A home’s color palette sets the tone for the people who live in the home, so as you can imagine, it is pretty important. The home’s color palette includes not only the paint on the walls, but also the accessories. And in fact, it also includes the floors and the ceiling!

Many designers love to decorate with color; I personally gravitate to neutrals as the foundation of our designs. I’m in the process of doing some updates to my house and have found that a saturation of ivory, taupes and grays give me a great foundation to build on. If you look at our designs, most of the wall paint and large furniture is neutral, which allows for almost any variety of accessory colors to come into play. I like to do this for our clients because it allows them to change things up within their home without having to make another large investment.

Bedroom in gray, brown, ivory, white and green

The bedroom above had a light gray wall color, we used some brown furniture to anchor the room, and then lightened it up with a white comforter, accented with ivory and green pillows. The client could easily switch out their pillows for almost any color and it would coordinate. The art was very neutral, but even a pair of mirrors would look gorgeous behind the nightstands.

Contemporary Neutrals | Dining Room

The dining room above was a very contemporary condo and we were going for a sleek, modern look so we maintained a beige color on the floor, and used dark espresso furniture selections. This client was crazy for holidays and added some decorations for most of the major ones – you can see that Christmas, Hanukkah (yes, she decorated for both), Halloween, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Valentine’s Day, and so forth would really stand out with the neutral foundation.

Neutral Navy

The living room above is still what I would consider a neutral foundation. The couch (which you can only see a hint of in the foreground) is a soft mushroom color, the walls are ivory (Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee), the fireplace stone has enough variation in it that picks up taupes and grays, and the club chairs are a neutral navy blue. The area rug and window treatments are the accessories that can change without a major re-do. In the meantime, if the client wanted to bump up the color a bit, I would actually suggest these pillows on the chairs:

Global Views | Wood Grain Pillow

And these pillows on the sofa:

Crate & Barrel | Linden 24″

With these in front of the large, apple green pillows:

Etsy | Lime Green Pattern

Do you see how easy (and inexpensive!) it is to change the vibe of the room with some simple accessories?

Color Through Accessories

Above we used an heirloom belonging to the client and some fresh flowers.

High Rise Living Room

The living room in the above image was a high rise we decorated in Austin, Texas. We did not want to compete with the view, so we kept the interior neutral, including the paint selections (it is a luxury property so of course we were allowed to paint) but brought some color in through the rug. But you can see that some decor on the coffee table and / or pillows / throws can mix up the vibe in this space, right?

We are working with a client now who LOVES color so we have some gorgeous accessories that really pump up the volume in her house. BUT we started with a solid, neutral foundation. The installation is this month and I can’t wait to show you the results. In the meantime, if you’re on Instagram or Facebook, search #ProjectMillerAve and you’ll get a sneak peek.

Changing the look or vibe of your home doesn’t have to be expensive. Neutral paint is a great backdrop you can rest easily with for years AND it allows the color you do bring in, whether through art or accessories, to really shine. Large furniture pieces in a neutral tone will allow you to accent with colorful pillows and throws, whether for a seasonal or holiday change, or for a more permanent update in your home.

Do you think this will work for you? Or are you a fan of big, bold colors on the walls and furniture?