How I’m Developing My Interior Color Palette (Parts 1 and 2)

This is a two-part post about how I’m developing my interior color palette. The newest post is underneath the first post. So, if you’ve read part 1 please click the link below, otherwise please begin from the top.

 

Part 2 Begins Here

 

Hi Everyone,

This is an exceptionally busy time in my renovation. Many decisions need to be made—NOW! One of the most important is developing the interior color palette. This is done in conjunction with the furnishings and especially, the finishes.

We’ve discussed this many times*** because many people struggle with creating a cohesive color scheme.

That’s why I created the Laurel Home curated paint and palette collection. You can find out more about by clicking the link. Its aim is to help folks figure out their paint colors and interior color palettes, which include not only the paint but also the colors for everything from the floor to the furnishings.

*** In fact, there is a lot of overlap in this post from last November!

However, the plan in the lower entry has changed because the huge electrical panel sticks out too much, and wallpapering over it will look odd.

 

But, here’s the thing, and I’ve said this before, but it’s an important point. If you take one thing from this post, this is it.

Please do not make everything match.

 

It looks too contrived, and that’s not a good look. In other words, I find it best to use many variations of the same colors throughout the space(s). This is what you see in fine art paintings, and it’s one reason why I love to use artwork to help develop an interior color palette.

The work has already been done. There’s no need to reinvent the color wheel. (pun intended)

For me, in all of my homes, there’s only one piece of art I need.

 

 

It’s this one: my beautiful vintage Zuber screen, which I purchased in New Preston, CT, in 2000 for $2,000. My wasband thought I was nuts, and he wanted me to sell it to a client.

 

Are you freaking kidding me?

 

Over my dead body, I’m selling it. If the house were on fire, after the kids, the cat, keys, and wallet, this is the next thing I would grab before heading out.

 

Laurel, are you sure you wouldn’t have grabbed the screen first? ;]

 

Very funny.

 

But, Laurel, you lost me when you said not to make everything match. What if everything clashes?

 

Let me ask you something. When you walk in a forest in the middle of summer with a zillion shades of green, have you ever thought? “Oh dear, this forest sure has a lot of clashing colors?”

No, you have not.

Clashing colors are subjective. But, it’s more commonly noticed if there are only two or three colors. It’s like the navy pants and sweater clash because one skews slightly red and the other slightly green. However, if you put on a white jacket and a patterned scarf with many shades of blue, the colors won’t clash. It’s like that.

 

However, here’s a better example as it relates to an interior color palette.

 

Remember this post about the redend point that barftastic COTY in 2022?

 

 

What are they calling this look now? Mob chic? lol

Now, where was I when you interrupted me, had that excellent question?

 

Oh yes, interior color schemes and how I discovered what I love.

 

Ever since 1998, when I was forced to come up with a design for a living room and a watercolor rendering in only one week, I have found my favorite scheme and layout in a book.

 

It was a room with a sofa and four chairs. The colors were muted greens, with some brown, gold, and bits of black. Two of the chairs slipper chairs were upholstered in a verdure tapestry. I was in love.

 

The tapestry was something like this.

Oh, that reminds me.

 

I just saw that Veranda has proclaimed that tapestries are IN!

 

Ummm… Yeah, they’re definitely in and have been for the last 600 years, give or take.

 

 

I still adore the tapestry pillows I’ve had since 1997!

 

But, how does the Zuber screen translate into a real-life scheme?

 

We’ll get to that.

And, are there other colors one can use?

Yes, absolutely.

However, let’s begin with what we know.

I love the colors in the new entry hall, but I don’t know which wall color, just yet. I have to get samples, just like everyone and I’m going to start ordering my samplize samples this week.

 

Oh, one quick tip.

 

You know how they always say to look at the colors in the room they are going in? Well, for a windowless room like my bathroom, the lighting is so horrifyingly bad that I am going to use my upstairs windowless bathroom to check out the colors.

 

However, an obvious possibility is the popular Farrow & Ball Green Smoke. (Above)

I do love one of the Laurel Home Collection colors, Jack Pine.

 

This was from a wonderful post about talented Laura, who used Jack Pine for her living room walls. She did this room for about $1,100 back in 2018.

(Also, please check out what she did with the family room a year later.)

Remember that because there is not a lot of natural light, the lights will almost always be on. And, most of you know I like them warm.

My electrician who has a lot of affluent clients says. “Most people want as much light in their closets as possible, so I put in 4,000 kelvin lights in closets all the time. Never had a complaint.”

Darling man, I am not most people. No, I didn’t say that. I kept my hand shut! I said the 3,000k lights would be fine.

If not, I have a little trick.

It’s called golden beige masking tape.

Don’t laugh! The guys keep a huge roll of it here and believe me; its best use is for taming too-bright white LED lights.

This means the color might be a little more blue than green. In fact, I read that the walls in the TV show Upstairs/Downstairs are Farrow & Ball Stone Blue.

Is this possible?

Yes, it’s completely possible.

Look up Oval Room Blue. You’ll see it can look anything from a medium blue-green-gray to a fairly bright teal.

Even Farrow and Ball’s images show Oval Room Blue looking quite different from each other.

 

 

See what I mean?

The above Oval Room Blue looks closer to stone blue. However, Oval Room is the color I currently like best for this space. We’ll see when the samples come. Stone Blue is a contender for the den.

 

In the meantime, I’ve been thinking a lot about the downstairs 425-square-foot suite of rooms, including the entry, embrasure hall, primary closet, and the largest space, the bedroom.

 

Of course, they all need to work together.

However, it’s not just the wall colors to be considered for the interior color palette; there’s the floor, too.

And, all of it is wood.

Why did you do that?

 

I did it to get this job going. I made that decision last August or September. Nothing was happening for weeks on end.

Last week, I finally got some wallpaper samples.

 

One of them I got I’m going to call the new Raphael by Sandberg.

I don’t care if every other blogger and designer is putting it in their home.

 

It’s the House of Hackney Plantasia. It looks like a mural, but it’s not really.

The sample looks exactly like the photos.

However, look at this powder room.

 

via Far Studio on Instagram – House of Hackney Plantasia Sage

 

Mine will have wainscoting, and I am also thinking of putting the paper only in the WC area and behind the vanity.

I’ve long thought I wanted a dark bathroom. Remember this post about dark bathrooms?

The bathroom is small—not micro-small like my Bronxville bathroom, but small enough that a dark scheme in a windowless room will be fantastic. That might be counterintuitive, but if you’ve ever been in a beautiful windowless dark bathroom, you’ll know what I mean. It’s very soothing. Not having windows can be a good thing in small doses.

Okay, that’s all the time we have for today.

 

But, Laurel, what about the bedroom?

 

What about it? ;]

 

What are you doing in there? Is that going to be dark too?

 

I’m sorry, but I need to stop for now. It’s daylight no-sleep-savings time. Rest assured, the colors will be an ongoing off-and-on topic for weeks. However, I promise it will all come together.

The final words for now are that the principles I’m discussing apply to any interior color palette you’re working with.

xo,

 

***Please check out the recently updated HOT SALES!

There is now an Amazon link on my home page and below. Thank you for the suggestion!

Please note that I have decided not to create a membership site. However, this website is very expensive to run. To provide this content, I rely on you, the kind readers of my blog, to use my affiliate links whenever possible for items you need and want. There is no extra charge to you. The vendor you’re purchasing from pays me a small commission.

To facilitate this, some readers have asked me to put

A link to Amazon.com is on my home page.

Please click the link before items go into your shopping cart. Some people save their purchases in their “save for later folder.” Then, if you remember, please come back and click my Amazon link, and then you’re free to place your orders. While most vendor links have a cookie that lasts a while, Amazon’s cookies only last up to 24 hours.

Thank you so much!

I very much appreciate your help and support!

 

 

*********************************************************

Part 2 Begins Here

Sunday March 17, 2024

Hi Everyone,

The other day, my painter asked me if I had selected the colors for the ceilings and trim downstairs.

I said:

“I’m working on it.”

Ha.

Only it’s not really funny. Picking paint colors is very difficult!

 

Wait a second, Laurel. Aren’t you the paint color expert who wrote a guide about what are the best Benjamin Moore paint colors to use?

 

Uh-huh…I did write a two-part guide, and I’m very proud of it! (That was like giving birth to quintuplets over two years!)

However, I’m not fond of the word “expert.”

I’m experienced, is all. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and that’s how I got better at it. But it’s still not easy. That is, for oneself. If a client needed help, I’d figure out the entire house in a couple of hours.

 

I learned many years ago never to choose colors at night with artificial light.

 

Why?

The reason is that when you look the next day at what you thought was so fantastic, the night before is actually the perfect shade of awful.

Lucky me, my ensuite bathroom has no natural light except for some indirect light about 25 feet away.

 

I’ve decided to put this delicious wallpaper in the WC niche. That might be the only place it goes.

The shower tile is Bianco dolomite, a very pale gray stone with an extremely subtle horizontal vein.

I don’t want to get off topic, but I can’t wait to show you the tile for the kitchen backsplash.

 

Laurel, it seems awfully late for you to decide on paint colors and backsplash tile.

 

You’re right, it is. But, even if I had, I most likely would’ve changed all of it, anyway. haha

 

Choosing paint colors is a lot like giving birth.

 

If you’re like me, you do it once and swear you’ll never do it again.
But, then, you forget.

It’s universal. All women forget how excruciating it is.

That is until we give birth the second time.

If you’re one of those freaks of nature who giving birth is no big deal, please try to understand that it’s normal for it to be agonizing. Thank you.

Anyway, picking paint colors is exactly like giving birth for those of us who swore we would never do it again but did.

In this case, there’s an extra dose of evil: I must choose the colors in artificial light. Plus, my current lighting is terrible.

Remember the interrogation room, bathroom?

Well, it looks more friendly now that it’s primed, but that overhead light is not staying!

This leaves the den or the upstairs bathroom to check out the colors.

 

Laurel, just use your freaking guide!

 

Hold on, I am, and please stop interrupting because my brain has already turned to mashed potatoes! Thank you again. :]

But, there’s more. And it’s something I’m keenly aware of with my guide.

The published colors often only slightly resemble how they look on the chip. I find that colors that look nearly black only look like a mid-tone color when viewed online. Then, some very grayed-down colors look overly bright on the computer.

One thing I love to do is to ask the room.

 

What color would you like to be?

 

My bathroom has been pretty shy so far and has not given me much information. Some rooms are like that.

When that happens, I ask myself, “What would I like to see?”

Well, I found a fantastic photo, but the file was way too small. However, I found a beautiful image of it on Instagram. There are two, but I am only posting one. This designer used the Plantasia wallpaper in sage on a fantastic headboard.

@jmarquephoto on instagram –

design @sherryshirahdesign

Both of these talented ladies have gorgeous pages on Instagram. Please check them out and follow!

I just realized that Plantasia also comes in a cotton/linen print.

 

This might explain why the colors look more vivid in the photo from House of Hackney. The colors in the paper are not quite this saturated. However, another problem is the paper is not very photogenic. The gray leaves look more blue-green in person, no matter the lighting.

Still, the other night, I looked at colors and saw one in the Benjamin Moore Williamsburg collection.

It’s called Tavern Charcoal. However, there’s a distinct and very rich green undertone. It’s incredibly beautiful.

 

 

I really love it. I can picture it behind the Gold Carlotta mirror from Ballard Designs.

 

 

And my beautiful white Piaf sconces from Visual Comfort.

 

(Please also check out the HOT LIGHTING sales page. I just added a bunch of gorgeous new lights and all are on sale!)

Or, the Portola, on sale at Serena & Lily. (The entire site is currently on sale!)

 

 

But then, this afternoon, I put the large paint chip I have on a different wall, and it didn’t look at all green. It looked like pure black.

 

 

Above is a lighter shade and also very beautiful, called Palmer Green and also from the Williamsburg collection.

 

So, I began doing mock-ups on picmonkey. These are very rough. But it’s better than nothing.

 

Palmer Green Bathroom

 

I love this Bancha (by Farrow & Ball) bathroom. It’s a bit bright for the Plantasia.

Please check out six Farrow & Ball colors they never should’ve archived.

 

So, do Bancha and skip the wallpaper.

 

Yes, I could, but I love the paper in the little WC niche.

Please know that I’ve looked at a zillion colors– in the dark. haha. I tried these colors, but I don’t know what they are at this point.

 

This is lovely. It could be something like Quiet Moments or Silver Marlin, both in the Laurel Home paint and palette collection.

 

 

This one looks like Night Train from the No-Fail paint colors post. It’s old but gold, as they say.

However, here’s a reader whose no-fail paint color failed!

Please note: I’m not sure about the floor. That would have to be a stencil.

However, this one is my favorite. I think it looks old-world and neither too light, nor too dark.

I have a good idea about the colors. So, please come back Monday for more, and see which mural I’ve selected for the bedroom. We’ll also discuss ceiling and trim colors.

I promised the painter I’d have answers for him on Monday.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

xo,

 

***Please check out the recently updated HOT SALES!

There is now an Amazon link on my home page and below. Thank you for the suggestion!

Please note that I have decided not to create a membership site. However, this website is very expensive to run. To provide this content, I rely on you, the kind readers of my blog, to use my affiliate links whenever possible for items you need and want. There is no extra charge to you. The vendor you’re purchasing from pays me a small commission.

To facilitate this, some readers have asked me to put

A link to Amazon.com is on my home page.

Please click the link before items go into your shopping cart. Some people save their purchases in their “save for later folder.” Then, if you remember, please come back and click my Amazon link, and then you’re free to place your orders. While most vendor links have a cookie that lasts a while, Amazon’s cookies only last up to 24 hours.

Thank you so much!

I very much appreciate your help and support!