How to Warm Up a Cool-Toned Room in Your Home

If you've browsed any home décor websites or magazines in the past five years, you know one thing is for certain — cool tones reign supreme. Pale gray meets charcoal and dusky blue on the list of America's most popular paint colors, and why not? This ultra-versatile color family goes with everything, and it may even earn you more cash when you go to sell. Researchers have found that homes with walls painted blue or light gray sell for up to $5,440 more than their other-colored counterparts. 

Living Color

As appealing as it may be, a cooler color scheme can be challenging to decorate. A palette of blue, gray, and green looks cool, but sometimes it can feel cool. Luckily, with warm and elegant home décor, you can heat your cool-toned space and ensure that it feels warm and welcoming. 

• Decorate with a Large, Plush Area Rug — This tip is especially effective in cool-toned rooms with hardwood or tile floors. Covering the floor with cozy indoor rugs will make it warmer because the rug serves as an insulator to retain warmth. The key is to go for a plush or medium-pile style in warm tones such as red or yellow. Traditional Persian and Turkish rug styles, which are often done in this color scheme, work well when the goal is to cut the cold and bring in warmth.
• Bring in Lots of Live Greenery — Live plants are the perfect cool-tone toner because they remind us of warm, sunny climates. Decorate the space around the windows with large live indoor plants that thrive in the moderate sun. To give your plants an extra element of style and help warm the room, plant them in earth-toned pots. We're big fans of classic terracotta, earthen clay, glazed brick, or mosaic pots, all of which bring an inherent warmth to the room.  

Lighting

• Get Serious About Lighting — Lighting is one of the most significant impacts on whether or not a room feels cold and off-limits or warm and welcoming. Achieving a warmer lighting design is about balancing the brightness with the color when choosing light bulbs for your lamps and fixtures. It's all about manipulating the natural light in the space. Here are some tips to help you make your room more inviting with lighting:

• • Choose a warmer color temperature. LED light bulbs come in a spectrum of color temperatures rated on the kelvin scale. The lower end of the spectrum (2,000K to 4,000K) will give you a warmer glow. Aim for LEDs labeled "early sunrise" or "incandescent." (Although they are labeled incandescent, don't worry — they are LEDs with a color temperature that resembles traditional incandescent bulbs.)
  • Put your lights on a dimmer. Although the brightness of your light bulbs (indicated via lumens or watts, depending on the type of bulb) will not affect the appearance of the light's color, it can dial up or play down the surrounding tones in the room. Go for a dimmer bulb or put your light on a dimmer to avoid highlighting cool-toned walls.
  • Use table lamps and floor lamps. Accent lamps will do a great job of highlighting certain aspects of the room so it's not oversaturated in brightness, which will only heighten the cool tones of the floors and walls.
  • Bring in more natural light. Light from the sun looks and feels warm, bathing the room in a golden or yellow-toned glow. Encourage natural light to flood into the room with sheer window treatments or none at all.
    
    

Undertones

• Introduce Warm Tones with Wall Art — The simplest yet most effective trick for toning down an icy palette. Counteract the chill with artwork featuring big splashes of color on the opposite end of the color wheel. If your walls are cool blue, hang artwork or photos with a more orange or red undertone. Sepia-toned photographs or red abstract artwork will work beautifully.
• Toss in Subtle Splashes of Red or Yellow — If you love a monochrome vibe and prefer a scheme of gray, blue, and white, you'll need a few tricks for pulling in warmth without throwing off the minimalist feel of the space. Rather than going with an overwhelming area rug or gallery wall, simply pepper in slight touches of red or yellow here and there. Whether it be a vase on the coffee table or a single throw pillow on an accent chair, subtle hints of warmth will go a long way without compromising your entire cool-toned vision.
• Introduce Warmer Cool Tones — Not all cool tones have to be as icy as pale blue or arctic white. Some blues and grays have a warmer feel, especially if they have a purple bias rather than a green bias. We love the idea of decorating with a statement piece of furniture in a richer purple-toned blue or gray upholstery to help offset the coolness of the lighter gray color scheme. You can also use warm-cool colors in your accent furniture, wall art, and throw pillows to warm things up without going too far in the other direction.
• Go for Plush Fabrics — The fabric used in the décor, upholstery, and window treatments of the room can affect how cool or warm a room feels. Avoid using cold fabrics, such as leather, linen, or nylon, instead of plush and soft ones. Velvet, microfiber, wool, and cotton can make spaces feel warmer.

A cooler color palette looks sophisticated, but it may also evoke feelings of coldness. The key to successfully decorating a space with cooler-toned walls, floors, and window treatments is to offset the chill with warmth. We hope the above tips will help you do just that.

Here are Some Other Articles Related to Your Search:

• Improve the Lighting in Any Room With These Ideas
• What are the Best LED Strip Lights to Buy for the Bedroom?
• 6 Lighting Mistakes You Should Avoid at All Costs
• The Ultimate Guide to High-End Lighting Design in ANY Room
• Decking Out Your Dorm Room: Must-Haves for College Kids