How to create a colour scheme when planning a house renovation

Image via @teawithruby

Colour schemes are the secret to making a room feel relaxing and harmonious while still having a distinct personality. Instead of your favourite furnishings competing for attention, a colour scheme gives each piece its own moment to create impact. When you go a step further and apply a colour scheme to your entire home, you’ll immediately notice how it improves the sense of flow as you look through doorways and move between rooms.

Creating a colour scheme for an entire house might seem like an overwhelming task, but it’s possible to break it down into smaller steps that are much more enjoyable to plan. Let’s take a look at how to pick the best colour scheme for your own house renovation.

1. Think about the vibe you want to create in your space

Before you even look at colour swatches, it’s important to pin down how you want the atmosphere in your home - and each individual room - to feel. Do you like the idea of a pared-back, continuous tranquillity throughout your home, or would you like each room to contribute to a bold, cheerful statement?

When it comes to individual rooms, where do you want to feel most alert, and where should be restful? Which spaces deserve a formal atmosphere, and which should be more cosy and intimate?

2. Consider the time of day when you use each room

Colour is going to play a big part in uplifting you in the morning and soothing you in the evening so, factor in the time of day you’ll most likely be using each room. For example, an en-suite shower room might be a good candidate for bright, zesty colours to bring energy into your morning, while your living room could be a soothing pink or cocooning navy if that’s where you like to curl up after dinner.

The natural light in each room will also have an impact on colour. In the morning, light tends to be brighter and clearer, gradually turning more golden and red-toned throughout the day. For this reason, home offices are often best kept in a restful, neutral colour that won’t be too intense at any hour.

Read our blog on north, east, south, and west-facing rooms and how this affects light and colour. Have you got a north-facing room and don't know which colour to paint it?

Check out all our colours for north-facing rooms.

3. Understand your fixed elements

What items or features are already going to be part of your house renovation? Use them to start informing your colour palette. For example, creating a scheme around a beloved rug, rattan console, vibrant wallpaper or stylish set of furniture to use as a centrepiece. Find the neutrals or background shades to use as the base of your home’s colour palette, then use brighter colours within the patterns to inspire smaller splashes of colour in soft furnishings and accent décor. Check out these 5 ways to style your room around your favourite statement furniture.

Maybe you’re hoping to keep lovely timber floors exposed, or emphasise a gorgeous wood or marble fireplace surround? Create a visual connection in other rooms by choosing the same kind of timber, or a multi-tonal wood that picks out the same colours but also pulls in other shades. 

If your woodwork has a clear undertone, you can pick a paint palette that matches and emphasises the shades, or contrasts with it. A third option is to choose complementary colours as the undertones; balancing yellow-toned woodwork with a violet- or blue-toned paint, like Grey 02 or Grey 03, for example. Shop our grey paint colours.

Let the architecture guide your colour transitions. Corners, moulding, staircases and archways are natural points at which to change to a new colour or pattern, and you can break up large walls by painting a wall mural. Let your staircases's wood tones naturally colour block or paint them a contrasting colour (check out these painting stairs ideas for more inspiration).