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Choosing colors for your home can feel overwhelming, especially if you don't know where to start. And here's the truth: traditional color theory doesn't really help in interior design. We rarely work with pure colors like true greens or blues. Instead, we're dealing with more complex, nuanced shades of these colors that don't fit neatly into color theory.
So, if color theory isn't the answer, how do you pick the right colors for your home? In this video, I'll show you how to choose colors based on mood, context, and practical steps to make your home truly yours.
First up, before going into the technicality of what color goes with what, it's important to understand that color evokes feeling or emotion. If you have ever heard of the term "color psychology," this is exactly what I'm talking about. Every time you see a professionally designed room, I can almost guarantee that the colors they've chosen are meant to evoke a particular emotion or feeling, at least for the homeowners. Yes, this also applies to rooms that are mostly white, because as you know, there are endless shades of white paint. Similarly, contrast and saturation also have an effect on emotion. Weaker contrast and saturation creates a sense of calmness, while stronger contrast and saturation convey a sense of activeness.
With that in mind, I'd like to start this by encouraging you to think about what mood or emotion you want to feel when walking into a room and look for a color you like or one that evokes that emotion when you see it. The reason I ask you to look internally is because everyone has a different response to color based on their experiences and cultural background. While there are some universal truths about color, it's not always the same for everyone. Just think about the white and colorful interior debate. For some, this room can be considered calming, and for others, stark and depressing. Or take this room. Some may consider it lively and cheerful, while for others, it may be overstimulating. At the end of the day, color is a deeply personal matter, and what matters most is what creates the right environment for you.
Speaking of creating the right environment, if you're someone who enjoys writing or drawing digitally, let me introduce you to Paperlike, the original paper-feel screen protector for iPad that helps you write and draw with the precision and comfort of pen on paper. I personally like to sketch on the iPad when space planning, and having that control and tactile feel of writing on paper just makes it much more satisfying to use. The Paperlike is a matte screen protector, but I was very surprised at the clarity and the color that comes through. It doesn't look washed out and certainly better than other matte protectors I've had in the past. There's also no more glare and fingerprint smudges, which is a nice bonus. The Paperlike has tiny poly-cloths embedded called Nano dots, which gives it the texture of premium art paper, and I can certainly feel the haptic feedback with the Apple Pencil. It is designed and manufactured in Switzerland, and overall, just feels very premium. I think this is a fantastic tool for anyone who likes to write or draw on the iPad. They also have a bunch of other really cool accessories and, of course, all sizes to fit various iPads. You can check them out via the link in the description and complete your iPad upgrade with Paperlike.
One useful thing about color theory is that it teaches us that color exists in relationships. Now, if you're not sure what color theory is about, check out this video where I talk about it, including all the terms like hues, tints, shades, and various color schemes. But that alone is not enough, because as I've mentioned before, most of our space is not filled with color purely in the color wheel. It often involves complex neutrals, whether it is tiles, paint, carpet, or natural materials. This is why you can't go blindly choosing colors without considering context. Let me give you a simple example: a red may look overpowering next to a delicate pastel, but the same color, when surrounded by rich, earthy tones, is going to look more subdued. One color may look warm next to another color, but it may be placed next to an even warmer color, making it look relatively cool. As you can see, our perception of color can change depending on what is around that color. That is why, if you have a room with existing hard finishes like countertops, tiles, or carpet, which is the case for most of us, you have to create your color palette in accordance with those existing finishes. You can only start totally from scratch if your room is a blank canvas, and even then, you're still going to have to consider the fixed finishes that you'll eventually end up choosing anyway.
If you're currently decorating your home, check out our in-depth guide to a beautiful home, which you can access for free here. Inside, you also find a checklist to help improve your home and expert tips to avoid common design mistakes. There's tons of helpful stuff in there.
The first step is to identify the undertones and main tones of your existing finishes. Main tone is the primary hue in the color, or the hue that you identify first. It is what tells you that the color is blue, red, green, yellow, and so forth. Undertones, on the other hand, are the hidden or subtle hues. Here, for example, yellow is a main tone, and on the left, it has a red undertone, while on the right, it has a blue undertone. Undertones can be beige, blue, violet, taupe, pink, yellow, green. They're much more difficult to identify, but you can generally see them by comparing the color to its true main tone, or its most pure form. You don't always have to match the undertones, but being aware of how they work together is important. Let me show you why. Here's the color French Gray from Farrow & Ball. Notice how the same exact color changes when I put it against these two different backgrounds. That is why I always encourage people to get a physical sample of the paint finishes and fabrics and play around with it to get a sense on how they'll play together.
Just as I mentioned earlier about the way color changes depending on its surroundings, light, whether it is natural or artificial, can also change how color and paint look. The same exact color can look very different in different rooms and at various times of the day. That is why, before committing to a paint color, tile, or flooring, bring them home and look at it from multiple points throughout the day under different lighting conditions. I also dive deeper into all of this in Chapter 2 of my practical Home Design course. I walk you through how to select colors that complement each other and provide you with templates and resources to help you create a cohesive look in your home.
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Once you've figured out the main tones and undertones of your finishes, you can use them as a starting point for building your color palette. Inspiration can come from many places: artwork, rugs, clothing, or even a photograph of nature. For example, if your finishes have plenty of browns or creams, a photograph of a forest with greens, browns, and creams could inspire a harmonious palette. If you're starting from scratch, look at your wardrobe. Your favorite colors in clothing often reflect the tones you feel most comfortable with. My wardrobe is full of earthy colors like creams, forest greens, browns, and off-whites. So I create an interior based on a warm, earthy palette. You can also look for inspiration outside. Some people prefer a sandy beach setting with whites and blues, and others prefer a mountainous backdrop with lush greens and browns. This can become the jumping-off point for your color palette. All of this goes back to what I was saying in the beginning: consider the atmosphere you want in your home or room and reverse engineer the color palette from that.
A little hack that I like to use to identify a color palette is to take a photo or screenshot of my inspiration source and then use a color-finding website like Coolors to identify the color palette. From here, all you have to do is repeat them. One color should be repeated in small doses, another in medium doses, and one in large doses. The 60-30-10 is a popular color rule in interior design, which I've talked about before. Put simply, the rule states that 60% should be your dominant color, usually on your walls, rugs, or big furnishings. 30% should be a secondary color. This could be a rug, furniture, and accent pieces, and 10% should be an accent color, usually the core, like cushions, throws, even artworks. Now, this is not math, so you don't have to follow it to the tee, but it is a good starting point to avoid things looking like a mishmash, which can happen if every color is equal.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you want to repeat each color multiple times within a room, but with variants. For example, if your primary color is blue, you can also use teal and navy blue as your other primary colors. In fact, varying them will likely yield a better result. But what if I want to use more than three colors? Well, you can always add another 5 or 10%, but do this one at a time. This way, you won't upset the [Music] balance.
When it comes to color in interiors, I found that they can be broken down into muted/earthy colors or clear/bright colors, and these two often don't mix well together. Take this real-life example. See how this bathroom has only used clear colors in their scheme? It looks quite cohesive, doesn't it? But contrast this with this bathroom that has used blue as well, but notice how the countertop looks dirty because they're in an earthy tone. The clear and earthy colors clash, which makes the whole bathroom look off. The reason why the countertop looks off is because color schemes look best when normal value relationships are maintained. This may be getting a bit technical, but normal value relationships are when each color maintains the same depth or lightness relative to each other. If you think of it in terms of those long rectangular paint swatches from hardware stores, keeping all your colors in a similar horizontal row is going to work much better.
Like all rules in interior design, there are exceptions. In some cases, you can mix muted and bright colors, but it only works if the one color is dominant and the other has been used sparingly. Both the muted and bright colors also have to be repeated throughout the space. Take this living room as an example. Overall, the scheme is earthy, but they've added a bright green in the side table next to the lounge, which is also repeated in the glass vase on the shelf and also on the plants. It works because the bright colors have only been used in very small doses. If your room currently has an imbalanced mix of bright and muted colors, you can fix it by adding more of one so it becomes the dominant color.
Now, I don't want it to get muted and clear colors confused with warm and cool tones. They're completely different concepts. For example, red is a warm color, but it can be both muted/earthy or clear/bright. Like muted and clear colors, you want to have a mix of warm and cool tones in your space. A room that only has cool tones will feel extremely sterile and unwelcoming, while one full of only warm tones will feel stuffy. A lot of people like to follow the 80/20 ratio, that is, having 80% of your color scheme as a warm color and 20% cool, or the other way around. You can use neutral tones to bridge the gap between warm and cool colors in your space, but even then, neutrals still have either warm or cool undertones. They're just not as prominent. A good example of this are coastal interiors. These interiors typically feature mainly cool tones like cool blues and cool whites, but they also add in warm tones through timber and other decor to balance out the space.
The key to creating the perfect color palette for your home lies in understanding the relationships between hues and their context within your space. Don't let the complexities of color theory overwhelm you. Trust your instincts, experiment with different color combinations, and let your creativity guide you.
If you enjoyed this video, check out this video on color theory and this video on how to decorate stunning neutral rooms. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.