We’re thinking of moving away from the soft, subtle, and beachy whole-house color scheme that we have going on here and towards something more moody, risky, and sophisticated at the new house. Here’s hoping it works for us (you never know… and we’re the first to admit that sometimes we end up repainting). We’re definitely no strangers to covering our mistakes with another coat or two of something new if we don’t like how things look when we step back and check things out (after sharing the “outtake” pics with you guys of course). So it might take us a few tries to settle on a scheme we love, but right now we’re considering something along these lines:
We haven’t pulled any swatches yet (but we’ll be sure to share actual paint colors when we get there), but right now we’re loving eggplant, soft lavender-pink, slate blue, light gray, avocado green, saturated teal, muddy blue-gray, navy, emerald, artichoke green, chocolate brown, and light khaki. Not all on the walls of course, but also in the curtains, rugs, painted and upholstered furnishings, art, and accessories. Although we’re definitely planning to add pops of different accent colors in a much wider range of tones- these are just the bigger hues that we plan to use more liberally throughout the house for something that’s hopefully cohesive but not too repetitive.
We’re thinking that the overall effect of the colors/decor in our new house will still be semi airy & natural (it’s what we love, what can we say?), but we hope that adding more contrast, more saturated hues, and even more layers of texture (by working in some new furnishings, a few new rugs, more colorful art, and new fabrics galore) will give it a bit more zing than our current soft and subtle vibe. We’re also envisioning a switch from our beloved breezy white curtain panels to printed and saturated floor length drapes in every room of the new house along with a plush upholstered headboard in the master and even some wallpaper going on in a few places. And we’re thinking that a darker sectional would be a fun departure from the light slipcovered sofas you’re used to seeing in our spaces (we’ll craigslist them to get some moolah to put towards the new sectional, since it has pretty much been my life goal to have a big enough living room for a sectional where all of our family can gather).
We’re even thinking about repainting some of our white pedestal tables and our double desk with something smokier and more dramatic. To see a few mood boards we’ve envisioned for the new house, click here and here. Although we’re already thinking about a different bed possibility (we’d like to build one along with a DIY headboard). Who knows where we’ll end up.
What color schemes are floating around your heads these days? Anyone else feeling a shift from light tans and mochas to soft grays and even artichoke, slate blue, and deeper gray-green tones? Anyone going the opposite way and segueing into more breezy and light hues as opposed to the smokier and more high contrast ones that we’ve mentioned? Let’s talk about color. Is there really anything else in the world that’s more fun to discuss? Not to me. Except for my baby girl. I can bore you to tears with stories about her but I’ll save that for my weekly phone call with my mom…
LittleMissEclectic says
Love the color scheme- good luck!
Janelle says
I love that color scheme!
Andrea says
Can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!
keri says
my bedroom is eggplant and grey, with pops of mustard…and nice dark wood furniture. plus some nice elegant silver accents. it’s luxe, i love it :)
Rachel @ The Avid Appetite says
I absolutely love 1 and 2! Love some added drama. I too am trying to stop being so neutral and get some color in my apartment!
Brittany says
Great color pallette! In my next house I intend to paint the walls in lighter colors and accent in richer, more saturated colors that will probably change with the seasons (i.e., lighter in spring and summer to darker in fall and winter). In our current house we have richer, darker colors on the walls. I can’t wait to see how you pull it off.
dd says
Honestly, I’m not in love with the new color scheme because it feels wintry and christmassy to me and I’m not sure how well it would work in the summer. But I’m glad you are branching out – it’s important to keep trying new things. I might end up loving it.
And I’m excited to see you try out wallpaper!!
Laurel-Dawn McBurney says
I am loving the right side of the top row and bottom row. The pale purple-ish color is awesome- especially paired with grays and slate blues.. I cannot wait to see these beauties in action!
Loren says
Fantastic. I love the look of your home, but personally I’ve always been a ‘saturated colors’ girl. I am loving the plum/gray combo can’t wait to see what you do with it.
On a side note, I always find myself buying things (mostly clothing) with a darker color scheme in the fall and winter. I’ll go for the plums, turquoise, dark grays. But a lighter color scheme in the spring/summer, (yellow, red, baby blue). Do you think your new color scheme has been affected by the season you are moving during? Or have you been planning this change for a while?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Loren and Lindsay,
We totally could be subconsciously swayed by the cozy winter season around the corner! We’re loving some deeper tones but to keep things balanced and not too dark and wintry we hope to bring in light linens in a dark saturated bedroom or opt for lighter rugs or curtains in deeper walled living spaces. But we’re new at the dark wall thing so who knows how it’ll work out. And we’re definitely going to bring in lighter wall colors in other rooms to keep things from tipping too far from airy and open (since we love that look too). And our accessories can be light and bright to keep things feeling cheerful as opposed to heavy.
xo,
s
Lindsay says
I absolutely love these colors, but I have one comment/question. Do you think that these will translate into a “Springy” and “Summery” look and feel when those seasons are upon us? I am sure that you will change/update/swap accessories with the seasons, so that will probably do the trick…but I was just wondering what you thought. : )
Rachel says
Love it! Right now I’m into charcoal and light gray, red, turquoise and aqua, and brown. Our rental house has several rooms with white walls which is kind of nice and fresh and has allowed me to be much more dramatic with curtains.
I am getting ready to do our DIY bed as well – we’re using Knock Off Wood’s plans for a platform bed with upholstered headboard (West Elm knockoff) but we’re going to buy some bun feet so it’s a little bit more off the ground. Are y’all using one of Ana’s plans or your own?
Our kitchen has hunter green walls right now which is sooo not going with my turuqoise, red, and white scheme so I’m getting ready to paint those walls a moody charcoal. We have three ginormous windows, white cabinets and countertops and an ugly neutral tile backsplash so it should have just enough darkness. :)
For our dining room, we have red walls which we cannot paint over – hence me trying to work red into the flow in the rest of the house! And our living room is stuck in neutral so to speak, but I am dying to bring in such brighter aqua and deep chocolate accents in new art and pillows.
I am really dying to see your plans for the house in more detail! This is a very intriguing sneak peek. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Rachel,
Yes, we definitely plan to check out Ana’s bed plans and hopefully use one of them! We’ll share every detail when we tackle it after the bog move!
xo,
s
Samantha Cobos says
I love all the colors except the green – On my computer it looks like hunter green… I’m a color fanantic and an interior designer, I’m always repainting my home… My kids say our home is getting smaller because of all the layers of paint on the walls :)
Misty says
I LOVE this new scheme…except for the green in the bottom left corner. You guys are the experts, not me…But for some reason, it doesn’t seem to fit.
But I love that you guys are willing to try new things!
Jackie Smith says
I need color! Everything in our newly remodeled home is brown! Lots of wood and beigy walls, living room furniture too, except for the blackish/greenish granite countertop in the kitchen…I’m obsessed with peacock designs and found a rug on overstock, but it was too beigy…then last night I found another Pier One peacock rug (and round mirror) that is more of a chocolate brown with green accents….so I’m thinking maybe chocolate brown or green (maybe a little teal) for pillows, curtains in the living room and then on the LONG walk-thru wall maybe some kind of chocolate brown paint design with long shelves like your office…I also have a black fireplace to deal with, so I need to have some black too…ugh this actually kept me awake last night…HELP!
MacKenzie says
We just painted our new living room a tealish color, martha stewart “tidewater.” We haven’t moved in yet (still waiting for my husband to complete the refinish the hardwood floor project) but right now I love it.
leah says
I have found myself torn to the point of paralyzed lately about color schemes. I love love love white, but ussually I lean more toward wierd hues, avocado, reds, blues and yellows. The problem is that I am stuck because I cannot decide what I want to do. I love my whimsical kitchen but it does not feel very mature just fun and a bit over the top with my color choice, so choosing a color to repaint it has been really hard. Maybe your new choices will help inspire me out of my stuck state! haha.
Stephanie says
I LOVE the gray color scheme. We did a light slate gray in our living room and hallway. In our bedroom we did a darker gray on the walls (elephant gray to be exact), which makes it seem really cozy and looks great with our dark wood furniture. I love the idea of the printed curtains, you’ll have to keep us posted on what you find and how you make them!
Rebecca says
Love Love Love the new color scheme…not that I didn’t love the light and airy that you are currently working with. I can’t wait till you move in so I can see all the new projects. It’s like waiting to see an episode of Grey’s Anatomy….I can barely stand it!
Are you planning on going in a completely different direction in Clara’s room or are you staying close to what you have?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Rebecca,
We’re planning a new color for the walls, but a lot of her furnishings will remain the same in there since we haven’t had them very long and we love them as-is.
xo,
s
Adriane says
Yay for color! Maybe it’s because we lived in a prison of apartment white for so many years but when we bought our house, the first thing we did was paint the master bedroom a moody deep merlot color. We added tan and blue accents (it was a sherwin williams paint scheme Quietude/Nantucket Dune/Deep Maroon).
I love it so we looked for more trios to love (eg: light gray/grass green/teal and gray/ice blue/marine blue) for other rooms.
I’m in love with all of them but now we have ties but no flow! ::sigh:: At least there’s no white, right?
tracie says
It is super easy to have floor outlets put in a one-story house with a basement. I think I paid a $100 for the electrician to put in several around our last house. The best part, as a work at homer, was the flexibility it gave me in plugging in my laptop in places I didn’t have to worry about my daughter or the dog or my husband tripping over.
I love the new colors. I’m all about grays, navy, and eggplant right now.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Tracie,
Wow that’s cheap! What a great solution!
xo,
s
Karena says
I am loving the plum, yellow and grays. Yum very sophisticated!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
beth says
Looking forward to seeing this evolve and checking out your DIY window treatments. We’re moving into our new abode in about a month after you guys, so it will be great that you get a head start…it will let me jump start my brain a bit before we actually get into our new place. We’ll be painting cabinets in the spring, and chipping away at a few smaller projects before then. I’m still stumped on our main living space…vaulted wood ceiling with wood beams. I think we’re leaving the beams natural but I can’t decide about painting the wood ceiling….
Looking forward to watching you guys take off with your new plan!
Elizabeth says
These are so pretty! Can’t wait to see them in action.
Christin says
LOVE the color ideas! Especially the eggplant and slate blue/grey. I adore your current (soon to be former) house color scheme, but I am really excited to see what you do with more bold colors. Mostly b/c that’s what I’d love to do and can’t wait to get some tips and tricks on how to pick some not-so-neutral tones and make them work together room to room. Living in an all white wall apt I can’t wait to get color on the walls some day. :)
Monique says
Yes, yes, I’m ready for COLOR!
Emily @ LaForce Be With You says
Nice!! I love love eggplant and have an eggplant and “happy colored” green in my living room! check it out: http://www.laforcebewithyou.com/2010/08/eggplant-curtains_31.html
Must be so fun to plan out colors for your new house!!
Allison K says
ooh! Now you are speaking my language. I Loooooooove saturated color. Can’t wait to see what you guys do with the new house. I love how your current house is decorated, but I always gravitate towards rooms with dark saturated colors in my own decorating!
Michelle says
Love, love, love! I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds… :-)
Amanda @geekdetails says
I redid the colors I lived with when I moved last year. I was really scared to use dark colors on my walls but it turned out fantastic. I have deep jewel toned walls now in teal, blue, purple, and black and I adore it. I thought it was make my rooms look smaller but it’s made them look really lush instead. My furniture (and clutter…) really pops on the bolder colors.
I have a lot of white trim to go with the dark and we’ve painted some rooms lighter colors (like the dining room is white on bottom, dark deep teal on top). It’s awesome. Scary to do at first but I think you should go for it! You’ll love it!
Jessica says
Oh I cant wait to see! Right not the colors in out living area.. dark brown wood furniture and brown sofas with heavy amounts of a turquoise-ish blue. We have contracters beige walls as I have learned they are called in these home decorating blogs lol. I always liked the beige but we need to repaint anyways to get rid of the flat finish that drives me batty. I think we are going to color match our wall color to the color of our cat (gray) lol I know its crazy but everytime hes in the living room we feel like he fits right in with the colors and its quirky which is just how we are lol
Gina says
Oooooh, Love it! Esp the plum!
Melinda says
Wow, I’m really loving the left most column. The contrast is really beautiful and I can’t wait to see you all start executing!
Snickrsnack Katie says
You know, I have always been way into deep, darker colors and vibrant pops of color – particular reds. But now, I am evolving away from that and into lighter hues and whites. It is funny how we all evolve!
I love your color palate! Very sophisticated!
Gina says
Oh! Don’t get rid of all those white curtains just yet!!! When I got sick of my plain white ikea curtains, I used a large wall stencil (like the one you used on your sunroom floor) and some left-over wall paint to create a fabulous graphic print!! I get compliments on them ALL the time now, and they were the cheapest curtains in my house!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Gina,
They actually are part of our house sale (we included the curtains, appliances, etc). But they’re just $5 a pop at Ikea so we can always get more if the mood strikes!
xo,
s
Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog says
Great choices! I can’t wait to see which color goes where :).
Erica says
I am looking forward to seeing your new home! I love this color palette… I especially adore the charcoal grey on the first row.
Brittany says
Are you guys keeping most of your furniture, or changing that as well?
YoungHouseLove says
We love working with what we have, although we might alter things (paint furniture as we mentioned) and switch a few things out (like selling our two sofas and getting a sectional).
xo,
s
Mindy says
Love the new color scheme. Sherry’s white ceramics animals will pop much more against a bolder background (heehee)! I love an airy feel to a room, but gravitate toward a smokier color palette. I’ve found that a bold/ smokey color paint with all other objects, fabrics, textures kept airy keeps it breezy, not stuffy. Benjamin Moore makes some amazing colors! I love Stampede (a greyish smokey brown) and Driftscape Tan (looks taupe-ish on the chip, but looks like an amethyst-brown that changes color beautifully with the time of day) I used it in my bedroom. Good luck!
xo
Mindy@FindingSilverLinings
http://fisilis.wordpress.com
K (Barking BabyMama) says
Did you see this Sneak Peek today? I LOVE all of the color she uses, especially the (somehow not tacky) purple in the living room.
http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/11/sneak-peek-angie-hranosky.html
YoungHouseLove says
Hey K,
Love it! Thanks for sharing the link.
xo,
s
rd shugart says
We are definitely on the same wavelength! When we move, this is almost exactly the color palette I’ve envisioned for our new abode! My oldest daughter wants a purple/light green/blue room – and I’m thinking grey/purple/silver & white accents in our dining/living area with pops of orange or red. Wish we’d get a contract TODAY so I could get on with it!! :)
Krystal says
So excited about the new color scheme since my personal decorating tastes tend to lean towards the darker, moodier side…I’m especially excited about the eggplant (my favorite color)! In fact, I just helped my sister-in-law with my niece’s bedroom and we did an eggplant wall with a soft yellow ceiling…it turned out so cute!
Meredith says
I’m really interested to see how it goes, and if any of the darker more saturated colors do make it on the walls. I always see great saturated wall colors in magazines, but rarely have seen it work in real life!
Zee says
I made my very first mood board recently and it was surprisingly light blue and gold: http://www.polyvore.com/light_blue_gold_living_room/set?id=25104362 (Also, thanks for the polyvore tip – very helpful! :)
Pretty funny, considering I typically lean away from yellows. (Then again, my bedroom ended up with a lot of pink in it, which I also thought I disliked so, there you go!)
It’s amazing how one piece (the “April in Paris” print in the mood board and a duvet cover in my bedroom) can start to tie things together and help you choose items you would never have thought of initially. :)
Joy says
Love your new colors!! I have been a huge fan of eggplant lately. Actually any tone of purple in general sounds great! I’m thinking of painting my halfbath purple.
Katie @ Katie Beth Interiors says
Love it, can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Micha says
Wow for a new color scheme – I applaud your courage to go for the other side of the spectrum! We’re daydreaming what to paint our house once it’s completely ours and are intrigued by the possibilities (no more renter’s white or builder’s beige or swine!). Gotta love Polyvore for that :o)
Micha @ Little Old House
bex says
I LOVE your new color palette!
We painted our living/dining/hall/entry/stairway a dove gray like the one in the top right corner (Martha Stewart Heavy Goose, color matched by Sherwin Williams), and I love how it goes with everything from the gray-blue on our accent wall to the orange we have in our kitchen. Even the rich chocolate brown of our guest bedroom looks great next to it. SUCH a versitile color. It took me a good, solid year to find the gray that fit our home best (I have about 20 Sherwin-Williams sample pints!), since it is our version of a neutral, background color. After seeing your color choices, I’m really drawn to the eggplant. Maybe that’ll have to replace the red as the accent color in our kitchen!
Kristi @ Addicted 2 Decorating says
I love your new color ideas!!! Gorgeous. I definitely prefer color over neutrals. I painted my kitchen cabinets a teal/turquoise color, and I absolutely love it.
http://blog.addicted2decorating.com/2010/11/why-i-should-never-be-left-unsupervised.html
And then I just painted my bedroom a turquoise color called Cloud Burst by Behr, which is a very soothing color. You can see it here:
http://blog.addicted2decorating.com/2010/10/peek-at-my-bedroom-progress.html
One of those pictures might look familiar to you. :) Your bedroom inspired part of my bedroom design.
I personally love these turquoisy colors paired with greens and orange, but I absolutely love the direction you want to take as well. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out!!
Shelley says
Love the new colors. How exciting to be able to redo a whole house again. I love the smoky blue. Our master bathroom is Amsterdam by Benjamin Moore and looks just like the color you have in your swatch here. I just posted pictures on my blog today!
Tiffany Morrison says
Sweet! Love the “moody” colors. We are considering working with some darker colors too, but with our house going on the market in the next six months we aren’t sure whether we should just stick with something more neutral. Any advice? Do you think you would have had trouble sellling your home if you had used the bolder colors?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Tiffany,
I think if they’re used a bit conservatively (for example, a chocolate brown bathroom with lots of white tile so it’s not too dark) and a bit less heavily than in every single room (maybe two rooms out of ten are saturated while the rest are light and airy and appealing to most people) it probably wouldn’t hurt your selling chances since most people know they can just repaint anyway. But if you were to paint every room a dark bold color it might deter potential buyers who want a house that feels light-filled and large (since dark colors don’t always create that illusion).
xo,
s