This the first in a three part series exploring color in home décor and design.
From moss green and buttery yellow to pale neutral tones and exuberant bold hues, we live in a world filled with color.
After several years of white on white on white and varying shades of gray decorating choices, color is back in town.
Thinking about, or committing to, a bold saturated color is a big change. While it can be scary, when done right – for you, your taste and your home – making the choice to use and live with color can yield stunning results, completely changing how you see and experience your home.
Think about the best rooms you’ve seen or enjoyed – either in your own home or when visiting others. What would adding color to your home’s décor – from carefully selected pops in plush pillows, comfy throws, or a luxurious accent chair – mean?
Are you ready to commit to changing room colors, walls, trims or even the ceiling to a glorious color that lifts your spirits whenever you walk into the room?
According to House Digest.com white is timeless, classic and visually expansive – it makes rooms and spaces appear bigger. But the all-white trend dominating home décor and design, especially rooms completely swathed in white, may be slipping in popularity.
Better Homes & Gardens.com reported color will not only be making a return in home décor and design, but those bold saturated hues will be popular, front and center choices throughout 2023.
Taking the time to narrow the plentiful field – through an endless sea of white tones or neutrals to working your way through the color spectrum – should prompt thoughtful consideration.
“Instead of making a time-consuming mistake, go to a good paint store and pull a bunch of chip cards that catch your eye. Take them home and look them over for a week or two, eliminating as you go,” said Pam Lazor, owner of Casa Double L Interior Design in Riegelsville.
Whether you spend time in consultation with an interior design professional or forge your own path, it’s important to understand how changing a room, or your entire home’s paint or furnishing colors, will impact your mood, your interior landscape, and possibly your life.
This approach helps make selecting colors that please and delight, while feeling just right, a satisfying bridge to cross.
According to Homes & Gardens.com color is the trend for 2023 with earth tones, neutrals, pinks and even reds expected to dominate and be top picks.
“Raspberry Blush” by Benjamin Moore, “Terra Rosa” by Dunn-Edwards and Sherwin Williams “Redend Point” are examples of various paint company’s Color of the Year picks for 2023.
Nancy Gracia, an interior designer and owner of Bare Root Design Studio Inc., in Newtown, said some people simply are not comfortable with color, even if they think they would – or should – be.
“You have to be open to something other than a neutral off white,” when considering adding color to home décor, Gracia said.
Perusing glossy magazines for inspiration may be fun, but keep in mind a gorgeous cobalt-blue sofa with Hunter green walls in a spacious living room may –or may not – be right for you.
“Looking at something you see in print, may not translate to your home. You may not be comfortable with it,” Gracia explained.
Getting ideas from books and magazines is an informative exercise, and one of several tools to use when making decisions about your home’s color choices. Having images to share with your interior designer is a way to kick-start color conversations.
When making a big change, consider one wall first.
Gracia recommends painting one wall to “live with it a little bit” and see how comfortable you would be surrounded by that new color in your living, dining or other often used room in your home.
According to The Spruce.com, a home décor and lifestyle website, color in your home should make you feel good, and there’s nothing wrong with changing a color because you’ve outgrown it, grown tired of it, or never really liked it in the first place.
“When someone is open to exploring color and they really have been used to a neutral color palette, the easiest and most cost effective way is to start with a powder room,” Gracia said.
If repainting a wall coral doesn’t work for you it’s a safe way to try color on for size.
“The easiest and most cost effective way is to start with a powder room. You won’t see it every day, and you can close the door. It’s also easy to change,” Gracia said.
Starting small, like in a powder room, gives you the chance to test drive color and see how it can help inform where you’ll make other changes.
“Wallpaper and wall color are easy to change, and it’s the easiest place to introduce color and/or pattern. If you can pass that test, you can do to the foyer or a ceiling,” Gracia explained.
Take cues from your home’s architectural elements, its time period and other features.
“The first place we start with color is with paint,” said Angela Carroll Ast, an interior designer and owner of ABCA Design Decorating Den Interiors in Milford Township, Bucks County.
Ast recommends a color palette from your interior designer, which can be used throughout the home for not only paint selections but furnishings, textiles and accessory choices. Armed with a curated color palette, your home will have a visual cohesion and flow.
Swatches with a dozen or less color picks are her recommendation.
The color palette will include a few whites, some mid tones, at least one dark color, and neutrals. Ast recommends clients hang onto the swatches and color palette for future projects or a home addition.
“We begin with the entire palette. You can pull fabrics and any kind of décor you want after you have that wall color,” Ast explained.
“The easiest change is to repaint a wall. You can’t reupholster – as easily – a green sofa” for example, if you don’t like it, Gracia said.
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