This article shares how we decided on a home color palette and includes tips on choosing your own.
I was absolutely overwhelmed with what to do with the house when we moved in. Not only did it need a lot of updating, but there was so much wood to contend with. The floors, the ceilings, the posts! I didn’t know where to start.
I was also stuck in a mindset that the house needed to be somewhat muted– you know, the classic McGee & Co look of the early 2020’s that’s very neutral. While it’s absolutely beautiful, I started to feel like I needed to get rid of everything I owned and start fresh. It also didn’t feel very authentic to me, but I didn’t know how to move forward.
Inspired By Color
Luckily, I ran across Gray Benko’s Instagram and fell in love with her use of color. And from there I found Meta Coleman and was so inspired by her project with Hannah Carpenter.
There was just so much color and happiness in these homes. I wanted our house to look like a family lived here. I wanted our kids’ artwork to look like it belonged in the house. Happy and colorful.
After I decided to make the design ‘happy’, it took me a while to wrap my head around how to do this. I decided to focus on the Farrow & Ball color card because 1) I love their paint + brand and 2) they have a limited amount of colors compared to companies like Sherwin Williams. Limiting my options definitely helped with my indecisiveness.
Farrow & Ball Card Room Green
From there, I started by picking one color: Card Room Green. It was a perfectly happy green, it isn’t overwhelming and it looks great with wood. We painted the trim in the living room this color and decided to make it a core kitchen color.
Finding this Morris & Co fruit wallpaper that perfectly matched Card Room Green confirmed that it was the right color. I used Canva to create a mood board for the kitchen. We used it through the whole renovation process.
A Home Color Palette
After deciding on Card Room Green, I created a Canva board with several other paint colors that I love to see how they looked in a group. My plan was to choose 2-3 others to add around the house.
In a surprise to no one, I kept finding more and more that I could imagine using. A perfect mustard yellow, a beautiful pink, a bright orange for a fun accent.
And just like that I had a palette of six colors that made me so happy.
Card Room Green
India Yellow
Oval Room Blue
Templeton Pink
Charlotte’s Locks
School House White
I use my home color palette to make all design decisions now, whether it’s as small as what color to paint a frame to a bigger decision like a rug purchase.
If I’m deciding between two things, like my rug example above, I will create a Canva board with a photo of each next to my palette. Typically it’s pretty easy to decide once I see it like this.
I decided on option two (the rug with the bigger flowers) because it seemed to have more in common with our palette than the other. Option 1 was a bit too purple in the end.
I would have hemmed and hawed for months if I hadn’t done this quick visual comparison.
Kid Room Color Palette
We have a separate color scheme for the upstairs of our house. This is where the kids’ rooms are as well as the playroom. I felt the freedom to be even more creative upstairs because it’s an all-kid area. Though they are all similar colors, the green, yellow and blue are all a bit brighter than those downstairs.
Breakfast Room Green
Babouche
Stone Blue
Romesco
Schoolhouse White
Our kids’ favorite colors are green and yellow, so I started there and then rounded it out with blue, red and white. The colors are all Farrow & Ball– Breakfast Room Green, Babouche (yellow), Stone Blue, Romesco (red) and Schoolhouse White. Check out our colorful playroom to see the colors in action!
Note: I previously used Farrow & Ball Incarnadine as the red, but swapped it for Romesco when we updated our son’s room. It’s a bit brighter and cheerier!
Other Colors In Our House
There are a few other colors that we have used in the house that aren’t on the ‘official’ palette. See below for details.
Farrow & Ball Down Pipe
The first is Down Pipe and it’s found on the kitchen island and the entrance to the pantry. It’s a darker color that is described as ‘lead gray’, though in our house it takes on a blueish color. It felt like a good balance with Card Room Green and the fruit wallpaper.
Farrow & Ball Dead Salmon
Another color not on the palette is Dead Salmon. It’s an ‘aged salmon pink’ and takes on a browner, mushroom-like color in some lighting. You can find it on our kitchen range wall and in the dining room. In fact, it’s on the walls and ceiling of the dining room!
Farrow & Ball French Gray
French Gray is somewhat dominant in our house at the moment even though it’s not one of the ‘core’ colors. We actually painted with it before I decided to pivot to a happier palette, so it’s found in our entry area and is on the trim and several doors.
Farrow & Ball Off White
We used Off White for the first set of walls we painted, but switched to School House White for the pantry and the upstairs. Off White is yellower than School House White and compared to white primer seems really yellow. But it really works in our home! It’s very warm and looks great with all of the wood and Card Room Green trim.
Farrow & Ball Green Smoke
The walls and built-ins of our office/guest room are Green Smoke. It’s a beautiful, darker green that is perfect for a study. It’s another one we did early-on in the renovation process. Even though Green Smoke is not a ‘happy’ color, it’s perfectly at home in the office. The room has a ton of windows and wood, so the dark green just makes it all feel very earthy and natural.
Advice On Choosing Your Own Home Color Palette
1. STart With One Color
Just focus on one color at first. I am so indecisive and was easily overwhelmed with the options. I could tell that I was gravitating toward Card Room Green, though, and it felt like a great place to start.
If you don’t have a gut feeling, do an inventory of what you currently own. Are your favorite accent pillows a certain color? Do you already have a rug that you want to incorporate?
2. Create A Mood Board
If you are the type of person that can’t visualize what something will look like until it’s done, make a mood board. I myself can’t see things until I can actually see them. I am very visual and have a tough time imagining what something will look like until it’s done. This is a lot easier to do (and undo) with a computer than with a paint brush.
Pull together a mood board of colors and things you love. Add paint swatches, picture frames, chairs– whatever it is that completes the look for you. I had such an easy time deciding colors once I had them all next to each other. My initial round felt so dark and lacked personality compared to where I ended up.
3. STart Small
If you aren’t sure where to start, try painting something as small as a picture frame. I love buying samples of Farrow & Ball’s paint because they come in tiny paint cans and aren’t sample-grade. It’s their exact paint but in a tiny size. This is actually how I have added some of the accents to our house– I buy full cans if we are painting walls, but only sample pots if it’s a small project.
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This is a great inspiration write up of what you can do..& w/an actual doable starting point or focus.
Direction is always a positive:)👌👏