile color that offers everything from vibrant energy to sophisticated elegance. The choice of shade can transform a room and create different moods – from warming terracotta to deep burgundy. A red front door creates a welcoming impression and often symbolizes luck, while darker red tones provide an enveloping feeling perfect for bedrooms or cozy living rooms. In children's rooms and home gyms, bright red shades can add playful energy and motivation. In the kitchen, red adds a spicy touch, while dark shades like burgundy contribute to an elegant and sophisticated feel in dining rooms and social spaces. Regardless of its use, red adds a personal touch and creates spaces filled with warmth and joy.