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Paint Colors. This is one of the elements that can MAKE or break a room. There are just SO many colors out there. How in the heck do you choose? Should every room be a different color? Should I use one color? What happens if I change my mind?!
Gosh, I feel you on all of this. Here is my theory as a designer and that has served me and my clients well.
Keep the main / open spaces neutral. I’m not a huge fan of all white walls in a main living area. Many people love it, but I prefer a depth to my walls (not too deep mind you!). I keep the canvas warm and neutral – all of my main living areas are REVERE PEWTER . I’ve found this color works in a variety of homes. It’s a warm greige with a pretty slightly green undertone. In some lights it looks more beige, in other light more gray. I have a very open yard, not many trees or shade and nine foot ceilings. I’ve seen it not work so well in homes with a lot of shade and low light, but overall it’s one of my favorites if you want a touch of color and have a variety of wood tones with which to contend. The benefit of keeping the walls neutral in the main living area is that you can easily swap out accessories and change accent colors.
That doesn’t mean everything is neutral! I love moody tones as well, so one of my other pieces of advice, add in depth and character in your smaller rooms. Bedrooms, offices, dining rooms, kid’s rooms – that’s a great place to go a bit bolder and experiment a bit more.
It’s easy to implement color trends in smaller rooms and paint is easily changeable, and so when I wanted to jump on the green trend train, I selected to do this with paint colors, keeping in mind that I wasn’t about to switch out anything else in the room (which is why I love neutral furniture pieces, more on that later.) I stumbled across the color MOHEGAN SAGE and loved it. I used this color in one of our guest bedrooms. Dark colors are like a warm hug! This is such a rich pretty green with gray undertones so it doesn’t scream GREEN. It’s classic and beautiful and when you layer in touches of gold, it’s amazing. Please don’t shy away from dark colors with a low LRV (Light Reflective Value, the lower it is the darker the color and the less light it reflects, the scale is 0-100%). However, when using these dark colors, my preference is to keep everything else light and airy. I like one or two statements in a room, and a dark color is definitely a statement. I also implemented the green trend in our bedroom with the most luscious green/gray called MILLSTONE GRAY
In my office and dining space, I used IRON MOUNTAIN and WOW. I love this color and get so many complements on it. Go bold, or go home, and I’ve had SO many clients and friends go, “What is this color?” They love it but when they see the swatch they get so afraid. DON’T be! If you’re unsure, paint one entire wall and study it for a few days. Also, I will tell you from experience the richer and darker the color, the more appealing it is. Mid tones I’ve found are the MOST difficult!
And even though I said I didn’t love white walls, I love WHITE DOVE, and this is my trim color, and now four of my smaller rooms are white dove. This allows me to implement fun color schemes because the walls are such a warm, pretty white. I was able to use some pretty coral/terracotta tones in my guest room when I changed my walls to white. That being said, there’s plenty of color and character in my white rooms with accents, rugs, artwork, etc.!
Please check out my reel on instagram for images of all these tones! And message me with questions!