The Color Scheme For The New House

We are 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 is hoping it works for us (you never know… and we are the first to admit that sometimes we end up repainting). We are certainly no strangers to covering our mistakes with another coat or two of something new if we do not like how things look when we step back and check things out (after sharing the “outtake” pics with you folks of course). So it might take us a few tries to settle on a scheme we enjoy, but right now we are considering something along these lines:

We have not pulled any swatches yet (but we will be sure to share actual paint colors when we get there), but right now we are 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 are certainly planning to add pops of distinct accent colors in a much wider range of tones- these are simply the bigger hues that we plan to use more liberally throughout the house for something that is hopefully cohesive but not too repetitive.

We are thinking that the overall effect of the colors/decor in our new house will still be semi airy & natural (it is what we enjoy, 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 are 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 are thinking that a darker sectional would be a lively departure from the light slipcovered sofas you are used to seeing in our spaces (we will craigslist them to get some moolah to put towards the new sectional, since it has fairly much been my life goal to have a big sufficient living room for a sectional where all of our family can gather).

We are 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 have envisioned for the new house, click here and here. Although we are already thinking about a distinct bed possibility (we’d like to build one along with a Hands-on headboard). Who knows where we will 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 have mentioned? Let us talk about color. Is there truly anything else in the world that is more lively to discuss? Not to me. Except for my baby girl. I can bore you to tears with stories about her but I will save that for my weekly phone call with my mom…