If you're new to this little 'class' here's Part 1 and Part 2.
I've been very bad and not keeping up lately. Life has been crazy, but more on that later.
This time we're talking about....
Your Environment(I)
By this I mean the space around you, your room, dorm, whatever you chose (and is appropriate). I know a lot of people consider bringing lolita into your room in an all out way somewhat lifestyle (and therefor often 'elitist' or 'bad') but I don't think so. I also doesn't have to be lolita. My own room is going under some major changes lately that will be making it more lolita, but it won't scream it. I'm not going to have lace and tea sets everywhere with my embroidery project sitting on my window sill. When finished my room will be a space I love, with all aspects of myself, lolita and otherwise, included in it.
Now, where to start?
I suggest painting. It is the quickest major change you can make really. It is also somewhat counter productive to put up new curtains and shelves and ll sorts of stuff just to take it down right after to paint. The only exception I can think of is renovating. If your going o be knocking down a wall there's no sense in painting it.
So today, we'll talk about painting.
First, think of your favorite colour. Mine is teal, but teal doesn't look very good on a wall, especially in a rather small room. The case may be the same for say, fire engine red or canary yellow or even brown if you have a small room.
So next, think of the feeling you want. Does your favorite colour or shade match this? I went down to basics of blue to give myself more choice. I wanted a calming feel to my room. I have a lot of anxiety problems and often isolate because of it, so I need a space that can settle my mind. Thankfully, blue matches this. This is something very important to consider, because even if your heart is set on red and you want a calm space, it really isn't going to work and painting over it will be a nightmare.
A quick colour and emotion guideline of both positives and negatives. These are all generalizations and all have exceptions. First are cool colours and then warm.
Blues = Calming or Cold and Unfriendly
Green = Harmony and Refreshment or Boredom
Violet(Purple) = Luxury or Introversion
Grey = Neutrality or Lack of energy and confidence
Yellows = Energizing, Uplifting or Anxiety
Red = Passion and Warmth or Aggression
Orange = Fun, Frivolity or Immaturity
Brown = Warmth, Earthiness or Seriousness and Lack of humor
And then ones that don't really fit either are of course..
White = Purity and Sophistication or Sterility and Coldness
Black = Glamour and Security or Heaviness and Menacing
Another factor to remember when choosing a colour is that dark colours make a room feel smaller. Reflection of light makes things feel bigger, so to combat this you can use tricks, but tit will always seem a bit of a tighter space. They make excellent accent colours against bright ones though and balance them out nicely.
Now to pick out your colour!
I suggest looking around you at colours you like that you think would work well and then going to the store to match them as best you can. Be sure to look at all the options, even ones you aren't really considering. You may find something you didn't expect to love.
I settled on this colour.
A pleasant, soft, blue. Very calming and very subtle with bit of grey. Elegant, but not to lavish. Perfect for me.
I suggest getting a few testers if you're unsure of the colour you want. I did this for the baseboards in my room. I love the match of brown and blue and love wooden baseboards, but there was no way I was going around ripping up baseboards and buy expensive, pretty wood ones. So, I faked it. I can't find the colour I used, but it was a nice dark brown with a yellow base to be opposite of the blue.
Now that you have your colour, paint away! I'm sure you all know the basics on painting, so I'll end this here today. The environment bit is probably going to last two more weeks and then we'll move on. Next time we will be making your room match your snazzy new paint job!
