10 Color Palettes to Try When You’re Tired of All That Same-Same Out There

Project 365, Day 145/365

Time and again, one of the things I see people struggle with the most when it comes to starting the design for a room is…what is my color palette?!? I’ve experienced personally how hard it can be to break free of “blue, green, white” for instance. Safer palettes are great, sure, but look…sometimes you just want something else. A little more unexpected.

I was chatting with my friend Jess about this as she contemplated some colors in her apartment (if you read Emily Henderson’s blog, it’s that Jess). Our consensus: color is so hard!! It’s even harder when you don’t have reference material, and you’re just trying to pull combinations out of the air around you.

As I was scrolling Instagram last night, I found a picture that I was going to send her with a color palette I thought might give her some inspiration. Then, I stopped and said…hmm, let me go back and look at ALL my recent photos to see what palettes live in there. Sometimes we all are so focused on a pretty room’s pieces or overall vibe that we don’t take the time to dissect what is actually making the room work.

SO! I’m going to share 10 photos with you that I was taken by lately and pull out all the key colors in the space to essentially create some rough palettes. There is so much nuance to color in a space…what scale do you use what colors in, what tones, how much, how little, how high, how low, on molding, via textiles, so sure…it’s not as simple as “use all these colors together. K good luck bye!” But we all have to start somewhere. Let’s see what I found, shall we?

Let’s start with this photo from Regan Baker Design. It’s the one I saved that I was going to share with Jess as she figured out how to balance some of the pink she was using. I thought…oh! Maybe deep olive green could work, along with mixing in some darker raspberry tones. The colors here feel more like subtle accents to punch up the woods, leathers, stones and soft earth tones, so it’s a very lovely mix that reads warm and neutral but a little unexpected.

I can’t recall if I’ve suggested you all follow the Instagram account for the Pali Hotel line, but it is a treasure trove of design inspiration. This photo is from the Pali Santa Barbara and I just love how the fiery red (with orange undertones, not pink) makes the blueish-greenish-gray come to life. It’s just a touch, down there at the bottom, but it changes everything. Round it out with terra cottas, seagrass, brass and you have a natural, modern, eclectic thing happening. If Paris was by the ocean and had cool seaside hotels, they would be this.

A lot of these palettes so far have a lot in common: rich cool blue and/or green, warm earth tones, natural materials, but yet, they all look so different and that has to do with the mix, the volume of color (how much of it you use in a room) and the subtleties in tone. It’s an art, but it doesn’t have to be as intimidated as it is. Just find images you’re drawn to and start from there. Or start from a piece in your room you picked and loved, like a wallpaper, a rug, an art piece. Here, we’re not working with much pattern, so the solid colors are in greater volume to make a bigger impact. This is from a hotel called @thelorca that West Elm outfitted and it’s so, so lovely, don’t you think? Here, the colors are a bit more muted, “milky” as I like to call them. It’s really inspiring me to make some tweaks in my own color palette for my room!

Lucky little baby that gets to call this nursery by Swatts and Co home, hm? You know I love a painted ceiling and basically any way to bring ochre and mustard into a space, I’ll take. The punch of bright blue and the warmth of cognac leather are so great and would work really well in a grown-up space.

I am not shy about my crush on Studio Ashby’s rooms. They never miss. This one breaks from the cool-and-warm mold a bit by leaning all the way into tones in the orange, yellow, red, but it’s softened a bit with the plum and mauve in the pillow. The black of the nightstand is a great counterbalance to prevent things from getting too “desert chic” as I call it, keeping it squarely in the modern camp. I didn’t add it to the palette, but the hint of slate blue in the sconce cord really is the cherry on top of this beautiful room sundae. (Mmm…ice cream…)

Good lord, I love this room. Painted molding, printed wallpaper, mermaid tail tiling, warm woods…it’s so, SO good. I found this on Domino’s Instagram account, but the design is by Marcella Dilonardo. The sage green works so well with the touch of purple-y blue in the pillows, and it’s all balanced by the flaxy wovens, black flooring and door frame, and plenty of light wood tones. Brass fixtures and hardware never hurt anybody, either.

Here’s a more neutral space with some pizazz, by Ginny Macdonald. I like a creamy white and black room as much as the next person, but sometimes, you gotta take it up just a small notch more. Of course, the mix of woods is a layer that can’t be ignored, but just bringing in those velvet burgundy pillows and balancing them with a deep hunter green plant on the credenza is everything you need to keep it quiet but interesting.

All hail Dabito, my color king. I’m not one that’s much for purple in large applications like this, but it’s spaces like this that would make me double think that last statement. Wait…do I like purple? The peacock blue, coral and fresh greenery keep the purple from reading too “sweet,” and a hefty helping of black via the table grounds it all.

Bobby Berk shared this room from designer Brock Forsblom and it just made my eyeballs so happy. I’ll admit, half the appeal of the space is the styling, with all the lush plantings, which were probably just placed for the photoshoot. But there are still lessons to pull from here when it comes to color. I think there are two things working here. One: the pillows in blue and beige hues set against the mauve, nubby seat cushions of the vintage dining chairs. Two: the cooler tones are shaken up by the warmer, more yellow greenery. Even the little dots of yellow via the lemon tree helps to round things out.

Speaking of lemons…you’d be hard-pressed to find a room with a lemon print in it that I don’t bookmark. Test me. Using it on a headboard of an adult room is a bold choice that maybe only Arent & Pyke Studio could pull off, but the fleshy, terra-cotta tones that surround it make it work…somehow. Outside of this room, I just really like this palette. Those warm flesh tones can get boring and heavy really fast, so mixing them with juicy yellow and earthy greens in just about any tone keeps things happy and interesting.

Honestly, I could do this all day. Color palettes are my love language, so hopefully, this was helpful. Bookmark these for the future, because you never know when you’ll need some palette inspiration.

See you tomorrow, FOAS.