I would like to thank Apartment Therapy for posting this Philadelphia loft. It exhibits a small space that was decorated on the cheap, but remains stylish. Why? A monochromatic color scheme. (Monochromatic: Having or consisting of one color or hue.) When decorating, a monochromatic scheme is one that incorporates only one color form the color wheel (neutrals like black, white, and taupe don’t count). In this case they chose a cheerful yellow. You could choose raspberry red, or shades of teal, or whatever your favorite color is. A monochrome scheme is an easy inexpensive way to give your home a consistent well thought out look without a lot of thought or money. First of all, you can use the rule of threes… In each room all you have to do is incorporate three things that are the same color (and by same color, they just have to be close in color, not identical). So you only need to buy three things and they don’t need to be expensive pieces of furniture. Stores like IKEA and CB2 make this really easy because they tend to produce a lot of inexpensive merchandise in the same specific set of colors for this very reason. If you haven’t experienced CB2, check it out, they are stealing the spotlight from IKEA because of their slightly better quality, and more convenient stores and website.
For example lets say you have a hodge-podge of things in your home including some cheap stuff, and some hand-me-downs from mom and dad, and amongst that you have, lets say, an orange chair from grandma. As long as all else is neutral you can put it in the living room, and buy two things to go with it, and probably call it a day. Lets say you get an orange vase, put it on the coffee table. And maybe an orange clock, hang it across the room; done and done. If you need drapes, maybe you find something in white with an orange pattern. Then as you acquire more things and start to decorate other rooms you have a rule to follow – keep it neutral, or keep it orange. If you hate orange, this would be hell for you. But that’s why you’re going to choose a color you love.
