Creating a Home’s Color Palette (& Our Favorite Neutral Paint Colors!)
It’s no secret that a fresh wall color can transform a space. But if you’ve ever browsed the paint department of a home improvement store, you know just how overwhelming it can be to choose. Exactly how many shades of gray are there? What color will look best in my home? How can I confidently make a decision?
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
Selecting the right paint color involves more than simply picking a swatch that catches your eye. While your preferences are important, there are so many factors to consider based on each specific room in your home. Fortunately, there’s a safe, smart, and easy solution: enlist the help of an interior designer. It’s our expertise. ;)
Today, I’m excited to share a few secrets on how we design timeless, enduring, and personal homes starting with a cohesive color palette…
1. Discover Your Style Preferences
When it comes to choosing colors for your home, your preferences matter the most. After all, you’ll be the one living in it! But we dive deeper than just asking for your favorite color. While you may adore yellow, it doesn’t necessarily mean that painting an entire room that color is the best choice.
Instead of haphazardly choosing a color palette, we take the time to understand your overall style before making any decisions. Each of these factors influences the ideal color direction for your home:
Do you lean towards light or dark colors?
Are you drawn towards a coastal or woodsy aesthetic?
Do you love modern design? Or is traditional more your thing?
A timeless approach often involves keeping the walls and trim in beautiful neutral hues, allowing us to incorporate pops of your favorite colors through pillows, artwork, and accessories. This way, you can easily switch them out with the season or as your preferences evolve. The result? A home you’ll love for years to come.
2. Evaluate Your Space
We all know that color has the power to transform a space. As professionals, we know how to use it to maximize your home’s potential. When considering color, we take several aspects into account, including:
Lighting: Is the room well-lit or dim? Is there plentiful natural light or primarily artificial light? Different lighting conditions can affect how colors appear, so planning ahead is key.
Size: How big or small is the space? Are we trying to brighten up the space? Do we need to create a sense of depth in a smaller room? Powder rooms are a great example of where darker colors work well to make the room feel bigger.
Surroundings: Are there existing wood tones within the space that need to be coordinated with? If just one room is being painted, do we need to consider the colors in adjacent rooms to ensure a cohesive flow?
These factors will guide our process of creating a harmonious color palette that enhances and elevates your home’s overall aesthetic.
3. Explore Color Options
When it’s time to visualize colors in your home, we recommend giving yourself no more than 4 options for a single space to prevent overwhelm. As designers, we have large color swatches (much bigger than the tiny ones you find at the paint store) that we use to visualize the color in the space.
Sometimes, we’ll select one color to be used consistently throughout the entire house. Using this method eliminates the need to coordinate different colors for every room, resulting in a cohesive flow from room to room. In others, we’ll choose 2 or 3 coordinating colors and use them throughout the home.
PRO TIP: If you’re doing this yourself, you may be tempted to paint color swatches on the wall. If so, just remember that the existing color of your wall may skew your eyes’ perception of your new potential colors. We advise painting a section in true white first, to get an accurate read. Then, observe how your new color changes throughout the day — morning, full afternoon, sunset, and evening.
Looking for an easy starting place before heading out to choose swatches? Take a peek at our top neutral paint colors and how we’ve used them in our projects…
A Few of Our Favorite Neutral Paint Colors
Left: Brandjen Farm Project | Middle: Deborah Drive Remodel | Right: Fairmont Ave Refresh
Left: Platwood Remodel (cabinets) | Middle: Harriet Remodel | Right: Brandjen Farm Project
Left: Lake Independence Remodel | Middle: Platwood Remodel | Right: Platwood Remodel
A Color-Cohesive Home
And there you have it! I hope that this peek behind the curtain has brought you some encouragement. Choosing colors for your home is always best left to the pros, but if you’re not ready just yet, seeing our process should give you a headstart.
If you are ready to enlist a designer’s help making your home beautiful, functional, and long-lasting, we’re here for you. Reach out to me here, and let’s start the conversation.
