How to match colors at home

Posted on June 18, 2018

After my post on how to match the colors of clothes and accessories, it seemed right to complete the series with a focus on how to combine colors at home.

The rules are similar, but declined according to particular and fascinating patterns.

Here are my tips:

MATCHING, BUT NOT TOO MUCH

To effectively combine colors at home, as well as for clothes, you must avoid matchy-matchy effect (all maniacally matched).

Better to focus on a dominant color, enhanced by a minor and complementary one:

CROSSED MATCHES

A rule as simple as effective, is that of crossing.

Here are some examples below: the pillow does not match the sofa, but the wall; the armchair is not combined with the sofa, but with the cushions; the cover does not match the bed, but the wallpaper …

MONOCROME AND ITS RULES

Monochromatic can be fascinating in period houses and in very big ones: once each space had its own color.

When playing with the shades of a single color, the rule is to respect the same level of intensity.

COHERENCE AND INTENSITY

Monochromatic or complementary, when choosing colors at home, it is important to stick to the same level of intensity.

Below we see three examples of chroma coherence: low, medium, high.

QUESTIONE DI TEMPERATURE

Obviously, to avoid mistakes it is essential that all colors in the house belong to the same undertone, which is that of the basic finishes.

The colors may vary depending on the environment, but all must belong to a hot or cold palette:

GO WITH THE FLOOR

An essential guide for the combination of colors at home and the choice of its undertones is the floor.

If the parquet has warm shades, everything else will adapt to warm colors; if the wood has instead cold shades, even the furniture will follow cool colors.

GREEN LIGHT TO PATTERNS

To combine colors at home, you can often start from a painting: its color palette will dictate the colors for furniture and furnishing accessories …

Lo stesso vale ovviamente per la fantasia di una carta da parati…

If we play on the same gray scale, which goes from white to black, we can also mix different patterns (stripes and squares) or add a second element. As in this pic:

THE MAGIC OF WALLPAPERS

Among the fantasies we mentioned the wallpaper: an element that I adore and that I inserted in every room of my house (even in the bathroom).

Because? It gives personality, makes the house warmer and more welcoming, but above all it furnishes with little effort.

Just look at these photos to realize that when there is wallpaper, there is no need to add much more …

WHITE

I must say that, despite my passion for colors at home (and not only), I still suffer the charm of white: the spaces seem more spacious and bright, it relaxes and is timeless.

Coupled with a touch of black, it is very sophisticated and becomes the ideal base for any other colors.