Hi Friend,
I hope this blog post finds you well!
Do you often stare at your room or your home and feel overwhelmed, asking yourself questions such as “which paint colors do I choose?” Or “how do I make a paint and color palette work for my own home?”
Well, I’m here to help you!
First, think about all the “loves” you have in your life that can be reflected through your home.
Perhaps you love world travel, or you have a love for music, or you just love color. Or…Perhaps you like neutrals in your home, but don’t know how to pull it off.
Any of these “loves” can be like a compass, pointing you in the right direction.
For example, in my current home I wanted to center some of it around my love of the outdoors, our travels, my love for Monet art, and other similar art that is reflective of nature. I have found that being out in nature is so good for the mind and the soul.
Through textiles, finishes, and color, we can create a color story.
Now you don’t want your home to look too much like a Rubix Cube if you choose to go more with color - you definitely want a sense of flow.
A lot of the main color choices I made, after looking at our existing art, the home’s “bones,” and how I wanted to cozy up our downsized bungalow - well, these things helped me narrow down my color decisions.
The living room flowed into the dining room, which flowed into the kitchen. So, although this time around I wanted color on the walls, I wanted to create happy, soothing, spaces overall.
I will walk you through the example of how I created my own home palette color story using some of my favorite pieces of art. Perhaps it will give you some insight as far as a starting point for you!
Although I’m not entirely sure of the artist of this picture, I do recall that the sticker that fell off the back originally stated it was a picture of a location in Italy.
As you can see there’s a good amount of blue in this picture, and the picture below of the Monet Tulips Field with the Runsburg Windmill pic is also in my dining room (below). I chose a lovely blue for this room, as it is not only my dining room, but my working office area which is in the same location. We were also in Holland last year, so the picture is very important to us!
The blue we chose for the Dining Room was SW 9056- French Moire. You can see some of that color just behind the Italy pic, above. It is a lovely classic blue. The softer blue I chose for the Living Room, SW Serenely. While French Moire is a bit more saturated in color, SW Serenely is a slightly quieter, cooler color.
Below: Red Boats at Argentuil - Monet
The Monet Red Boats picture is in my back hallway, just off of the kitchen area. The kitchen window has a lovely blue print fabric, and the backsplash is an iridescent hex tile that makes me think of the reflections from the water.
The kitchen is a lovely light, soft, warm creamy yellow - SW 6371 Vanillan.
I know that the common denominator seems to always take me back to the outdoors and Claude Monet, French impressionist painter - outdoors with the beautiful skies, water, flowers, and serenity.
So, here’s an example of a large color palette for inspiration (I got this pic from Etsy):
And here is the VIP color palette I created for my own home.
Again, the three main rooms were:
Living Room: SW 9632 Serenely (Designer Emerald Collection) - a softer, more subdued blue
Dining Room: SW 9065 French Moire - a more saturated, medium weight blue
Kitchen SW 6371 Vanillin - A soft, creamy pale yellow.
I wanted a timeless feel that made me SUPER happy to come home to.
I also had accents in the range of :
Light sage green SW 6177 Softened Green AND
Pink: SW 6588 Diminutive Pink AND
Orange: (my rugs have blue, s tiny bit of gold/yellow, and pops of orange and teal)
SW 6626 - Sunset
Here’s an example of the sage green (above) where I put removable wallpaper from Love vs. Design on my built-ins. It really lends itself to a subtle bit of color without being overwhelming.
From Monet’s paintings such as Waterlilies, to Argentina and so on, you will see there is a recurring theme in many of them: lovely blues, greens, yellows, oranges, etc. I have read that over time, Claude Monet eventually got rid of brown and black in his paintings.
The orange color makes me think of the Tulip Fields picture - I can use an orange pattern or solid, in a pillow, or on my DR chair cushions (to be determined later)
SO, just as I put together color palettes forpeople just like you, I created my own color story for my own home. Even the kitchen backsplash is lovely, like reflective water. I can’t wait to show you my entire kitchen remodel soon! Hang onto your hats!
In the picture of the kitchen below, you can see a peek of the lovely soft yellow I mentioned and the hex tile that reminds me of reflective water.
The time of day in this pic doesn’t show this color at its absolute best, but this color is soooo pretty.
Orange is an accent color I use ever so sparingly, and also, if you look at the bookshelves and the kitchen pic, I use a pop of pink throughout.
Lastly, you can see an orange fabric (above) I am contemplating putting on my dining room chair seat cushions unless I go with the color behind it that is the woven blue textured print.
There are bedrooms and bathrooms to consider which are actually still in the works for color, but I know that many people just like you and myself sometimes take it a room at a time. If you do that, then you will want to consider the entire house as you build your framework and your color scheme.
I hope this blog post has helped you at least have a little better understanding of how things can work for building your own color story. There’s nothing that I love better than helping my clients bring out the best in their home.
Please reach out to me and let me know what color stories you would like to tell in your own home and we can set up an appointment.
And, just for fun, if you like, if you are having ANY sort of room dilemma, feel free to fill out this design questionnaire (it can be fun!), and I will be happy to reach out to you - no pressure - to hear more about your dilemma!
Let's "spring" into action - and pick the area that you want to focus on. I'm in your corner!
Warmly,
Comments