Do you love wine?
A nice burgundy?
How about maroon? Uh-oh, you’re thinking, “maroon? what kind of wine is maroon?”
Haha, I’m talking about the color wine, not the delicious beverage. Like in this post, my goal is to help you push the Easy Button when choosing a color palette for your home by showing you some suggestions that you can run with.
My friend Jill asked for options to pair with rich burgundy/wine/maroon shades. So this post tackles those colors and more.
Short story: when I was in high school, 100 years ago, our gym uniforms were maroon (school color). They were the ugliest uniforms EVER. The word maroon is almost hard for me to type. So we’ll never call this pretty color that ugly name again, agreed?
Let’s begin:
Color Palettes #1 & 2
Rich, traditional burgundy, green and gold.
Like the last post about color, I’m not giving out the names of these paint swatches. If I did and you looked them up, they could look different on your computer screen and in your home. It all depends on lighting, furnishings and other elements in the room. Instead, I’m talking about the basics of the colors and you will pick the actual shades that look best TO YOU in YOUR home. Sorry, didn’t mean to yell there. Choosing colors based on a photograph is a common frustration for designers. Photos have been fixed to appeal to you online. Not in this blog post, but in all professional photos of beautiful rooms.
That said, let’s really begin. Here’s the first pair of palettes again (so you don’t have to scroll up);
Traditional meets updated traditional. Rich, saturated color.
Palette #1 is using a true burgundy and I’ve paired it with a deep green and burnished gold. Very traditional and there is nothing wrong with it. This is gorgeous in a clubby library sort of room. With a roaring fire in the fireplace.
Palette #2 is modernizing #1 by using a lighter green that has some gray in the undertone (I call that gray “dust” and it’s very helpful in color). This green is almost a sage - maybe oregano. Then I lightened up the gold to a rich lemon shade. These lighter colors take some of the formality out of the burgundy and brighten it up with better contrast to each other. This would be so nice in any room.
Please don’t think it’s strange that I’m adding a floor or table lamp for each palette. Like I said in the video, color is the #1 question designers get. But the #1 problem I see in homes is the lack of lighting and/or the lack of quality light fixtures. The kind you have for a very, very long time and add to the function and beauty of the room. So I’m adding lamps to this post!
Important disclosure: these have affiliate links attached to them. This makes shopping for the fixture super easy for you and it also might pay me a small fee if you purchase, at no extra cost to you.
So here’s a floor lamp I would put in a room with either #1 or #2. It’s a very classic beauty and holds 2 bulbs:
The Amina 2 light floor lamp by Kenroy Home.
Color Palettes #3 & 4
These color combinations remind me of gardens and the American Southwest!
In Palette #3, I used a Wine color with more of a cherry/pink undertone. Then I paired it with a softer green that reminds me of a plant called Lamb’s Ears. Don’t we all love that plant? The yellow is now a pale lemon. These colors feel very cottage-y together. Cozy. Let’s sit down together, sip tea and eat scones while loving these colors.
For this palette, I suggest this table lamp:
The Hampton is a cozy cottage style table lamp.
Palette #4 brings me to those gorgeous red rocks and blue skies of our trip to Arizona. I think our first post-pandemic trip will take us back to that amazing part of the country.
In this one, I went back to the traditional burgundy and paired it with a very strong blue that leans toward teal (that means it has green undertones). Any shade of gold would sparkle with these colors, but I’m showing the natural addition of rust/clay.
In a room with these colors, I want a leather chair, a rich oriental rug filled with reds and blues, and candlelight in the evening. It will glow, just like a sunset out west!
This floor lamp, with its use of wood and brass accents, would add some elegance:
The Golden Burnished floor lamp by Mill & Mason.
Or this accent lamp, sitting on a table or desk in the room. Perfection:
Such a statement! The Antique Brass lamp by Kakalou.
Before I move on to other colors, I pulled the following color chart off Etsy, from ProArt Supply. I thought it would be helpful for all you lovers of burgundy.
When you look at this color chart, I hope you can see how naturally they all work together (get it - naturally? Earth Tones?). Mix ‘em up to your heart’s content because you can’t go wrong.
By looking at my suggestions, you might be thinking that I’m going to skip right over neutrals. Nosiree - I’ve got those covered today, too.
Neutrals are easy on the eyes.
Color Palettes #5 & 6
While I’m definitely known for my use of color, I know the value of a neutral color palette.
Look at Palette #5 - the swatch on the upper right is the softest of pinks and I’d use that on the walls. Stay with me. Light pink is an underused color. It will read differently at different times of day, as all colors do. Often it will look white. But at the right time, this little hint color sort of peeks through and makes everything (and everyone) in the room look a little nicer.
All we are saying - give pink a chance.
Keep it very light. It will surprise you.
Still on #5, I paired that light pink with a clean off-white (maybe that’s on the sofa?) and a deep taupe. Taupe has some gray in the undertone, so I put a gray rug under the whole shebang, to help you pull the palette together perfectly.
A light fixture with a mercury glass base would add sparkle. You know how I love sparkle. This lamp is pricey, but really special:
Gossamer by Robert Abbey
For Palette #6 - oh, this one just gets my heart beating! Skipping to the end, do you see how the colors and pattern on the rug brings it all home? It marries the coolness of the charcoal (walls?) and the warmth of the creamy ivory (on the sofa maybe?) and livens things up just enough with the pattern.
While this palette could work in any room, it would be a very updated look in a Dining Room. Want a light fixture to put over the table? This one caught my eye:
Carlisle in English Bronze by Livex
Oh, baby! The combination of strands of clear crystal and a skinny drum shade is bee-you-tee-ful! Bling belongs in every dining room.
Oops, I jumped ahead of myself because the light fixture was so exciting. Back to Palette #6. The third color in this palette is white. I’ll cheat here and tell you that one of my favorite whites that would work well with this palette is Sherwin’s Alabaster. It’s my favorite white for trim (in gloss - so good) and plays very well with every other color. Crisp. Clean.
There’s one more quiet palette I’d like to show you:
Color Palettes 7 & 8 (the same, but somehow different)
In Palette #7 I’m showing how I use a pastel palette. In my own house, every room is a different color, but all have the same lack of intensity, so you barely notice the colors. #7 is that kind of palette. These could all be wall colors on any floor of the house, yet still give the owners free range of what sort of style they want to live in.
I paired the colors of #7 with a vibrant blue rug. To me, the overall effect is casual, maybe beach-y. #8 is the same color palette, but I’m showing a patterned gray rug. This combo makes me think of a city space or any space with a more modern vibe. Want to see the lamps that I would put in these rooms?
The Cailee Indigo by Regina Andrews would be terrific in the beach-y palette of #7
The Loring polished nickel floor lamp would continue the city vibe of #8.
This would be my floor lamp choice for #7 - the beach-y vibe.
Oh my gosh, that’s a lot of paint color palettes AND lamps for your home. Does it help? I hope so.
Coming up: I’m getting ready to publish another digital mini-magazine. You can see the the last (and first) one I created by clicking here. This next one will be even better!