21.4.13

Choosing the Right Colour Palette


It's almost "go time" and we are starting to sort through paint colours and swatches in order to narrow it down (thanks for the tip, Mir) before the move.  Our plan is to have a few shades to choose from so that we can tape them to the wall and live with them for a few days.  I've actually been walking around with paint swatches in my purse so that I can pull them out to check them in different lighting conditions.

As I mentioned in my recent chair post, I dreamed of a navy blue living room before we moved to this condo.  I don't know how we ended up with grey-white walls and red and orange accents, but I'm ready to return to the colours I'm most comfortable with!  While I loved the hip vibe in our condo, I don't think Corey and I are really "red and orange living room " people.

I think I really want a deep blue or navy as our main wall colour and you can see some of our other ideas in my last post about living room inspiration.  I want a more layered colour palette in our next home, so I wanted to choose colours in different tones and temperatures.  It's difficult to picture how colours will "go" together, so I find it nice to see it on paper a compuer screen first.

I've read many times that you should choose colours for your home based on what you wear.  I think colours from your wardrobe tend to be your favourites and are an excellent place to start.  I found a great post on Style By Emily Henderson which discusses the process of choosing a colour palette in depth.  Here's what I created:
I began with a rich navy blue and followed Emily's advice in choosing a highlight and a lowlight (in similar, but slightly different shades) to compliment my main colour.  I also considered the gold from the coffee table, the black leather from my siesta chairs as well as wood tones (from the floor and accessories) and our grey couch.  Corey pointed to the bottom right circle (which is actually from a photo of our couch) and asked what colour it was supposed to be.  My response was "couchy grey" so from now on, that's what we're calling that colour.  I also threw in a warm purple as a surprise accent colour.

I picked up some paint colour swatches of our main colours at Home Depot... These are the swatches I've been carrying in my purse.  I think we've narrowed it down to a few shades which seem to work together.  What do you think?


Here it is, up close and personal.


And for those of you who are wondering how our packing is progressing, I've included a zoomed out version of the colour swatch photograph.


Notice "Box Mountain" or "Mount Boxmore" in our living room.  We have packed 76 boxes plus 2 wardrobe boxes at this point and I like to think we're on the home stretch.  Wish us luck!

Related Posts by Zemanta