Creating Color Palettes

When talking to potential clients I often hear, 'I want the colors in my house to flow' or 'I want my rooms to coordinate with each other'. However, it’s said the meaning is the same – you want the rooms and colors in your home to look good together, right? You want to create a color palette for your home. Luckily this isn’t as difficult as it might seem. Here are three tips to create a color palette for your home:

GET INSPIRED: Find a piece of art, a rug, pillow or a soap container that has colors you love. Use that as your initial guide. I designed my then 2-year old daughter’s room around a patterned piece of paper in a decorative soap box. I also designed her striped nursery wall around the logo of a bicycle company. Inspiration can come from anywhere, you just have to be on the look out.

This gorgeous fabric was the inspiration for a family room project, design by April Force Pardoe Interiors.

NEUTRALIZE: Select a neutral color for your palette. Think tan, grey or white. This color will be your go-to neutral for all rooms. To keep things from getting boring you can use lighter or darker versions (value) of that neutral and suddenly you have neutrals.

SHOW YOUR PERSONALITY: Select two to three colors from your inspiration and use those colors to add variation to your palette. Let’s say you select orange and green. You would then use those colors and values of those colors throughout your rooms. The ratio of neutral to color will determine the feel of the spaces (more neutrals = calm and more colors = energetic).

Blue is the personality color in this family room with a neutral base, design by April Force Pardoe Interiors.

If you love having a neutral-only palette for your home, don’t feel like you need to add additional colors. Use a variety of textures within your neutral tones to add visual interest. Or, if one “personality” color is enough for you (versus 2 – 3) go ahead and do that! This is a palette for your home, so go with what you love. A variety of blues against an otherwise neutral palette can be a lovely palette. 

Once you create a color palette for your home, use it as a guide when you add new pieces to your home. This doesn’t mean you can’t add additional colors into your home, but think of this palette as your main palette or guide. Keep small color sheets of your colors in an envelope in your purse so when you are out shopping you know what colors to look for (and what colors to avoid!).

The bonus of using one palette throughout several rooms or an entire home is that you can easily swap accessories and furnishings from room to room and everything will coordinate beautifully!

April Force Pardoe is an independent interior designer and owner of April Force Pardoe Interiors, a residential interior design company in Howard County, Maryland.