The Curation: Colorful Objects, How To Use Color In Your Home, and Beautiful Space

Choosing a color palette for your home is an important step when decorating, as it sets a specific mood and defines the general aesthetic. But this can be an intimidating process. Even a room full of neutrals still needs to be carefully considered, otherwise it'll risk feeling flat or boring. So in today's edition, I'll share with you six tips to help make the process easier, plus a curation of colorful objects (that are not textiles) that you can add to your home.

1. ​Ray 8”, $399, Schoolhouse

2. ​Matin Table Lamp, $265, DWR

3. ​Flowerpot VP7 Pendant, from $655, Lumens

4. ​Folding Outdoor Chair, $80, Schoolhouse

5. ​Perkins 5 Hook Rail, $149, Schoolhouse

6. ​Abode Bar Stool, $225, Industry West

7. ​Lövbacken, $100, IKEA

8. ​Note Side Table, $556, Blu Dot

9. ​Domsten, $30, IKEA

10. ​French Mullca Dining Chair, $567, 1stDibs (Set of 4)

11. ​Strata Plant Vessel, $65, Areaware

Weekly Learnings & Findings

How to choose a color palette for your home

Color Theory Basics

I don’t want to go too deep into this in a newsletter, but it is important to understand the basic elements before I go into the step-by-step process of choosing a color palette for your home.

Hues are all the colors on the color wheel. These colors can be divided into three categories - primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. You use a mixture of these to create a color scheme.

Color wheel

Tints, tones, and shades are created by altering hues by either adding white, grey, or black to them. A tint is made by adding white to a hue. Tones are created by adding grey and shades are created by adding black.

Tones can be further broken down into two categories - warm and cool tones. Cool tones have a blue, violet, or green tinge while warm tones have hints of red, orange, or yellow in them. Cool tones are generally calming and soothing while warm tones have a cosy feeling.

Cool vs Warm

Now that we have the basics, here are six tips for choosing a color palette for your home.

1. Establish Mood

Good color palettes convey the mood or atmosphere you want to have in your home. That is why you should reverse engineer your color palette by first deciding the mood you want to have in your home and then choosing the color. Use your current home as a starting point, do they feel too dark, flat, or busy? Think about how you want your home to feel.

2. Find Inspiration

Browse for inspiration, look through Pinterest, create mood boards, and take cues from your clothing, fashion style, or things you’re naturally drawn to. Choosing a color from a source that inspires you will result in an interior that you are happier with and less likely to alter any time soon.

3. Choose your dominant color

Before you choose your favorite hue to be your dominant, try to determine the things that already exist in your space such as fixed finishes like wood floors, wall tiles, or faucets as well as the color of irreplaceable pieces of furniture because this will narrow the selection of color options that will work in your space. Consider the undertone of any wood, metal finishes, or soft furnishings in your home, and plan your color scheme around that. This is important because colors that relate to existing finishes in a room always look more harmonious.

Here’s an example:

Notice how awful the warm-toned cabinets and counter looked against a light turquoise paint (left). In contrast, a similar paint works much nicer together with the grey marble countertop and white cabinetry (right).

This is a great example for considering your existing finishes. In the case above, if you have a vanity in a similar color to the one on the left, it's probably not a good idea to paint the wall turquoise regardless of how much you like it.

When you're trying to select a dominant color, try to get a sample (paint chip painted with real paint, or fabric swatches if selecting rug, furniture, or wallpaper) and prop it up against your existing finishes that you plan to keep.

4. Repetition & Contrast

Use different tints, tones, and shades of the same color. For example, you may use one tint, shade, or tone on your walls and a different tint, shade, or tone on a vase or artwork. By repeating variations of the same color you will create rhythm - a design principle that creates a sense of harmony in a room. The variation will also increase visual interest and stop the room from looking dull and flat, which often happens when you only use a single shade of the same color.

Using various shades, tints, and tones of the same color can make for a much more visually interesting room. This applies to both neutral and colorful spaces.

5. Combine Cool and Warm Tone

Combine cool and warm tones within your chosen palette as it will create a sense of balance in an interior. A space with too many cool tones will feel cold and unwelcoming while one with too many warm tones will feel closed in or stuffy. For example, in coastal interiors, you’ll often see warm timbers throughout the space, which is a great way to balance out all the cold blues and whites.

Notice how all the warm tones help balance out the cold blues and whites so the space does not feel too stark or sterile.

6. 60-30-10 rule

This is a popular rule when using three or more colors. The rule is that 60% should be your dominant color, 30% should be a secondary color and 10% should be an accent color. 60% of color is usually used on walls, 30% on furniture, rugs, and curtains, and 10% on decor items such as vases, throws, and candles. It’s a good rule if you’re getting started, but use this as a general guide only, don’t get too fixated on the maths.

Many people ask me, what if I want to use more than three colors? Just add a 5-10% element, but do this one at a time to not upset the balance.

Low-commitment ways to add or swap colors

Easy to change elements: Throw pillows or blankets, flowers, budget artwork, plants or books, lamps, decorative vases, and small furniture.
Small but fixed elements: Cabinet or door hardware, pendants and sconces, paint existing doors or furniture.
Big splash: Rug, curtains, removable wallpaper

I talk about color in much more depth, from how to choose a color palette, what color goes with what, and how color exists in relationships (so you can choose paint, furnishings, and decor that actually work together instead of looking completely off) in Chapter 2 of Practical Home Design.

Beautiful Space

California Bungalow With A Lush Central Courtyard | Written by Emily Holgate, Photography by Dylan James

​Struggling with decorating your home?

Check out some of our templates and resources.

Or check out my Practical Home Design course where I cover a step-by-step process so you, yourself can confidently make your own choices and design a home that you’ll love. There's roughly 3 hours of video content, and I'll also provide you with guides, handbooks, templates, and a bunch of resources to aid your learning.