How to Create a Whole Home Color Scheme

Reading Time: 4 minutes

A whole home color scheme is an important step in creating a cohesively decorated home. It helps your home look much more put together and planned…even if you are decorating ever so gradually over time.

---

One of the questions I get asked a lot is how to choose colors for your home. Most often, someone is asking about a single color. Like a paint color, or a rug color. But really colors should be chosen in light of your entire home. And for this you should have a plan. 

So today’s let’s chat about how to create a color scheme for your whole home.

 

Why a Whole Home Color Scheme

A whole home color scheme is an important step in creating a cohesively decorated home. It helps your home look much more put together and planned…even if you are decorating ever so gradually over time.

It can also be the key to helping you to choose decor wisely and not waste money. Which will be much less frustrating than never knowing what to buy or constantly buyings things that don’t work in your space!

Do You Have a Whole Home Color Scheme Yet?

I don’t know if you’ve planned a whole home color scheme yet or not. But if you’ve never planned a whole home color scheme, read on!

Before you go ahead and start planning your home’s color scheme, you need to have a grasp on color theory. No worries, I’ve made it easy for you! Go and read Just Enough Color Theory – And Not a Bit More! then come back.

Go ahead.

I’ll wait.

Okay.

Now that you’ve read that, let’s get planning your whole home color scheme!

How to Plan a Whole Home Color Scheme

1. The very first thing that you need to do when planning colors for your home is to take stock of the unchangeable elements in your home. The things that are basically permanent like flooring, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, counter tops, faucets, wall tiles, etc. Unless you’re planning on renovating these as you decorate, they are fixed and—like it or not—play into the color schemes you will choose for your decorating. Use the worksheet to note the color and undertones of your fixed elements.

2. Observe or choose the major wood tones in your home. If you have dark walnut hardwood floors throughout your home and you don’t plan to change those, that is automatically your major wood tone. Or if you have oak cabinets in your kitchen, oak railings by your stairs and oak cabinets in your bathroom, that is automatically your major wood tone. You can choose 1-2 wood tones as well to use in occasional furniture pieces like side tables and chairs. But pay attention to the undertones in the existing or planned wood items.

3. Observe or choose the metal finishes in your home. Metal items also have undertones that play to the colors on the color wheel. Golds and bronzes have yellow-orange undertones and are warm-toned metals. While silver and chrome are ever so slightly blue and are therefore cool-toned metals. Make note of what metal finishes are already in your home.

4. Pick one major color to carry throughout the house. This can be any color you adore, but it is best (especially for decorating beginners) to choose a more neutral or muted color. Whites, creams, taupes, grays, all work well. This can be a paint color, but not necessarily at this point especially if you don’t have major furniture items in place yet. You just want a general color idea and a definite decision between warm and cool tones.

5. Choose 1-3 minor colors. It is important that they all definitely play nicely with your major color. And of course it’s paramount that they coordinate with each other. However one exception is that well-defined rooms can have different colors from each other. For instance a child’s room can make use of brighter colors than the rest of the house. Or a small powder room can be much more dramatic than the other rooms nearby. Use the color wheel, paint chips and the major color schemes from my Color Theory post to help you.

TAKEAWAY:

Plan out a whole home color scheme, so that you know exactly which colors to bring into your home and which ones not to. Don’t get overwhelmed with this. Take your time. Really choose your colors well. Then keep this plan in a safe place and refer back to it as you decorate.

You’ll be one step closer to loving your home!

If you want to learn more about how to create cohesive flow in your home, check out my new course, Decorating Uncomplicated!