Discover 5 ways to create a whole home paint color scheme that will make your home beautiful & pulled together!
Learn how to pick paint colors for the whole house with these expert color tips!
As a Designer and True Color Expert I love advising my interior design clients on the right colors for their home.
Paint colors that coordinate and create a beautiful canvas for furniture, lighting, rugs and decor.
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Why Is It Important to Create A Whole Home Paint Color Scheme?
When the paint colors in the entire home flow well with each other, a home feels pulled together, balanced and has that designer look.
Gone are the days of each room being painted a different color!
When each room is painted a different color it makes a home look cluttered, choppy, chaotic and disjointed.
5 Decorating Mistakes That Make Your Home Look Cluttered
Need help picking paint colors, selecting furniture or with furniture layout, or with room design?
I’m a Designer and True Color Expert – I can help!
See my experience as a Designer and True Color Expert & client reviews here!
I’d love to work with you to create the home of your dreams!
Here are the 5 Ways To Create A Whole Home Paint Color Scheme
Pick the one that you love the most and feel’s right for your home!
How to Pick Paint Colors With Confidence!
1. Pick One Wall Color For Your Entire Home
This is obviously the easiest way to create a color palette for all of the rooms in your home!
It’s also the best way for a home to feel pulled together and balanced.
The reason this method works so well is because all of the rooms will flow with each other beautifully and coordinate!
Plus the sight lines from room to room will be consistent for a cohesive look to your home.
Pick one neutral white, cream or gray, greige paint color for this look.
(FYI, gray wall colors are not popular right now, white and beige are the on trend wall colors)
Here are a few popular white, beige and gray wall paint colors:
- SW Pure White
- BM White Dove
- SW Alabaster
- BM Chantilly Lace
- SW Agreeable Gray
- SW Repose Gray
- SW Silverplate
As you can see in this beautiful home, painting all of the walls one white paint color allows the furniture and lighting to shine:
How To Test Paint Colors In Your Home:
As a Designer and True Color Expert I recommend using these large, reusable peel and stick paint samples to test paint colors in your home.
They’re mess free!
And they’re made with real paint!
2. Pick Two or Three Coordinating Colors With The Same Hue But Different Tone
If you pick up a paint chip strip you’ll see the colors on it range from lightest to darkest.
All of the colors coordinate because they all have the same undertones!
Pick two or three paint colors from the same paint chip and disperse them throughout your home.
I recommend picking a lighter shade to pair with a darker shade.
Color strip of gray paint colors that range from lighter to darker:
To help you pick coordinating paint colors, I recommend buying a few paint color decks.
Click on the images below to shop.
3. Use Coordinating Neutrals to Create a Whole House Color Palette
These neutrals listed below will create a stunning whole home color palette.
They all coordinate with each other and create interest in style without clashing.
- SW Snowbound for the main wall color in the kitchen, living room, laundry room and hallways
- SW Mount Etna for a bedroom, dining room or home office
- SW Chatura Gray for a bedroom or powder room
- SW Emerging Taupe for a primary bedroom or laundry room
4. Pick Two Neutrals and One Accent Color for a Whole Home Paint Color Scheme
Pick two coordinating neutrals such as:
- a white and gray
- a white and beige
Then select an accent color such as green, blue, brown or pink.
- Paint the main spaces (living room, kitchen) the neutral color
- Paint a bedroom or bathroom the accent color
Make sure all of the colors coordinate and have undertones that work well together!
Home office with gorgeous dark green walls and dark green builtins
5. Monochromatic Color Palette
White and black always work well together and are timeless colors that never go out of style.
Paint some of your rooms in white and some in black, such as a white living room and kitchen with a black den, black powder room or a black office.
White living room
Black TV Room/Den
Where to Stop and Start A Paint Color
One of the most questions I get is where in a room or on a wall to stop a paint color.
When you are using different paint colors in your home don’t start a new color along a main wall.
Make sure there is a solid break in the walls, such as an obvious corner that defines a new space, before starting your next color.
It can be especially tricky using two or more colors in an open concept home.
Make sure there is no hard line where one color stops and the next color begins or else your space will look choppy and visually unappealing.
Ceiling Color and Trim Color
Always paint the ceiling and trim a white color that has the same undertone as the wall’s paint color.
If you are painting the walls a color with a green beige undertone, use a trim color with a green gray undertone.
See: 5 Best White Trim Paint Colors
Or use a white ceiling color and white trim color that have no undertones.
White paint colors that have no undertones are:
- SW Pure White
- BM Chantilly Lace
These whites won’t clash with the undertone iof the wall color.
Should You Paint Wood Trim Or Leave It?
Yes, paint it!!
I highly recommend painting wood trim a beautiful fresh white color.
Removing the orange, yellow and or red undertones in wood trim by painting it white will create a cohesive home and create flow from space to space!
Stained wood trim makes a home feel visually cluttered and disjointed.
Plus the harsh undertones in many wood trims (yellow, red, orange) are bossy and clash with other colors.
The only time I recommend not painting wood trim is if your home is:
- an authentic Mid Century Modern Home, built by one of the renowned MCM architects, where wood trim is part of the interior design
- an authentic Mission style home, or a traditional Victorian home where wood trim is part of the home’s architectural style
You can paint your ceiling a color other than white, but make sure it doesn’t clash with the wall color or sight lines in the home.
Should Wood Ceiling Beams Be Painted Or Left The Original Stain Color?
Wood ceiling beams can be left stained or painted white.
If the undertones of the stain color coordinate with the wall colors then leave it!
If there are harsh and bossy undertones (such as red, yellow or orange undertones) in the wood beams I recommend painting them white.
More Color and Design Ideas:
- Top 50 Exterior Home Paint Colors From Sherwin Williams
- Beautiful Whole House Green Color Palette
- A Beautiful Green-Gray Front Door Color
- Repose Gray – Undertones & Coordinating Colors
- 5 Best White Trim Paint Colors
- Top 50 Bestselling Paint Colors At Sherwin Williams
- Modern Classic Kitchen Design
- Modern Organic Living Room Design Ideas
- How to Pick Paint Colors With Confidence!
- Small Bedroom Ideas To Maximize Space & Style
- How to Make Your Home Look Cohesive and Pulled Together – The Right Way!
- 5 Design Tricks To Brighten A Dark Room
- How to Paint Fireplace Tile
- How to Paint A Honey Oak Fireplace Mantel!
Heather is a Designer, True Color Expert® and proud military wife at 
Im struggling with finding a whole house color that works perfectly with Weekend by joanna gains. we’re in the process of remodeling, and want to paint the house using three cohesive colors, but i don’t know where to start or how to tell what actually works and what doesn’t. I want colors that lighten a room but are still in the farmhouse style color warmth. keeping in the blues, greens, and greys. I’m so lost.
Hi Sarah. I offer online paint color and design services – you can read more about it here as well as client testimonials!
https://www.settingforfour.com/about/online-decorating-services/
Email me at [email protected] – I’d love to help you find the perfect colors for your home! Heather