Choosing a color combo needn’t be by the book

Dear Readers: As you probably can imagine, lots of the questions we receive are similar.

Of all the decorating questions we see, however, the one topic that seems to pop up more often than any other, in one guise or another, is color.

Color seems to be the simplest and yet most fear-inducing aspect people have to confront when it comes to a DIY project.

So, I thought it would be good to take a look at color.

The first and most obvious thing you must do is decide on the mood, theme or atmosphere you are trying to create. I tend to see these in large sweeping statements, such as tropical, beach, mediterranean, romantic, or one of my personal favorites, what I call Orientaux, a combination of Asian and 1920s Parisian.

If you have some basic idea of what effect you are going after in a room, then you often will find that decision alone will help you somewhat in choosing color.

If you are having difficulty, take a look at the things you have that you really love. Often, you will see the same color or color combinations showing up. If you always are drawn to certain shades or hues, you always can make them work in whatever decorating theme you choose.

That being said, I must confess to rarely taking my own advice. I always put the cart before the horse and am an avid color-chip collector, one might even say I border on obsessive/compulsive when it comes to those colorful little pieces of paper.

Whether you're looking for handmade paper, furniture, fabric or accessories, you will find it at loose ends. If it is unusual, organic and fabulous, then loose ends is the place. Showroom hours are 8 am to 5 pm weekdays and the first Saturday of each month 10 am - 3pm at 2065 Madrona Ave. SE, Salem, or visit us online at www.looseends.com Questions? Give us a call at (503) 390-2348.

I cannot resist those displays with thousands of shades of what you had always just called yellow.

Even if I am in the store for something not even remotely related to color or paint, I still can hear their siren song, and I know that before I get out, I will have to stroll by and pick up just a couple of interesting colors.

However, though it is not a logical or particularly time-efficient way of choosing color, and no respectable book on color in your home would probably ever recommend it, the following method does work for me.

In the possibility that it also may work for you, I will share my process with you.

I take all my chips to the area under consideration and spread them all out. Well, not all. If I know that nothing in the brown family is going to be used, then those fellows stay in the box, but any possible candidates are scattered about. And then I let them work on me. Sometimes, the color combinations jump out. Other times, the process has to settle.

Chips and combinations of chips get lightly taped to the walls and trim to get the feel of the colors. Sometimes I think I have it, then some ignored color will leap off the floor screaming, “Look at me, look at me.”

Sandi Reinke is an author, frequent television guest and lead designer for loose ends (www.loosends.com), a Salem-based interior décor, garden, and casual lifestyle company. To ask Reinke a decorating question, e-mail info@looseends.com or mail her at the showroom address, 2065 Madrona Ave. SE, Salem, OR 97302. Phone: 503-390-2348.

There is no way for me to hurry this process. I may live with this arrangement for a number of days before the whole thing comes together. But eventually, everything jells — it just feels “right.”

So, I pass this method on with the clear understanding that it is not the accepted way to decide on room colors. Books are devoted to explaining the color wheel, opposites, complementary shades, warm and cool hues, etc.

I love to read and know all those things, but in the end, it is a visual game for me, and nothing works better than all those subtle shades lined up together, like hopefuls in a beauty pageant waiting to see whom will be the chosen.