Selecting a colour scheme for your new home can be an exciting opportunity. Instead of tackling it room by room, consider choosing a whole house colour palette for a beautifully harmonious and cohesive look, both inside and out. Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to select a colour scheme – the most important thing is to choose a colour palette that feels right for you. By creating a whole house colour palette, you’ll avoid making your home look ‘bitsy’, and save time and money decorating. Here’s everything you need to know, so you can choose the perfect colours for your home.
A whole house colour palette isn’t just about the colour of the walls – although that’s a big part of it. Think of it as a blueprint for your home’s overall colour scheme, including everything from floors to furniture. Although it may seem daunting at the beginning, choosing a whole house colour palette has many positives, including:
Decide what you’re trying to achieve – what look and feel do you want to create? Look for inspiration – collect samples of your favourite colours, find ideas online and visit display homes for real life examples. How would you describe the look you’re going for – calm and relaxing, warm and welcoming, or neutral with pops of colour? If you’re having trouble putting your ideas into words, try making a mood board as a visual representation of what you want to achieve. The choices are endless.
Use the colour wheel as a guide – not familiar with the colour wheel? It can be a very handy tool when choosing your colour scheme. Without getting too technical, it shows you how colours relate to each other and visually demonstrates the relationship between primary, secondary and tertiary colours. It will help you understand colour schemes and what colours work best together. One thing that the colour wheel highlights are colour temperatures (eg. warm, cool, etc). Hues from red through to yellow (which also includes most browns, beiges and tans) are considered to be warm. Warm colours are stimulating and really make items pop. Hues from green through to purple (including most greys) are considered to be cool colours. Often referred to as calm and relaxing, cool colours tend to make rooms feel more spacious. The colour wheel is a great place to start, to help you decide which colours work well together in your whole house colour palette.
Consider your fixed finishes – these are things like flooring, cabinetry and large pieces of investment furniture. Determine where your fixed finishes fit into your whole house colour palette and choose the rest of your colours accordingly. For example, your floors are probably the biggest fixed finish in your new home. That means the colour of the tiles or the undertone of the timber is automatically part of your colour scheme, and you should consider where it sits on the colour wheel, as you build your whole house colour palette.
Think about your lighting – how will it impact on the colours you choose? How do colours respond to the different levels of light throughout your home? One easy way to find out is to paint large pieces of board with your sample colours and hang them up. Observe how they look at different times of the day, in different weather conditions, and in natural versus artificial light. You can keep tweaking the sample colours until you’re happy.
Consider how your colour scheme transitions – especially in open plan areas. Choosing a colour scheme in a home with an open floor plan can be tricky. You don’t necessarily have to decorate every space in the same tones, but the colour scheme should flow from room to room. When transitioning between colours, let architecture guide you. Look for transition areas for natural places to stop and start a paint colour or wall treatment, such as wallpaper.
Choose the right white – every home has white somewhere. Once you settle on a particular shade of white paint, all the whites in the house should be this hue. With a consistent base, you can then start to layer with other colours.
Use accent colours to give your home a boost – these are the colours you will use throughout your home in less permanent applications such as artwork, accessories, fabrics and textiles. Rugs, cushions and throws can be used to inject personality and colourful accents. You would typically use two accent colours in a single room – three as an absolute maximum.
Although it’s the first thing most people see when they visit your new home, you may be surprised to know that many people don’t consider the relationship between their home’s exterior colour scheme and how it works with the interior colour palette of their home. They definitely need to work together, so the colour scheme begins on the outside and flows through as you enter and move through the house. Some things you should consider for your exterior colour palette include:
Explore the colour palette ideas in our Inspiration Gallery, then visit a Hallmark Homes Display Centre near you to experience how whole house colour schemes work in reality.
Creating a cohesive look for your home can add enormous value to your greatest asset. At Hallmark Homes, we look forward to assisting you with this exciting process. Our expert Selection Centre Consultants will personally guide you through all the product choices, finishes and fixtures. They will also take you through the colour selection process, ensuring that everything you choose works together seamlessly, both inside and out. Select by Hallmark is exclusive to Hallmark Homes’ clients, and entry is by appointment only.
At Hallmark, we’re committed to building homes that offer excellent quality at a great value price that customers love to live in. So if you’re thinking of building a new home in South East Queensland, contact Hallmark Homes to speak with an experienced consultant. Come and visit one of our display centres for inspiration, or check out our virtual tours and house plans from the comfort of your own home. If you have any questions about our single storey, double storey, acreage, home designs, narrow lot or house and land packages, please contact us today.
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