How to Coordinate Unusual Colour Combinations

{More funny texts from moms}

It’s 5:00 AM and my phone pings with a text from my Mom:

“Come for coffee now! I’m up but I’ll nap later”. (Except she writes it in Finnish, I can read it but do not ask me to have a conversation in Finnish, that’s where my dual language ability ends).

“Ok” I text back, and jump out of bed, slip on my Ugh boots and a jacket and drive over.

Two minutes later, we’re having coffee in her small sitting room adjoining her kitchen.

A little while later Mom mentions that the colour in this room is too cool. We painted it turquoise three years ago when her house was built because it matched the area rug we bought at the time, but she much prefers the hot pink colour upstairs in the living room.

We started talking about what colour we should paint it and she laughed and said “It’s funny how quickly we get tired of what we have and want a change”.

Did you know that People magazine is the most read magazine in America? It is read by 43 million people, one in every 5 americans?

I’m doing a media course with Rachel Hanfling who has been a producer for the Oprah Winfrey Show, etc. and she said one of our pieces of homework every week is to read that magazine because it represents what people are interested in and talking about and they could be used as touch points when writing articles, etc.

I decided I didn’t want to have a million people magazines floating around the house so I subscribed to NEXT.

Could someone tell me how to work it properly? I go to bed at night and start flipping and all it does is spin and tell me it’s downloading and most of the pages are blurry and I have to wait. This drives me crazy.

Anyway, now that I’m flipping through magazines that I don’t normally subscribe to because I’m so home decor obsessed, I’m looking at all the colour blocking happening as well as unusual colour combinations.

It’s so great how fashion introduces us to new combinations, we get used to them and suddenly want them in our homes.

Rust and lavender?

{source}

{via pinterest}

If it’s to be found in home decor, the orange is usually cleaner and brighter, like this image (above).

But what if you had a rusty sofa or area rug from the brown trend and wanted to bring in something new and more fun?

Then you either get a custom colour blocking pillow made (like the charcoal and orange one below), or find a perfect fabric that brings in the colour you want.

Charcal and muted green?

Gucci

I was also struck by this combination of charcoal and muted green (above) so I thought I’d see if I could also find a room with these same colours.

{via pinterest}

Again, the green was brighter in most of the photos.

{via pinterest}

{via pinterest}

Here’s the combination outside with green plants. But this doesn’t really count unless you fill your living room with them.

What if you have a earthy pink beige stone fireplace (below) that you’re not going to paint anytime soon and you want to bring in some clean colours?

{source pillows & carpet}

Then you have to find either an area rug or fabric that pulls in your fireplace stone so that it doesn’t look like your completely ignoring whatever your bossy fixed element happens to be.

Clean and dirty is the trickiest combination to work with. When you have decorated a difficult room into a corner where you’re stuck, it’s usually because the colours you have are not current, or there’s one or two that’s throwing everything off.

I have been in many homes where one colour (like the sofa or area rug) is dated, while the rest is more current and it becomes very difficult to pull the room together because everything is being held hostage by that one item.

Something to think about, if you are having trouble with your living room. After all, this is the room we want to look and feel the best because we spend so much time in it, looking at it, and entertaining our friends.

Do you have an unusual combination that you love?

Related posts:

Clean vs. Dirty Colours

Take Risks with Your Decor Rather Than your Clients

The Difference Between an Experienced Colourist Rather Than a Novice

If you would like help creating a palette for your home, become a client. Online or In-person.

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