Color is one of the many elements that go into making your house… yours. You probably have a favorite color already, which may or may not be what you want in your living space. For example, I really love purple, especially really deep, jewel-tone amethyst. I wouldn’t paint all my walls that color – or buy a purple refrigerator, if such a thing actually exists. But, every room in my house has a touch of purple – a throw, candles, a painting. And it all works because the palette works with that color.
Your color palette can be really important when pulling together any home renovation. Trends in color are actually created years before they’re released – imagine the coordination it must take to get whole industries – paint, tile, accessories, cabinets – to converge on what the latest colors will be. So what you find a lot of the time are color ‘philosophies’ or palettes that are offered – a bold, a neutral, a soft, a modern. This also gives the trendsetters some wiggle room… if they’re wrong on one palette another might save them.
Luckily, we only need to choose one palette for our homes. Pulling it together to form a cohesive design is the trick! Stand in front of any paint swatch display and your eye will glaze over just looking at the greens… or the blues… or even the whites.
Thankfully, there are lots of ways to get help these days. There are even apps for that!
- Pantone is considered by the design industry to be one of the trendsetters. You’ll often see their choices in major design magazines.
- Sherwin-Williams has several ways to find your color karma: Chip It, ColorSnap app, and forecasts. (The video above shows one of my favorites!)
- There are plenty of bloggers out there showing you how to work with color; one of my favorites is Design-Seeds.
- The internet even has quizzes you can take to build a palette!
Of course, a professional designer can make all this even simpler! They can look at your favorite colors, the trends and the feel you want for your house and pull it into your own personalized color and finishes palette. Then they can make sure your design is functional and beautiful… for you!