Ideas + Advice

How To Decorate With Color

Expand your repertoire beyond neutrals: You can create a room that boosts your mood, feels inviting and reflects more of your personal style, just by using color. It’s all about considering your color comfort level, from a little to a lot—and then maybe pushing yourself just a liiitttle bit further.

Here, 3 easy ways to add color to your rooms—from dipping your toe in to fully taking the plunge:

        1. Use accessories for pops of color. Want to start with a little color? Interior designer Orlando Soria recommends bringing in pillows, throws, artwork, and vases for low-commitment color boosters. They’re easy to change, inexpensive, and you can switch them out with the season or whenever the mood strikes.

Use accessories for pops of color
  • Tip: Don’t make every accent all the same color. A good way to find hues that will play well together is to choose a multicolor pattern on a rug or pillow you like, then pull out 2-3 colors from that pattern.

        2. Kick it up a notch with colorful furniture. Try splashing color on a piece of furniture, whether it’s your sofa or an upholstered headboard, or a poppy ottoman or side table.

Kick it up a notch with colorful furniture
  • Our suggestion for larger or longer-term pieces: Choose a hue that bridges neutral + color. For example, our Wasabi green is a color that mixes well with many hues and functions as a neutral. Navy, Rust and Horseradish yellow are similarly versatile shades.

        3. Go all out with color on your walls. Feeling color confident? Wallpaper or a coat of paint can set an appealing stage for neutral furniture. Add in accent colors on your rug, curtains and/or accessories.

Go all out with color on your walls
  • Designer Orlando Soria’s tip for choosing color that’s easy to live with: If it’s a strong hue, reduce the saturation—choose a color that’s a couple shades lighter on the paint sample strip, so when it’s on all four walls it doesn’t overpower the room. Or use a bolder hue on just an accent wall.

More tips for using color confidently:

  • Always get samples. Take the time to paint sample colors in a large swath on walls and see how they look at different times of day + night. Order fabric samples—don’t rely on phone pix to capture color accurately.
Always get samples
  • Not sure where to start? Look in your closet. The colors you love to wear are often a good clue to ones you’d like to live with also.
  • Colors don’t need to match perfectly. Don’t be afraid to mix different shades of blue or green, say—they shouldn’t clash but some variation adds sophistication to a room; you don’t want everything too matchy-matchy.
  • Balance with neutrals. Be sure to give your eye places to rest that are calming, whether white, wood, stone or natural textures such as rattan + sisal. Use strong colors sparingly—on one main piece and a few accessories—unless you’re a color fanatic.
  • Carry color through in accents. If you use color on a focal point like your sofa—say, Cayenne red or Lagoon blue—weave that hue in smaller touches elsewhere, such as the rug, pillows, or chairs in an adjacent room. 
Carry color through in accents

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