How to get the RIGHT Color for Your Home

It's easy as A, B, C … and maybe D. I'll show you how.

Choosing color for your home can be a challenge.

Here I can show you where to place color and also give you some color suggestions.

When I design a color palette for my clients, I refer to the interior as a 'tree'. The foyer is the trunk which is the core of the home and the rooms are the 'branches'. This is like a  'color map' which helps my clients visualize the layout of their home instead of being so overwhelmed with color placement.

The foyer is usually a neutral color such as the one you see (A) above. Most of the foyers here in the south Charlotte area are very open and continue up to the second floor. Keeping that in mind, a light, neutral color seems to work best.

In most cases, the dining room is to the left or right side of the foyer. I find that many of my clients ask for a red dining room so we'll choose that hue for this area. Red is actually a great choice since red and the neutral go so well together and also makes a striking statement when you enter the home. 

COLOR CAUTION: Red has been known to increase your appetite. Think of all the restaurants you've been to that just happen to be red. Are they subliminally making you eat more? You may never know!

Working with red is also difficult. You'll definitely need a gray tinted primer (I know that sounds odd to have a gray primer but trust me on this one) to reduce the amount of coats you'll need. You can count on 2 possibly 3 coats of paint when working with reds.

Now based on this open floor plan, the Living room is going to be surrounded by the kitchen, foyer and dining room. Knowing that, the color you choose for this room has to coordinate with those surrounding rooms. 

Here is another shot of the Living room. Notice how you can see other rooms from standing in this one spot. Take that into consideration when choosing color. You also have to know where to start and stop the color. You can see here how I labeled the walls for  placement. This green will look great beside the neutral foyer and of course we all know that red and green look great together but they have to be the RIGHT red and green. Let's move to the kitchen. I think I see a nice warm gold for that room.

There are many factors to consider when choosing a color for your kitchen. Keep in mind the undertones of your flooring and cabinets. Do you want them to have the same undertone or to have more contrast? Let's say we are staying with the warm undertones therefore going with this this gold hue. 

Caution: Be careful here; your kitchen color has to coordinate with your living room color since these rooms flow into each other. Like the way the green and gold look together? Ok, let's recap.

• Do you like this palette?
• Do the colors flow from room to room?
• Is there enough color?
• Is there too much hue for you?

The only other color that I add at this point is a light color for the upstairs hallway. I like to choose a creamy, light hue because most, if not all hallways that I've seen lack light. To compensate for this, the off white not only lightens the halls but gives a great contrast to the color that were just chosen.

There you have it - a basic color placement map for you to use when choosing a sensational color scheme for your home. If you have a home that has more rooms or nooks and crannies that are color confusing to you, contact me and we can set up a color consultation and I'd love to help you out.

Please refer to my main website, Decorating by Donna for more information and beautiful color inspirations.