Living Room Color Palette

Many of you know I'm a huge fan of color, which is why I hang out at COLOURlovers more often than I should.  Something about putting together color palettes just makes me happy!  Even more happy is when I'm putting together a color palette for an actual project!  I've unpacked all my boxes from my move and now I'm ready to start the decorating!  My living room currently has the first three colors already in place.  I wanted to utilize what I already had and add a little something extra so I added in the chartreuse green and poppy red.  Wait until you see the projects I've got planned for these colors!

This color palette reminds me of the fields of poppies we saw in Germany so I'm going to use poppies as a motif throughout the room as well!

Wait until you see the projects I've got planned for these colors!  I promise I'll share the results as they come together!

Choosing a color Palette

There are many ways to choose a color palette for your room.  Many people find it easiest so find one element such as an accent pillow, artwork, or rug to base your palette off of.  This works really well if you can narrow down what type of color palette you like and then pull your main and accent colors from these items.

What if you're not really sure where to start?  Try finding a picture of some inspiring images and pull a color palette from there.  There's a color palette generator from Big Huge Labs that will help you too!  Here are some pictures I found and the color palettes that were generated with these and some finished interior spaces where the palette was used.  See how it all translates?

{Photo from Bridgy2008}

{Pendant from Lekker}

Fall 2010 Color Trends

Yes, I know it's not quite spring yet, but Pantone now has the Fall color trends available!  Can I tell you how excited I am about them?  By now you probably know that I LOVE color so the fact that the fall colors are not muted, but bright and bold make me giddy!  Aren't they just gorgeous?

If you twisted my arm to pick a favorite I'd have to say the living coral, oyster gray, and endive are some of my favorites.  But the others aren't far behind (except maybe the rose dust...not sure how I feel about it yet.)  What is your favorite color?

Color Palette Generator

I wanted to share with you a great resource that I found to help you choose colors!  It can be very frustrating for an individual to see a picture of a space that they absolutely love and then have trouble finding the right colors to use for your own space.  This generator from Big Huge Labs allows you to upload an image (it can be from on your computer or even Photobucket or Facebook) and then it will give you a color palette based on the colors found in the images.  From there you can choose a few colors (usually 3-4) and build the color palette for your space around it.  Try uploading an image that's not an interior...maybe a picture of something in nature or a favorite piece of clothing.  It doesn't have to be an interior space, as long as it's a picture with a color palette that speaks to you!

Here's a few examples of color palettes created from pictures that I love:





Palette 1 image from MFree.

Palette 2 image from xJavierx.

Palette 3 image also from xJavierx.

Palette 4 image from Jek In The Box.

Color is In!

This winter there were lots of neutral color schemes floating around.  Which I love!  But what about trying a little more color for the summer?  When I was in Chicago this weekend I took this picture of a display at Macy's.  Isn't it beautiful?  I love the crisp black wall with the splash of color on the background coordinating with the different colors of the KitchenAid mixer.

I'd love to paint a few stripes on a board to put up on the wall in some summery colors just like the background of the display.  It would make an easy, quick DIY project!

Have you seen any displays recently that you like?

Reader Question- Buying Fabric

We have started getting questions from readers which we love and periodically we will be sharing these here on the site.  Leanna had a great question that we wanted to share:

I am planning on redesigning my living room in the next few months from the ground up. Including new hardwood floor, all new furniture, paint, and fabrics. I want to know if there is some place you would recommend for buying fabric. I plan to use at least 4 different designs for pillows, window treatments, cushions, etc. Where can I look online or in store for a large selection of modern fabrics that I can coordinate? Thanks!!

Leanna this is a great question and you know how much we love redesigning around here.  I have to say that I'm not an avid sewer, but I do love fabric and planning a color palette so I have a couple places I think will help you out.

1. Amy Butler- This is the first fabric designer that I thought of as she has great designs printed on quality fabric.  You can see all of her current selection online and visit her list of retailers here- she has quite a few that are online.


2. Hancock's of Padacuh


3. Hancock Fabrics


4. Fabric Guru


5. Etsy- This is a great resource for small amounts of fabric.  *Sometimes you can find a seller that has larger amounts*, but I usually use these fabrics for accent pieces.  These would be a great resource for your pillows, or accent pieces.

As for coordinating the fabrics, I recommend starting with your color palette, along with your foundational piece (i.e. sofa or hardwood floor, in this instance).  As you start to look at fabrics online, save the images of prints, patterns & solids that work with the palette & foundational piece you have chosen.  Make sure you keep track of where you found the fabric as you go so you don't have a bunch of swatches saved and can't remember where you found them.  Once you have quite a few swatches picked out (7-10), open a few at a time in a picture viewer and see how they coordinate with each other and your foundational piece.  Eliminate ones that don't work until you have it narrowed down to 4 that you are happy with.

Above is an example of how to coordinate your fabrics.  I started with my color palette of green, blue, grey and yellow, along with the charcoal sofa and this is what I found:

Here's where I found the goods:

1. Amy Butler- Silver Daisy Chain


2. Fabric Guru


3. Hancock's of Padacuh- P Kaufman fabric


4. Amy Butler- Solids

I used this sofa as a foundation inspiration piece to help me pull everything together.  I hope this helps & happy redesigning Leanna.  Let us know how it turns out!

Have a question that you'd like to ask?  Click here and ask away!