A neutral palette creates a calm, quiet feel and will date significantly slower than its bold counterparts.
It’s an excellent choice if you’re renovating to sell, rent, or planning to stay in your home for years to come. Creating one may seem like a simple task, but a neutral palette isn’t without its challenges. We’ll help you dodge bland walls and boring colours by mastering a palette that adds value to your home.
Find the right tones for your space
Neutral tones can be anything from whites, creams, beiges, greys, charcoal, deep browns, to black, and more. First, decided whether you want to go with warm (red-brown) tones or cool (grey-blue) tones. Of course, you can use both, but one should be dominant.
After that, choose what shades you’d like to focus on. If you’ve got a small room, stick to lighter neutrals as this will make the space look bigger. If you have large open spaces and high ceilings, you can afford to lean into darker neutrals. These should still be balanced with light tones, but you have a little more flexibility in a large space.
Utilise textures and finishes
A blend of intriguing textures brings a new depth to a neutral palette. Pair a thick-knitted throw with a velvet-finish couch, or place a shiny metal vase on a rough and raw concrete table. Mix matte with glossy and smooth with rough for a balanced room. Consider leather, suede, wool, wood, metal, velvet, linen (and more!) and integrate the textures that work with your space.
Enhance with pops of colour
A neutral palette doesn’t mean you can’t get creative — use complementary pops of colour to bring your room to life. A cool monochromatic room has a completely different feel with orange, mustard, or rose accents like towels, art, pots, and other décor. Similarly, warm and cosy colours are enhanced by flashes of blue or green.
Maximise pops by using accent colours that are on the ‘opposite end’ of the colour wheel to your neutral palette of choice. For example, if you have cool-toned space, stay away from blue décor as this will make your room look washed out.
