We’d be lying if we said that choosing a color palette that creates flow throughout your entire home is as easy as ABC. After all, deciding on a scheme for just one room can be tricky enough, so ensuring that all the rooms and connecting spaces in your home work together in a cohesive manner can be a daunting task.
However, it is well worth sitting down and taking the time to think about how to create color flow that connects the different parts of your property as this is the key to ensuring that your home is a welcoming sanctuary, and not somewhere that jars the senses and creates a disjointed feeling as you move from room to room.
Your color scheme should be balanced and work harmoniously so that no matter whether you love bright, bold energizing colors or more muted, subtle hues, when you move around you are equally comfortable whether you’re in the kitchen, home office or bathroom.
So with that in mind, here are some tips for selecting a color palette that works for you and your living space.
- The most obvious way to create color flow is to opt for similar hues throughout all of the spaces in your home. However, simply painting every room the same shade of ecru is not going to make for a very stimulating or interesting environment, so don’t be tempted to take the easy way out! Use paint cards to help you choose different shades. For example, consider painting dining room walls in dramatic navy, bedrooms in relaxing duck egg or periwinkle blue, and giving a bathroom an aquatic vibe with a vibrant teal.
- However, you want to avoid your home looking too ‘matchy matchy’ or overwhelming the senses with only one color, so choose another two or three colors that not only complement your initial shade and each other but that also work well with your furnishings. Play around with each room’s main color too; if you have also selected brown and beige as two of your colors, you could use brown as the primary focus in your lounge, and a shade of blue for the ceiling, an alcove or even the drapes. Ensuring that all of your rooms share one or two colors is a stylish way to create a balanced interior.
- You can also create cohesion by choosing colors that have similar undertones. For example, if you have decided that you really want to paint your family room a shade of grey that has purple undertones, explore other hues that also have a purple undertone.
- If you’re struggling to find a starting point and don’t know which direction to take, try taking a look at the soft furnishings, accessories or artwork that you already own. Do the zesty yellow drapes in your guest room make you feel happy? Perhaps the pastel lilac throws and cushions in your master bedroom are calling to you. Or how about using the fresh Kelly green blinds in your kitchen as a starting point? Take inspiration from your favorite pieces, whether it’s something large like that oh-so-comfy brown leather sofa or a splash of scarlet in a painting that’s been handed down for generations. Pinpointing these colors will get you on track and could end up giving you the base color that you use to tie your rooms together.
Finally, a word of warning. It can be tempting to get carried away and choose so many colors that the interior of your home ends up looking more like an explosion in a paint factory than a cohesive and well thought out design. Work out a plan and stick to it. We suggest that you limit yourself to three colors, either for your entire home or for each floor. There are no hard and fast rules so if you want a peaceful, zen like space downstairs in your living and communal areas and something a little more energetic for bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs, that’s fine. Just make sure the connecting areas such as hallways maintain the flow as they run from room to room.
Still not sure where to get started? Worried about creating a home that is either too busy or too bland? Sharper Impressions Painting can help. Our experienced decorators have been inspired by numerous fabulous home interiors and have completed a myriad of paint jobs using color palettes that create flow – and we are always happy to help you take the next step towards designing your ideal home.
