Question: You enter our house through the foyer, from which you can see into the dining room, the hallway to the kitchen, the kitchen, the stairway upstairs and the living room. The choice of colors for these various rooms and areas is difficult, because they are all visible at once from this foyer.

My dilemma is what color to paint the wainscoting in the dining room, the hallway into the kitchen, and the walls of the stairway going upstairs so that things do not clash.

Lily A. Sage

San Francisco .

Answer: There are a finite number of keys on a piano but how they're arranged and their rhythm is the difference in style between Mozart and Gershwin. The same is true of color.

When working with color there is some basic information you should understand. There are three primary colors: yellow, red and blue. Secondary colors are combinations of two primaries: yellow combined with red is orange, red with blue is purple, and yellow with blue is green.

All other colors are made up of these colors, with white or black added to give lightness or depth. For example, pink is red with white added, and brown is red with black added.

Additionally, to choose colors that will work well with each other, it's important to understand that every color has a "complementary" color. And, like keys on a piano, how you use them is what makes a palette your very own.

Selecting which color palette to work with in your home is one of the most important choices you'll make when designing an inviting, comfortable and visually pleasing space.

Each room within your home should have its own identity, but creating an effective flow from the color of one room to another is challenging, especially if you can see through each space into the next.

In an ideal situation a designer and client, or someone designing his or her own home, can start from scratch and choose a color range that will be used throughout. Once the palette is determined, all other design decisions begin at the color of the walls and work inward to the furniture.

But often, predetermined elements drive this decision outward to the walls. An Oriental rug, a sofa, carpeting or drapes that would be too expensive to replace . . . any one of these items can become the force that compels color choices for the walls.

If this is the case in your home, select a color that's dominant. Perhaps it's the ground color of a beautiful Oriental rug that can be seen from everywhere, or large drapes that can be seen from afar. Be brave and make a commitment to that color.

Plan on using variations of this color and its complementary colors throughout. These color combinations become like musical harmonies and are what make rooms visually interesting.

Visit a paint store or the paint section of a hardware store and look at the color samples, shown by gradation. Any combination of the colors on a paint strip will work well with each other. For example, at the bottom of the strip is a deep color and farther up is a very pale version.

You might not want to, but you can use every color on the strip in one room and they'll all work together. Using these tonal variations in different rooms is an excellent way to help move the eye gently from one room to another.

Once you've selected the dominant color, stand at the entry and look through the area into the other spaces beyond it. Think about how the color you've chosen will look in deeper or lighter shades further down the view.

Dark colors make a room seem smaller and closer to you. Light colors make spaces seem larger and further away. Keep this in mind as you look at the variations available.

Choosing a color's complement makes this challenge more interesting. For example, if you've chosen pale yellow as the main color for a room, salmon pink or robin's egg blue is a good accent color. The soft pink and light blue hues are complementary to this yellow. The light values of the salmon and robin's egg are what keep it harmonious with the main color you've chosen.

You now should have sufficient information to move forward in choosing colors that enhance your home.

And remember, that while rules exist in the decorating world to help organize one's thinking, it's your home, and what pleases you is the most important rule to follow. Make your own music with color and don't be confined by other people's rhythms.

 

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