Design & Style, Home & Lifestyle
Coordinating Color
Lesson time 13:51 min
Corey introduces his bold, signature approach for using powerful, jubilant color in unexpected ways, and he demonstrates his process for the next step in his design process: a color board.
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Topics include: The Color Board · Creating a Color Board
Teaches Interior Design
Acclaimed interior designer Corey Damen Jenkins shows you how to make bold, functional interiors on any budget—from mood boards to space planning.
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COREY DAMEN JENKINS: I'm all about using bold colors in unexpected ways. But there are guidelines you need to know to keep your design fresh and modern. So here are my five steps for color coordination. First, wait to paint. That-- I always tell people, wait to paint. And the reason why is often, a person may decide that the first big choice they have to make in decorating their room is painting the biggest real estate object in the space, which is the walls. But here's the challenge. If you paint your room-- let's say you go for a more bold color, like a certain shade of pink, and then the fabrics on your sofa in your window treatments are off-- like the shades of pink that are in your furnishings, or other colors are not quite matching up to the walls-- you're now locked into a certain visual vernacular that you didn't have to do. You didn't have to go that route. The better thing to do is to look at your furnishings, look at your window treatments, look at your artwork, look at your rugs and say, okay, these are the colors that I'm working with. These are the things that I already own. Then take out your large collection of pink swatches and match the right pink color to your fabrics first. There are literally hundreds of thousands of paint swatches out there. But there are not limitless options out there in terms of what you own and the colors that are available in your own furnishings. So reverse that that direction. Get that concept laid out, then pick out your paint colors, and you're going to save a lot of money, and also a lot of costly mistakes. My second step is know your light. Take into account which way the room is facing, what kind of light it gets throughout the day. If it does not get a lot of light during the day, don't fight it. Go for a color palette that actually complements lessened light output during the day. Nothing is more tacky than going into a room that is always shadowy and dark, and everything is just bright and glittery and vibrant. It looks as if the room is trying too hard. So you want to embrace what that room is naturally getting. So go for the more smoldering, rich, darker, sexier colors that actually enhance the lighting. Whereas a room that gets lots of bright light, well, then absolutely embrace the brighter tones that are out there in the paint colors and the other fabric choices you're making for your space. The idea is to make each room, which has its own personality, feel tailored and couture to the space that you're going to be using every day, and really try to not fight the natural energies around the house as far as light goes. My third step is to test, test, and test again. It is so essential that before you actually invest in an overall choice for paint that you test it out. I will tell you this. If you do a tester on the wall, do a good sized tester. those little square things do not do you any good. Go for a very large-- probably 2-, 3-foot-...
About the Instructor
Considered one of the most prominent interior designers working today, Corey Damen Jenkins creates elevated spaces for clients across the globe and believes everyone should have access to great design. Now he’s teaching you how to build bold, functional interiors on any budget. From mood boards to space planning, learn how to embrace the design process, make choices with confidence, and turn your home into a true haven.
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Corey Damen Jenkins
Acclaimed interior designer Corey Damen Jenkins shows you how to make bold, functional interiors on any budget—from mood boards to space planning.
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