It’s no secret that I love colorful homes. I use bright pops of color in everything from my lipsticks and fashion to my interior design. I even already wrote a blog post all about colorful bathrooms! Even as a lot of contemporary interior design moves towards houses decked out in an array of neutrals, I always look for designers and decorators who are making colorful choices in their designs. Today I want to share with you the way I used color in my own interior design in our colorful Charleston home, as well as four other gorgeously decorated houses!
Bright Charleston Hues
Our use of color in our Charleston home is obvious from the very first moment you stepped through our peachy front door! The bright pink credenza from Society Social, paired with a vibrant painting from Danielle Cather Cohen sets the tone for the cheery bold tones throughout the rest of the living space. One of the things that makes such bold color choices work in our home is that we consistently used rich, saturated pops of color like this fuschia pink. We pulled the turquoise and oranges from the painting in to the rest of our decor, making it all mesh together into one cohesive design.
Another bold colorful design choice we used in our home is definitely our two turquoise couches! It may seem totally crazy, but this deeper blue tone balances out the warm saturated pinks and oranges in the rest of the decor. Plus, in a beachy Charleston home, it totally fits the vibe! I accented the couches with large white throw pillows and abstract throw pillows with colors that exactly matched the other painting in the living room.
Wall Color for Colorful Home Design
When designing a colorful home, it’s important that you have a neutral base to work with. That’s why I like to paint all my interior walls white. A nice, bright white paint color gives you a clean slate to start your design from, and it always brightens up a space, no matter what colors you accentuate it with. We also stuck to white in our kitchen, with white cabinets and white quartz and marble countertops. Gold and light wood accents, like our brass hardware and rattan stools and light fixtures keep the stark kitchen warm and inviting, as well as carrying the warm tones well throughout the whole living space!
Master Bedroom
There are some instances, though, where keeping the walls white is just not an option! In our master bedroom, I opted for a sort of reversed colorful design from our living area downstairs. Instead of colorful furniture and white walls, I chose white bedding and a colorful patterned wallpaper as an accent wall! I adore this pink palm wallpaper from Hygge & West. It has the perfect combination of greens, blues and pinks for a look that’s fun but not too feminine. The pink lamps on the side tables pulled the pink from the wallpaper perfectly so as to not make it look out of place, and the neutral white and warm wood tones in the rest of the room balance out the colorful accent.
Whenever I’m decorating a new space, I always like to think about how I can incorporate fun colors and patterns into the interior design. Colorful home designs have been popping up all over my Pinterest and Instagram, and I’ve fallen in love with so many! I’m sharing a few of them with you now so you can get just as inspired as I am!
Vibrant Southern Style
First up is Dana Gibson’s gorgeous home. I came across this home on House Beautiful and fell in LOVE! The article is fantastic because it shares all the sources of her beautiful decor! A lot of the elements are actually from Dana’s own designs. You can check out the article here: Dana Gibson’s Richmond Home Is an Electric Spin on Southern Style.
I adore how she mixes classic style with modern elements, and she perfectly balances out the colorful and patterned choices with more simple elements. The fuschia pinks and chartreuse greens are perfectly Southern and are well-suited to this restored home.
For the most part, this interior design relies on neutral pieces of large furniture that provide a base for the explosion of color and pattern in the rest of the house. However, furnishings with interesting details like these twin curved couches and the scalloped Lexington sofa make sure that no opportunity for embellishment is missed. These visually intriguing details set off the statement pieces like grand fuschia curtains and green vined wallpaper wonderfully.
There are examples of how Dana and designer Sarah Hillery balanced old and new, simple and detailed, luxe and down-to-earth throughout the whole home. In the foyer, an elegant Venetian glass mirror stands above a Granny Smith apple-colored glossy console. The luxurious look of the mirror complements the gorgeous chandelier while the console table adds a modern touch and a pop of color to accent the pink door. In the powder room, a distressed wooden table contrasts with intricately detailed wallpaper and a brass antiqued mirror.
Every aspect of this colorful home design has been designed with special care and it truly shows. It’s such a dream!
Interior Design: Sara Hillery
Photography: Gordon Gregory
Home: Dana Gibson
Colorful Colonial Home
Alright y’all, there’s just something about colorful designs in restored historic homes that just makes sense! This historical colonial in Wilmington, North Carolina got a beautiful makeover from Lindsey Cheek of Gathered. The design is both functional and pretty, with plenty of space for their family to actually use the living areas that are studded with gorgeous textures and colors. This Wilmington home definitely pays homage to its beachy surroundings; blues and turquoise make appearances throughout the home, especially in the living room and the kitchen, where a ceiling to countertop backsplash stands out against white cabinets. One of Lindsey’s focuses in decorating a space is on the light fixtures, and her own home is no exception. Every room is fitted with a captivating and statement fixture that perfectly accents its allotted space. To see an entire tour of this beautiful home, check out the Southern Living feature.
Interior Design: Lindsey Cheek of Gathered
Photography: Hector Manuel Sanchez
Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller
Check out the article here: This Historic Colonial Home Gets a Modern Makeover
Modern Boho Renovation
I’ve loved following along with Sugar and Cloth’s renovation of their home. They have several blog posts detailing the makeover of the individual rooms, and the before and afters are INSANE in the best way! All the colors in this home are so bright and warm, with a bit of boho style that keeps the design down-to-earth. I actually shared their bathroom reno in my post about colorful bathrooms, so it’s obvious this is a favorite of mine!
A varied use of tones and textures in this colorful home design keeps it interesting and adds so much dimension. Plus, in the large living spaces, white walls make all the decor elements totally pop! I also particularly appreciate all the pink in this house! From the pink ceiling in the guest room to the pink velvet couch in the living room, it’s a total dream.
Interior Design: Ashley Rose
Photography: Jared Smith
Check out the blog post here: Before & After: Our Lakeside Modern Living Room
Colorful Jaipur Hotel Suite
When jewelry designer Marie-Hélène de Taillac moved into a 2-bedroom apartment in the Narain Niwas Palace in Jaipur, she immediately began personalizing it with an array of gorgeous colors that complemented the bright hues all across the city. The signature color that appears the most throughout the color is a powder blue. It’s on the walls and in the kitchen, and it gives off a wonderfully cooling atmosphere. But Taillac doesn’t stop there. With bright furnishings and art, she brings the suite to life with pops of vibrant pinks and oranges. Stunningly intricate architectural features fit right in with the highly decorated home, with detailed marble screens in the bathroom and Moroccan-style arches everywhere. Taillac’s colorful Jaipur home is a perfect example of how more sometimes really is better, especially when it’s appropriate for the surroundings!
Interior Design: Marie-Anne Oudejans
Photography: François Halard
Check out the blog post here: AD Goes Inside Marie-Hélène de Taillac’s Colorful Home in Jaipur
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