Easy Steps To Create a Whole House Color Palette
Struggling to figure out how to create a more cohesive look in your home? The answer is simple, start by creating a whole house color palette.
Interior color schemes are a great way to tie items together in a way that makes sense, even if the style of the decor items is different. Whether you're going for a soft and relaxing color palette or a bold and energetic feel, having a defined home color palette will create a cohesive look and make your decorating choices easier.
Today I'll walk you through the steps to create your own whole house color palette, and I've even got a free color palette cheat sheet that you can download to help you in the process.
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What Is A Whole Home Color Palette?
A whole home color palette goes beyond simply choosing paint colors for your home, although choosing paint is a big part of it. Your color palette will also help you seamlessly incorporate various wood tones and finishes as well as define accent colors to aid in choosing wall decor, accessories, and textiles.
Why Defining Interior Color Schemes Is Important
- Repeating colors throughout your home is the easiest way to get a cohesive look even when the style of items varies.
- Your home color scheme sets a starting point for all other decor, furniture, and finishes. Knowing which colors your working with will make decorating decisions easier and help you eliminate overwhelm and guesswork.
- When you have a plan you're less likely to make decorating mistakes, saving you time, money, and frustration.
How to create a color palette for your home
1. What mood and feel are you seeking for your home?
Color plays a huge role in how your home feels.
- Start by taking a look around at the existing colors in your home:
- Do they make you feel how you want to feel in your home?
- Are they too dark, too light, or too bright?
- Do they reflect your decorating style?
- Do they feel too stark, dirty, or boring?
- Now think about how you want to feel in your home:
- Calm and relaxed?
- Energized?
- Sophisticated?
- Welcoming?
- What colors will bring about those feelings for you? Do any of them already exist in your home? What colors will you want to add to achieve the feeling you're after?
2. Understand basic color theory.
The combination of colors you choose to use in your home will affect the overall feeling you create in your home. There are 3 basic color combinations that can make up a color scheme. You can combine different types of color combinations, these are just guidelines to see visually how different colors go together.
Warm vs. Cool Colors
Warm colors are colors with yellow, red, or brown in them. For many they create a welcoming and cozy atmosphere when incorporated in muted tones.
Cool colors are colors with blue, grey, or black in them. They often lean more modern and fresh in feel.
How saturated (dark) or bright (white) a color is will also have a big affect on the feeling it creates in a space. If you love color but still want your space to feel sophisticated, select a saturated color with more black or brown in it to mute the color a bit.
Monochromatic color scheme
Monochromatic means different shades or hues of the same color.
If you're afraid of color, or want your space to feel modern and clean you'll probably want to go with a monochromatic color scheme. - I have a lot of this going on in my home.
Harmonious color scheme
If you're going for a calm or relaxing feel you will want a harmonious color scheme.
Harmonious colors are next to each other on the color wheel. They go together because they're essentially made from each other.
Complementary color scheme
Complementary colors are opposite from each other on the color wheel meaning they contrast each other. Each color stands alone.
If you love high contrast and lots of lively color you'll want a complementary color scheme.
How certain colors make you feel is really subjective but understanding the basics of color theory will help you see how different combinations of colors work together to create various moods.
How to use color theory to create your home color palette
If you're starting from scratch, you get a full say in which colors you select. However most of us are dealing with existing colors that need to be taken into consideration. In this case you'll want to select colors that compliment them or distract from them if they are colors you don't love.
3. Find color schemes that inspire you.
Of course flipping through magazines, scouring the internet and scrolling Pinterest and Instagram are great places to start, but start paying attention to other color inspiration too.
- Do you have a favorite outfit with a color combo you love?
- Is there a specific jewelry finish you love? Can you incorporate it in the metal finishes in your home?
- What about the color scheme of a hotel you loved?
- Or it could be as simple as a print on a pillow or curtains that can be your jumping off point.
Once you've gathered some inspiration you can start creating a color moodboard or gather paint swatches to play with the color combinations and different shades and hues to see how they work together.
4. Consider the lighting in a space.
Both natural and artificial lighting will greatly affect the way a color shows up on your walls and in your space. A few rules of thumb:
- Direct natural light is usually warm light and will make warm undertones appear warmer. For example if you use a warm white in a room with direct natural light, it could appear more yellow than you want it to. To combat this, select a white with a slight gray undertone.
- Indirect natural light is usually cool light and will make cool undertones appear cooler. For example if you have a gray with a blue undertone and put it in a room with indirect natural light, it could appear blue or purple at certain times of the day. To combat this, select a gray with a warm/ slightly brown undertone like a greige paint color.
- Artificial light sources come in an array of colors. I suggest going with a neutral light source which will appear bright with a barely noticeable amount of warmth (yellow).
Note from Corey: The biggest mistake I see when people say their colors seem dingy or dark is that they have lightbulbs that are too warm.
5. Choose colors for your whole house color palette
A good rule of thumb is to stick to 3-5 colors for your interior color scheme.
For those of you who love color, this may feel limiting, but I promise you'll still end up with a colorful home.
For those of you with a fear of color, go with more muted shades of color so that you add color into your life without it being too in your face.
Select a neutral paint color
This will be your go to color for walls that connect rooms like halls, and open living spaces.
Neutral does not mean tan or beige.
A neutral can be a color but it is a very subtle shade or hue of a color. My neutral is considered a greige (a perfect blend of beige and grey.) If you haven't already read about how to choose neutral paint colors or how to choose the perfect greige paint head over and do so now. Both posts will help you understand color moving forward. - Go ahead…I'll wait right here.
Select a white
This will be your go to color for trim, ceiling, the insides of closets and maybe cabinetry.
Be warned, not every white is the same. They may all look white in the paint aisle, but just like every other color, whites have undertones that you will want to pay attention to.
You'll want to choose a white based on the undertones in the items like cabinets, flooring, and furniture that you are stuck with.
Select a darker color
This might not make it onto the wall as a paint color, or maybe it will. This darker color will be a starting point for adding some contrast to your space and will be used in various shades and hues.
If you love color this probably won't be hard for you to do. If you're a bit fearful of color don't worry. When I say choose a saturated or bold color that can be a lighter shade of the color.
For example, I love deep blue. The deep blue you see below is one of my main colors but when it came to painting my bedroom, I went for a lighter hue of blue to still fit into my color scheme but not be too dark or bold.
Select accent colors
These are totally up to you. They could be bright pops of color, or variations of the colors you've already selected. They will be used as accents in accessories, art, and textiles (and maybe the occasional wall color for an accent wall or in a small space like a power room.)
The colors you use in your home are completely up to you. Do what makes you feel fabulous cause no one ever gets sick of that right?
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Whole Home Color Palette Example
Most of my home decor color schemes are probably considered monochromatic. Lots of blues and greys in the living room and kitchen color schemes. But the accents are definitely complementary to add that pop of color I love so much.
I keep this from feeling too kid-like by picking colors that are bright, but sometimes muted and definitely not primary colors.
My Family Room Color Scheme
In my family room I use variations of my neutral greige throughout. My main color is blue but I don't stick to just one shade of blue, I use a few different blues and even some teal. Then the pops of color come in with some light lime greens and yellows and very small pops of pink.
In the same room, we created a large built in and I made it pop by painting the wall behind it a variation of my blue so it was darker. Then I added a few pops of my yellow and pink in the accessories.
My Kitchen Color Scheme
The family room opens up to the kitchen, so to bring a bit of the same colors over here, we did a light blue glass tile back splash. Again, I use variations of blue sprinkled through the space. Everything from turquoise, to deep saturated teal is fair game.
My Living Room Color Scheme
This is the first room you see when you walk in the house and it's definitely the lightest and brightest space with lots of blues and white.
This room has definitely changed a lot since we moved in and although it is a bit more coastal than other spaces in our home the color palette ties it in with the rest of the house.
My Dining Room Color Scheme
My dining room is currently in transition but this gives you a good idea of what it looks like. Same subtle colors with pops of blue and teal.
Don't be afraid to use your colors in unique ways like painting an accent wall or a piece of furniture. As long as the same colors or shades of those colors are popping up throughout your home you'll have a continuous look, even if the style of the furniture varies.
My home is still a work in progress, but now that I have created a color palette it limits my choices and creates flow from one room to another.
If I had to pick one thing that makes a home feel amazing and cohesive it would definitely be color. Having a whole home color palette with go to colors will not only make decorating decisions easier, but using colors from your color palette will create a nice flow from one room to another.
Whether you're a color lover or like to keep things calm and more neutral these tips for choosing color for your home will be the starting point you need to get going in the right direction with confidence.
P.S. There's no better way to create a cohesive feel than with color, but in order to avoid mistakes and get an updated look you've got to understand color like a designer.
Inside my online course, Color Made Clear, I will teach you exactly what you need to know about selecting colors for your home in everything from paint colors, to flooring and carpet, to fabrics so you can make confident color decisions and get the exact look and feel you're going for. - Even if there are finishes in your home you can't change, I'll show you how to use color to distract from them for an updated look!
Frequently Asked Questions - Whole Home Color Palette
My colors don't flow from room to room. Help!
Creating a home that flows nicely from one room to another can definitely be challenging. Over the years I’ve worked hard to create a cohesive look in my home and I share my secrets with you in this post.
My walls are beige and sofa is grey; please help me pick colors for curtains and rug.
Since I can’t see your home in person, I can’t offer specific color/decor advice. Defining your home decor style will narrow your choices and make the process less overwhelming. This post I wrote will show you how to make your decorating choices much easier.
What are the paint names for your pictured color palette (5 color chips)?
Grey = Requisite Grey; Turquoise = Cooled Blue; Teal = Briny; Yellow = Eye Catching; and Pink = Heartfelt (all Sherwin Williams colors). You can find more details on my house paint colors here.
How do I mix different furniture wood tones with a color palette?
Keeping the undertones, grain or texture similar within a space is a good rule of thumb. Try to have each piece have a buddy in each space so it looks intentional and separate pieces that a different to reduce the impact. This post I wrote about mixing styles might be helpful for you too.
How much of each of the color types should I use?
The pro rule is a 60-30-10 ratio: 60% dominant color, 30% your secondary color, and 10% accent color(s.) But really I say do what feels good. Get your base down (Your wall color and trim) and then add in color until it feels just right. I like to add color around the room at different heights so that your eye naturally catches in different parts of the room.
I want to totally redo my house but don't know where to start.
Wall color is a great place to start and if you can afford to replace any of the staple items like a sofa, do that too. Once you have those in place it is just a matter of making items you already have work with your space. You can always change the color of something (like a large piece of furniture) with paint. Then add your pops of color a little bit at a time with things like pillows, curtains, and accessories.
How do I know if my wood cabinets will look good next to the color I chose?
Place your paint samples right up against the cabinets to be sure that the tones in the wood pair well with the wall color.
Is it okay to paint all the walls throughout just one neutral color? It feels like too much.
It's totally okay but if you feel like it is too much, you can do an accent wall in a color or even go up or down a shade of the neutral you already have to give a little contrast. Beyond that you can change it up from one room to the next with your accent colors. Maybe have the main accent color be different in each space while still incorporating the same color palette throughout.
