What color scheme should i paint my house

Hopefully you picked up a for tips for extending the awesome palette you already have started, too. This post appeals to me in so many ways.

Thanks Jackie! Brandy, I am so happy to hear that. Print of a couple copies of the worksheet and dig in. And having the same white trim everywhere — YES! We have so many different white paints, drives me a little crazy. Even if I have to repaint every bit of trim I want it all the same white. Diana, Make sure to use the worksheet. If you love the colors in your current place, make sure you have paint names and notes.

Then you can get a jump start by trying samples of those colors first in your new home. Jess, oh you noticed? Okay, this post is focused on the wall color palette. Accent colors for decor is a whole other post in the works. And, for the record, i do not currently have or do I ever plan to have a lime green wall. In my world, it is an accent color only. I did the art with my children and our lessons, never the same in 14 years, helped me to think about color.

When I moved into a builder-grade home, the trim was actually quality paint and a white I loved. And this is so true of your tip. I chose paint that looked sooo different for the open tall kitchen but once up, the difference is subtle. My kitchen is another room so the drape has the same colors as my BOLD drapes—suggested on one of your drapes sources days—only softer.

But with accents of red in livingroom and our bedroom wall open to the livingroom, it makes the red make sense and ties the two rooms together. And my daughters room has the lightest gold color with the softer green accent wall and a hint of the accent white, the green, gold and a touch of red in her bedspread. So it comes full circle. I change out pillows though for seasons.

But I read and really think about your tips now. This post is gold — and you are a gem for providing this kind of guidance for free, worksheet and all! Your son is so cute, by the way, with his big puppy eyes peeking over the sample board! Susan, so glad you liked it. This new once a week blog format is letting me dive deeper than ever before. And, now you know why my boys get out of trouble fast… how could anyone stay mad at those big brown puppy dog eyes?! If so, could you provide details, please?

You have an awesome talent!!! Beautiful work! Brandy, Thank you. Yes, we made the giant newspaper art. Hi Jackie! This is a great post. For someone who has to pick everything from scratch where would you tell them to start? Maybe work backward fro. The steps in the post? Meaning choose a favorite color then pick finishes based on those?

Also, would you coordinate the outside of your home with the inside? Thanks for the information! Stephanie, If you have a strong preference for a favorite color, then yes I would start there and work your way backward.

However, remember you cabinetry, stone, tile, flooring is much more permanent than your paint colors. So, just really make sure you love what you are choosing. I know most home builders schedule one appointment to do it all, but that will lead to bad decisions. Decision fatigue is when your decisions start to get worse the more you make in a short time period.

You start to rush or get tired. Anyway, get the brands you will be allowed to choose from in advance and go to showrooms to see the finishes on your own in advance of the date to meet with the builders designer. Give yourself the time to make the decision and go in prepared with what you are looking for. But I do think it should flow or connect in some way.

When you see the outside of a home you make some basic assumptions about what the inside will look like. If it looks like a completely different house on the inside that might be weird. Hope that helps. That does help. How smart. I lobe your site, so much valuable information here. Hi Jackie, This article helped me so much!

I like beige, lol. I am trying to step out of my shell a little so I am trying to add color to my home. I was just wondering if your tips would work for the exterior of a house? For example, using your color definitions my exterior is a brown with an orange undertone with tan windows that I would say have a greyish blue undertone.

In a case like this could you paint just the door a different color, say blue? Or would you have to combine more color throughout the exterior of the home? Thank you for taking your time to educate all of us!

I always look forward to your posts! Lisa, Yes! Your thinking is perfect. These tips are based on color theory and will work for any color selections. What you are describing on your exterior sounds like a great complementary pairing by using a blue door to play off the orange undertone in the siding.

One caution about exterior paint: test on large swatches taped or painted on door and look at it at all times of day. Any color will automatically be way brighter in natural sunlight than it would look on the interior of your home. I will definitely read that post. I am guessing a warm shade of blue would be best right?

Lisa, Without seeing your house, it is hard for me to recommend a color. This is so helpful. This information is going to make the decision process fly by using the colors that already exist in floors, counters and cabinetry.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for supplying this info free of charge. Have you considered publishing a book, if you havent already done so? Im new to your blog and Im SO addicted. I was shocked to learn you are self taught. Aside from the fact that I love your personal style, your information is honestly book worthy.

Ive watched video 1, so Im happy to say I will not simply copy your style. Great post Jackie! The problem is that I live in a log house. All the walls are made of pine, but are varnished warm pinkish white. Where else I could use these main colours? Or does my colour palette consist only from neutrals?

How about choosing accent colours? I red your article I love teal and turquise, but find it hard to use them as wall colours….

When wall color is not an option, you can still use the palette to inform colors you want on other large surface areas. Rugs, curtain panels, art, upholstered furniture, and painted furniture are other great, high impact ways to introduce your favorite colors. Thanks for your advice! But the idea of using the same colors differently throughout the house was new to me!

Thank you again! Jenni, Yes…mixing the way you use the accent colors in different rooms helps them look distinct, but still flow together. So, you might use the color on an accent chair in one room, a rug in the next room, and as window treatments in another room.

It creates flow without every room looking or feeling the same. I did make it. I understand it now. Last night I read through this post I have been stalking your blog since I ran across it two nights ago! We are going to be selling next year, so no truly fun paint colors for me boohoo but it helped me to visualize a cohesive color plan for the accessories, furniture and such. I LOVE the end result and so do they. You gave me the confidence I needed to embrace my bold style turquoise, orange, yellow, aubergine and grey — not all in the same room…lol and use what I already have and love.

I am making it mine and loving it! Jennifer, I love your kind of stalking :. You are so inspiring. It means the world to me to know that my content is helping you. Did you hear I am building a new site? What a fabulous post! I just cannot translate it into a solid, working plan. Thank you! Sounds like you are on a monochromatic track with the blues and shades of brown are your preferred neutral.

Jackie, help! I know, silly. They all said one of these two colors. But I think I need to choose turquoise because gray is in the middle of the color wheel. Any advice? Maybe it just needs to be my main bold color? I would love some advice. I ended up painting my entire house light beige. This is the best article I have ever read on choosing a color palette.

Thank you. I have no idea how to figure out which I have. Thanks again! Thanks, Nicole. The cool undertones would be green or blue most grays have a cool undertone. Warm undertones would be red, yellow, orange most beiges have a warm undertone. Greiges the mix between beige and gray are a little tougher, but that is where you get a warm gray. Adding this to my list of future topics to cover :. So I get the joy of starting everything from scratch!

We are buying a new home and completely renovating it. So far the only ideas I have for color are espresso or black-brown toned cabinetry and I have been eying the martha stewart living paint swatches that used to be in home depot. What does everyone think? The cabinets and floor will be my most difficult decisions! Tina, How exciting. And warm gray sounds like a dreamy combo…I like that it will contrast with the cabinets. Thanks so much! I have been waiting all day for someone to tell me that would be ok.

I am super excited to hear espresso is a true neutral :. Oh my gosh, this should be life-changing except I get hung up one little thing early on in your process: choose your favorite color. I have never, ever been able to pinpoint a favorite, not even as a kid, and it seems the ones I am drawn to are constantly changing!

I go through phases. What do I do?? Erin, I get it. Favorites are tough for some people. But do you like to use all those colors at once? Think back over time, is there one color that has always been in your pool of favorites? One you liked when you were 5 and 15 and 25?

Is there 1 or 2 common colors you never seem to grow out of? The other colors you like might fit in here too or in your accent color palette where they are more easily swapped. This post is incredible. Thank you for all the tips.

This makes it so much more planned. Great advice on choosing a palette for your entire home at once. Emily, Yay! I just shared a 3-part video class on creating your color palette. Thank you for taking the agony out of colour schemes. Your methodology simplifies the process while avoiding the concern of creating a circus of colors. I need to change the white!! Thanks once more. Your step-by-step process helped me realize that a neutral with a green undertone will look so much better than the fresh green-yellow I have on my walls now.

I think that it will do just the opposite by coordinating with the fixed elements and allowing my accessories to stand out better. Thank you so much for coming up with such an easy to follow, yet comprehensive approach to coming up with a whole house color palette!!! Lisa, Yay! I am so happy the class helped.

Complex neutrals are a beautiful thing and if you get the undertone right, it can pull your whole space together! Hi Jackie, Thanks so much for taking the time to explain all this. I greatly appreciate you sharing this information.

Correct colour makes all the difference and can transform a home. Thanks so much :. What a relief to stumble upon this class. I stressed about the whole house scheme, because there are so many rooms to paint.

The only color I knew I wanted was seafoam in the upstairs bathroom and a warm yellow in the downstairs kitchen. I do a lot of research but none of the house I see online have beige windows like I do. Does that mean that my color scheme should have a beige undertone?

I love this article. Thanks so much for posting it. I also love the colors in your house. My husband and I just purchased a house, and this really helped me. If so, what does that look like. What would you suggest? Anna, You can flex a little more on the color schemes with the colors you use in bedrooms, because they are separate spaces. The connection and flow is not as important. Thank you for writing in a way that makes sense to me. I am not sure why your explanations resonate so strongly with me.

It may be a shared IT background. But wow, thanks. We just bought a house that was built in It was remodeled and painted in a way that is very much not our style. In addition to remodel projects, we have to paint and redecorate while using existing furniture and fixed choices from the previous homeowner as much as possible. Now if only you had advice on how to get a husband to stop thinking he needed an opinion on decorating, that would be GREAT! I have a new to me home. It is open concept and backs to a green space …..

With huge windows that look over a deck. There is lots of light. The light is truly confusing to me. My main color looks so different in the sunroom vs.

Any suggestions? Our flooring has red undertones and our cabinets are cherry wood. Cynthia, Start with the lighting in your main living space. Different lightings can change the appearance of color as well. Indigo, for example, can appear bluer in one room and have much more red in another. There are plenty of ways to add splashes of color to your home. If you keep your walls neutral — pale beiges, sands, ivories, greys, and whites — you can bring color in with rugs, furniture, lamps, pillows, throws and artwork, flowers, and fresh fruit.

You may also consider painting your ceiling or an accent wall. Start at the beginning. The beginning could be a central room or a front hall or entryway. Do you tend to prefer blues, yellows, greens? Start with a color that best suits you. Then take that color and look at it several shades and hues lighter and several shades and hues darker. You like two shades, one has more of a grey undertone and more has more of a blue undertone.

Perhaps select one hue for the dining room and the other for the living room. To make them work together select a neutral that can be used in both rooms for ceiling or trim or both. Some suggest keeping hallways, landings, and connecting spaces neutral in tone. The upstairs and downstairs are two separate entities and should be treated as such. If your master bedroom has a master bathroom attached to it, you need not paint both rooms the same color, but do consider different tones of the same color — perhaps paint one room slightly lighter than the other.

As the two are connected there should be some semblance of flow. Picking a color for one room can be challenging enough. But picking a palette for your whole house? That feels daunting. Coordinate your colors too much, you'll end up matchy matchy. Don't coordinate your colors enough, you'll end up tacky tacky.

And that not only messes with your mojo, it can be bad for home value. Because ugly colors turn off buyers, and you may not get the best price if you ever sell. But you can end up with colors you'll love that'll also enhance your home's value — by following these tips from two designers who recently re-colored two different houses.

Rather than picking a palette from a big box store's paint brochures or from whatever Pinterest's algorithm serves you up, look into your own soul. Or, at least, into your closet or out your window. It might be a favorite sweater or a photo of your favorite beach spot. Or a pillow, Killam says. Or it could be a feeling you want your home to have: cheery, bright, dramatic, cozy