We were so thrilled to {re}launch this series a week ago, and we’re diving in today, with the basics.
The number one question that we get, in one way or another? Where to begin.
Let’s begin at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start… you’re welcome for that ear worm. While there are so many multi-faceted angles we can take on this topic, we want to start at the basics, with a purpose. When you cover the basics, it helps you formulate what you want to convey in your home, and why. And where on earth to begin, of course.
Because we think that every good home has a real philosophy and purpose behind it.
Let us start by saying this: Have you ever seen a home that was so close but not quite when it came to color? Almost as if someone was a little confused halfway through, and then gave up, in a way? Or a home that layered neutrals upon neutrals, and you knew the person well enough to know that they resorted to those neutrals out of fear or maybe even over thinking everything?
The best laid projects are often sabotaged by fear and over-thinking. It’s a creative home’s own worst enemy. That, and ridiculous expectations that we hold on to, based on the idea of perfection. {Which is the number one reason for over-thinking… ahh the vicious cycle} And today… we want to walk you through the first steps to get past that. We don’t think you have to make choices you may regret later. We want to cover our bases, because we’ll be building off of this in future posts. We’re going to play a little bit of a game.
So let’s dive in, shall we?
Step 1: {Am I the only one that says that like NKOTB in my head? STEP BY STEP… OOHHH BABY!} Give your home a purpose.
What is your home’s purpose? What do you want the most from your home? What are you passionate about? How do you want it to serve you, your family, and others? Start by giving your home its purpose.
For instance, here’s our thought process behind ours: When we purchased our home, we purchased it for the yard, and the school. We made a big leap of faith, taking a big loss in a bad market and taking on a renovation in a new state. We knew we could make a neglected home beautiful again. It was a lot at once, but we had a reason with big drive behind it. It was about more than just pretty spaces, but about ultimately changing our family’s trajectory. It may sound silly, but it’s something that we take very seriously, after living in a town that we resented for twelve years. We knew what we wanted. And we were building not only our family’s future, but a business together. Because of that, we have a different take on our home. Many people are on the whole “less stuff more experiences” kick. We couldn’t agree more, but we take that phrase, and put a twist on it. You see, our home is an experience. For our family, and our friends. A revolving door all summer long, it’s a place where we love to entertain. A place where relationships are built. It’s about community for us. And most importantly? A retreat for us and our children. {We love vacations, don’t get me wrong, I’m totes ready to go to Hawaii.} But over the past few years, those vacay funds have gone to making a neglected house a real home. Because of that, we don’t really have wanderlust because we love our home so much. These are the things that drive and inspire us.
So, once I’m finished expressing what my home is about, {and the reasons behind it} I give myself two adjectives that really put meaning behind our purpose. And those adjectives guide all our own personal design decisions.
Fill in the rest of this sentence with two of the most important, descriptive words regarding your physical home. If your home can’t be anything but two things, what do you want them to be?
My home is _____________ and ____________.
Here’s my version, altered a little: Our home is a fun retreat.
When we make decisions about the future, where do those fall in to our restful retreat and entertaining fun categories? Where do they fall in our vision and philosophy?
Step 2: The color wheel + color psychology: Let’s review shall we?
Once you have a purpose behind your home, color is secondary. It’s not about mastering something because you want it to be “on trend”. It’s about conveying a message. What do you want your home to communicate? How do you want it to feel?
Shifting gears: {Nerd alert} Sir Isaac Newton invented the color wheel in 1670.
While it appears to be a pretty little wheel on the surface, and I’m all yay for ROY G BIV! Unicorns and rainbows and Care Bears! Lisa Frank! {Please tell me you follow her on instagram and that you know who she is. Anyone?!} It’s really a complex system based on lots of words and terminology that will honestly make your eyes cross the more you think about it.
Art wouldn’t be art without a little math + science, after all. {Yes, it does pain me to admit that.} So we won’t dive in too deep, but if you ever wish to read up on more, it truly is fascinating. Color is one of the multifaceted tools that we use, and can be extremely complex in nature. That’s why there can be a lot of almost-but-not-quites when it comes to color use. Over time, it can become instinctual if we learn how to fine tune and use it for our advantage. From the beginning, there’s actually a lot to be gleaned from the basic rules of color.
Some of this may be a rerun, or a total jog of the old memory, if you will. Some of it may be completely new for you. It’s easy to think this doesn’t apply when it comes to decor and design. But guess what? It’s the base on which all things are built. Either way, there’s a lot more to it, but it will serve as a nice springboard for our future posts.
It’s great to make decisions based on instinct. It’s also wonderful to sharpen our instincts with knowledge to push that proverbial envelope a little farther by applying it to our homes. We always say there are no rules, but there are clear cut, tried and true guides we can use when it comes to color.
We all have our favorite colors. We know which ones we’re drawn to, and which ones appeal to us…but do we know why? We know which colors seem to work together, but how? Here we have a basic reference point for any of you wondering about what might look great with brown and orange…Or why the hot pink/red combo is feeling a bit intense. {Did you know colors can vibrate?}
Think of this as a basic outline, a reference point, to look across the color wheel from your original color, for suggestions on what group to use. From there, dive into this with actual paint samples and start thinking of pairing some great combos. Think about why those orange curtains look amazing in that blue room, {and how you can actually pull it off} or what you can pair with yellow to give it more pizazz. {Yes. I just wrote pizazz.}
A basic knowledge of color can go a very long way when planning a space. We’ll be touching more on that later, but beyond the basic color wheel, colors are all based upon a certain psychology.
Depending on the culture, that psychology may vary. For instance, I love that red in China, stands for luck. Or in India, purity. But the basis of color has been proven to influence the human mind. For instance, blue slows the metabolism. In our American culture, it all conveys a certain message. And whether we realize it or not, we’ve been subjected to it in various marketing schemes all our lives, with color at the forefront of companies and their many tools for making the sell.
Have you thought about letting the colors in your home speak for themselves? Because whether we’ve realized it or not, they do. Colors have a way of creating an environment that we don’t realize we’re creating, until they’ve established the feel of the room. I love the idea of using different combinations, ideas, and symbolism in a space.
Step 3: Once you’ve gotten a grasp of the basics, and you feel like you have them… let’s get inspired.
Soak up your inspiration. start thinking about which colors you’re drawn to, and why. What really speaks to you. People ask us where we get our inspiration, all the time. Our answer? {It’s a little trite, but true} Everywhere.
Neutrals have been a “thing” for a while, but you’ll never see us not using color in our home. We soak it up everywhere, from a trip to rainbow row in Charleston…
To images that we stumble upon via the internet… {hello palette inspiration!}
beautiful color-filled photo as featured on our handmade savvy saturday post, via be crafty
To an old ante-bellum farm we visited this past week when Jamin’s mom was in town, and even the produce aisle of the grocery store.
It’s what we love. We absorb it everywhere. Color speaks to all of us.
And then we love bringing some of those hues into our home.
So back to our original question:
What are your colors in your home saying about you? What do you want your colors to say to reflect your home’s philosophy?
Take your original question, and fill in those blanks based on the main color elements you currently use or want to use in your home. We know this post may seem oh-so-basic, but sometimes it’s really important to take a refresher course, and walk before we can run.
For instance, if you want your home to give off a fresh feeling, are you going with lighter and brighter selections?
If a feel of history and heritage, are you working with those darker shades?
If a space is too overwhelming, what can you substitute in from the other side of the color wheel? Which colors really speak to you and why? Are you using them as a whole to communicate something about the people who live there?
We hope this helps get you started in the right direction, if you’re looking for a purposeful start.
We’d love for you to share your color theory answers below, by filling in the blanks. And why! We love everyone’s take on their own homes. You inspire us.
While I’m on the topic of messages and comments, we’re also still scheduling various subjects on this entire topic, so feel free to ask a question you’d like to see covered, as well! We promise it will be covered, and we can’t wait.
Have an inspired day!
Anna says
My adjectives were fresh and intelligent, and my colors are light blue and white with some dark blue side items and dark brown floor and a bit of light brown siding and cabinets, and lots of eclectic add-on accessory colors from all of the spectrum. In addition to this, white, different grays and black for certain useful furniture elements like stools and shelving, appliances, and even sponges. This is my palette and I play it up and down with different sheet and kitchen towel options. Our house is tiny, so it all shifts easily with the slightest change. I studied painting and drawing in college, and I tend to think of the house a painting. We’ve only lived here for three months, and I imagine things will get refined more and more as time goes on. 🙂
ashley @ the handmade home says
I love this. It sounds amazing!!!
Tricia says
Thank you sooo much for this series. We are in the process of remodeling an entire home. My husband just recently retired and we’ve decided to remodel his childhood home and move there. The two descriptive words that came to my mine are: comfy and clean. My favorite colors are blues (turquoise) greens, and oranges (coral). My thoughts in our renovation are to keep the overall color pallet (walls) of the house in a couple of neutrals and than add all the colors. However, I’m struggling on how to do that!!! Could you please address this? I’ve always navigate towards beige walls – thinking grey was too battleship : ) and depressing. How can we paint all the room wall in similar colors that flow and than add my favorite colors. We’ve already decided on white kitchen cabinets with a white counter top (itty bit of grey) and a light green/blue backsplash (Sonoma stellar -aquarius) with a blue/green accent trim (Sonoma Vihara Ichika- iridescent). Thanks again! Have a FANTASTIC day! : )
ashley @ the handmade home says
First of all, congratulations on the remodeling of his childhood home! Such a fun project! The whole neutrals + adding color is such a tough question to address in general terms because certain solutions will work for certain people. I’m finding that those are the questions people want to know. I’m going to have to sit back and think of a general process that can help in a guide for people. ;} Stay tuned
Laura L Webster says
I loved your comments about color – very clear and understandable. I have really strong feelings about color. I have to LOVE IT to have it in my home. I’m a single 63-year old retired woman who worked as a real estate appraiser for 23 years valuing all types of properties, but liking residential valuation best. The family in which I grew up moved about every four years and did a lot of long-term travel due to my father’s job, so my mother was always guided by resale value. All of that moving as a child and several more as a young woman, as well as all the travel made me into a homebody who doesn’t like travelling much. I’m 63 and living in the third home I’ve owned, and I have intended each of them to be my permanent home, but moved on due to family and health reasons good enough to convince me to move and buy another home. I never consider resale value when I’m making a home for myself. Unless you know you’ll need to sell your home within a few years, I believe in making it a home you’ll love, and living in it long enough to depreciate the decor. I’m in the middle of remodeling my 2-bedroom condo – doing as much of the work as I’m able. The master bedroom is a very feminine pink, the kitchen will have stained cabinets with a pink glaze and a pink backsplash, the bathroom has pink tile and mid-brown walls, and the LR/DR has pink as the secondary color. It gives me joy and I love it! That’s what matters to me.
I enjoy your blog very much. Thanks for doing it!
ashley @ the handmade home says
I couldn’t love all of this more. GOOD for YOU! With our local remodeling business, we can tell immediately if we don’t want to work with a client – and it’s when they’re consumed with resale value in our initial conversation. We agree that it’s an important thing to consider, but if you make all your choices based on resale of a home – WHY ON EARTH are you living in this home? And are you even really living in it? Funny that you mentioned all the moving and travel making you a homebody. I truly am too, and I often think it’s because we were on the go a lot as children, and traveled a lot, too – definitely something to think about!
Nancy says
I struggle with having all the colors in my small house work together. My tiny living room doesn’t get as much light so I tend to go warm in there, with gold accents (vintage, inherited, mostly) and then it feels like an anomaly compared to the rest of the house. White slipcovers help it all feel cohesive, I THINK, but how can I have blue and white and black next to aqua and plum…. With silver AND gold. It’s a mystery to me, all the time. Love your home, especially the basement with the blue doors.