Do you wish you could successfully develop an interior colour scheme using different colours, not just white? 

Do you shy away from colour because you’re concerned you won’t be able to pull it off and wish you could be a little bit more bold?

Well here’s the guide you’ve been looking for! We chatted to Belinda, Interior Designer from Morgan & Me Interiors  for her step by step approach for creating your own interiors colour scheme using a range of different colours that you will absolutely love!Moody interior colour palette kitchen dark brick green rug grey cabinets

So where do should you start?

Start with the brightest colours. You can pretty much start anywhere with a colour scheme. Now that’s not particularly helpful, so here’s some ideas to start creating your own dream colour scheme…

Your Favorite Colours

Think about the colours that you LOVE. These are the ones you have always gravitated towards. Everyone does it. Whether they realise it or not. 

If nothing springs to mind, take a look at your clothes in your wardrobe. What colours do you feel amazing in? What colours do you see most of in your wardrobe? You might also need to consider your partner’s wardrobe and colours too. If you can’t agree perhaps it’s a combination?

Where do you love to travel?

Now, think about the places you love to travel to (even if its just in your mind at the moment :-)) Is Santorini your happy place? Perhaps a white and blue scheme is for you? If you enjoy more of a Tuscan vibe, beautiful earthy tones like mustards and terracotta might feel more at home. 

Whichever it is, the key is to think about the places you feel most happy. Aside from the fact you’re on holiday, it’s likely you’re attracted to these places because of the way they make you feel. Often colour is responsible for the mood and feeling of a space.

Use artwork or a coloured rug

Creating a interiors colour scheme with COLOUR using artwork generate colour palette blue coastal
Blue coastal colour palette from feature artwork. Image: Morgan & Me Interiors

Do you have an artwork or floor rug that you love and will set the tone for the entire home? That one feature piece that you absolutely love.

The beauty with choosing an artwork or rug is that someone else has already paired this combination of colours together and you know the colour scheme works. It takes away the risk of getting it wrong. Take a photo of the piece and upload it to a colour scheme generator like https://coolors.co/. Select the option to generate a colour palette from a photo, then select your favorite 2 or 3 colours as your secondary or accent colours. Have a play with the colour generator, you can ‘lock’ colours you love and then ask it to regenerate the palette to give you more colour options that would work with your favorites. But be warned….its a time suck playing!

If you follow all of the above, it will give you a series of colours to choose from. Narrow it down by looking at the colours you have chosen and select the one colour that you could live without. Do this until you’re down to 2 – 3 colours. You now have your secondary and accent colours!

Final step in making your colour scheme feel cohesive

Interiors colour scheme rule of 3 blue accent colour plant dining room artwork
Interiors colour scheme rule of 3; Photo: Morgan & Me Interiors

This is the most important part, use the rule of 3 or 5. I LOVE this trick because it just finishes a room perfectly.

How this works:

  • Repeat each of the colours in your scheme 3 or 5 times in the room. This will ensure the space feels balanced and harmonious.
  • Place the colour at different heights around the room to draw the eye. This method absolutely works and will have you styling your home like a pro!!

So make sure when you’re buying items for your colour scheme you think about where the colour will live and how you will bring it through. You might have a bright blue book spine, a dark blue plant pot and an artwork that features blue. Strategically place each element so it takes your eye on a journey across the room. Your artwork might be in the center of the room, the book on the left and the plant pot on the right. Each pop of blue sits at different heights. When you look at the room, it will feel balanced and the blue will feel right at home.

How much of each colour?

Using Accent colours in an interior colour scheme yellow
Using Accent colours. Image: Morgan & Me Interiors

Your base scheme should consist of about 60% neutrals. Your neutrals should match the secondary and accent colours and should be selected after you have decided upon your colours. Dulux describes a neutral as ‘a colour that acts as a subtle background hue, which can easily be layered with other stronger colours’. These will consist of your whites, beiges, greys, taupe, nutmeg, sandstone and lighter wood tones.  

The secondary colour might feature the floor colour, or larger pieces such as the rug, the sofa, a statement armchair, a large artwork or the dining chairs. This should make up about 30% of your colour scheme.

Accent colours should be limited to pops of colour and make up 10% of the colour scheme.
Accents might feature in vases, artworks, decor, cushions, as an accent in a rug, the spine of a display book, a plant pot or in the floral arrangement. 

TIP: Use different shades of your accent colour throughout the house too. You don’t have to stick with the same shade. This allows you to make your scheme feel cohesive without feeling too staged or forced.

Now you can sit back and enjoy the space that you have created. You’ll be the envy of your friends and they’ll all want to know who your decorator is!! 😉

Thank you Belinda for sharing these fab tips for designing our own interior colour schemes. Love the tips about placing colour at different heights around the room, and combining different shades to create a space that doesn’t feel staged. Definitely making me look at my living room with a new eye!

If you want chat with Belinda and learn more about how to bring your interior dreams to life with Morgan & Me Interiors you can view her listing here. Morgan & Me Interiors offers group workshops, 1 on 1 workshops or individual in-person consultations. 

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