Whole house color scheme

7 years ago

Hello,

I am trying to start a whole house redecorating project, but have a question about color schemes. Having worked with designers in the past, i know that the general color scheme should be consistent from room to room - or at least carry one color through to unify the space. But this is where I am stuck. Currently, I have a family room scheme that I love - tan couch, with indigo pillows in the print "Betwixt", Accent pillow in Chiang Mai dragon (aqua color way) and orange accent pillows. I love these three together. I guess I would sum up the family room color scheme as neutrals with blue and orange accents. here is my question - is it too closely related to have the colors in the nearby living room / dining room be navy with RED accents (not the orange)? or do I need to find another accent that isn't as close to the orange?

Hope that makes sense.

PS - currently have red with yellow and green - think french country color scheme. The only reason I was thinking navy with red accents in living/dining room is so I could keep the dining room chair fabric which is an embossed red.

Featured Answer

practigal

7 years ago

I agree that there should be consistency from room to room, but not exact color. There's nothing worse than going into a house where the entire house has been redone in a medium blue. So select something that you really like and key off of it in each room. It could be a color or it could be something completely different, Frank Lloyd Wright use the same flower or plant motif from room to room. In the Greene and Greene Gamble, house each piece of furniture and each textile is unique to the room and have the same theme (dogwood or cherry blossom for instance). If you really like blue, consider the lightest of blueish whites in one room and dark blue ( but not black ) in another room, don't use the same blue room to room

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Comments (8)

User
7 years ago
You can have red but make it a rusty or orange red instead of a blue red.
busymom03
Original Author
7 years ago
Sorry for the confusion. No - I DON"T want to keep the french country colors. But, my dining room chairs are antique mahogany with a red embossed fabric seat - fairly basic so not "french country". I was just trying to come up with one less thing to do. :)

These are some of my pillows in my family room. I really love the chiang mai dragon and the Betwixt.

In the living room I am starting completely fresh - so no pictures. I just don't know where to start on picking fabrics for sofa, chairs, pillows in order to keep it consistent. Thought I could pick up the navy / indigo color from family room and use it in the living room - but then I am stuck on what else or how many other colors I would need to keep the same from room to room. Lily's Mom - your explanation was very helpful - so I will start with that I think.
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cawaps
7 years ago
Could you post a pic of the DR chairs so we can see the seat color?

The chiang mai dragon fabric looks like it has a color that is very close to red. I don't think that having a red on the horizontal surface of the DR chair seats is going to conflict with the LR colors. If you want to tie directly into the family room colors with other DR accessories, you could do an analogous color scheme with reds, red-orange, and red (depends a bit on what color red your chairs are).
busymom03
Original Author
7 years ago
I tried taking a picture - but the light isn't very good this morning. The chair looks a lot more faded here then they are. You can get a glimpse of more of the true color of the chair in the Living Room picture (tucked away by the piano).
practigal
7 years ago
Since you seem to be planning around the dining room chair fabric, do you really like it? It looks to me like you could flip these chairs over, remove four screws, use a staple gun to put on a new piece of fabric, flip them back over and screw the seat back down to the frame.
busymom03 thanked practigal
busymom03
Original Author
7 years ago
Practical - No, I am not set on keeping them. I just was thinking it would be one less thing for me to figure out. I was really just trying to get a jumping off point since the process seems overwhelming. I had been flagging fabric ideas and scouring for inspiration pictures for weeks - and wasn't sure about how to tie a whole house scheme together. I have started and stopped this process so many times because I get overwhelmed with what to do first - but with school going back in I am finally ready to sit down and see it through! I have lived with the room as is for 15 years - and although I don't hate it I am ready for a change and the sofa and chairs are no longer in great condition.
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
7 years ago
I've found that I can use all the colors and patterns that I love in my house, and have them be different from room to room (unless you have a completely open plan house) as long as the color intensity is kept more or less at the same level. By that I mean that having one room with all very dark colors and another room with very pale colors will make the house look disjointed. In addition to that if the style of your decorating is fairly uniform from room to room that will also have a unifying effect. Going from Swedish modern to English country will never work, even if you carry the same colors throughout. If you have a fairly consistent style and a palette of colors that is of a similar intensity (the picture with your three beautiful pillows is a good example of that), then there's no need to overthink the process; just allow yourself to buy the things you truly love in the colors you love. It will all come together beautifully and your home will have individuality and character without your having to agonize over rules with every purchase.