The perfect colour palette - where to start

Are you struggling with the many questions that inevitably come to mind when you find yourself in front of those big colourful displays loaded with beautiful paint colour chips? Sooo many options... Neutrals? Bold colours? What about accent colours? Will they work with the furniture that's already there? Will they be too much? Can selecting the right colours get even just a bit easier?

Yes, it can. Here are three easy steps to follow. 

Step 1: Find something you love to become your source of inspiration. Look around your space and find that one thing you absolutely love. It could be a beautiful rug. A colourful toss cushion you picked up at a flea market. Or that stunning photo from your last vacation. Any of these items could be a great place to start.

Step two: use your source of inspiration to select 4-6 colours. 2-3 neutral colours and 2-3 accent colours.

Step 3: Define areas and assign colours. Assign neutrals colours to large areas (walls) and large pieces of furniture. The bold accent colours should be used for accessories, accent walls and smaller pieces of furniture (chairs/small tables).

Let's look at some examples on how these three steps can used to select the colours for your space.

In the images below, the rug could be used as the inspiration/starting point for the colour scheme. So step one is done. On to step two - selecting the colours you will be working with:

• 3 neutral colours: White, Black & Grey.
• 3 accent colours: Black, Red and Gold (black can act both ways, as a neutral or as an accent color)

In the first image, the white as a neutral plays a larger part with black being used as an accent colour while in the second image (the other side of the space) the roles are reversed with black becoming the main colour on the wall and white being used as an accent colour.

You can see how this colour palette was used throughout this entire apartment in Minsk, Belarus by visiting the Planete Deco website.

Here are a couple of more examples on how you can find colour paletter inspiration in a photo. Images from Design Seeds Pinterest board...  

And a last example where we used this funky painting as our starting point/ inspiration. We pulled 6 colours - 3 neutrals + 3 accent colours - for a clean, modern colour palette. 

The images above show how you can draw colours for your home from things and places you love.  For more "colour scheme" inspiration explore our "Colour Palettes" board on Pinterest.

If you have any questions, or need advice in selecting the colour scheme for your space, send me a quick note here. Would love to hear from you. 

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♥ Adore your home...

 *Photo credits: Pinterest