Building a colour palette

Building a Colour Palette

Join me as I visit Galerie Shabab in New York – one of my favourite places to source antique and vintage rugs. It's also where I tend to hold scheming meetings to discuss how the palette of a house is coming together.

Building Colour Palettes from Rugs

One rug can inspire infinite options for different colour palettes. This lesson proposes three ideas for room schemes using the same rug as the starting point.

Living Room Colour Palette: Option One

• The walls are upholstered in Indian batik fabric, which is inexpensive and lightweight, hanging with the reverse facing forward for a more subtle look.
• Rich browns help to ground the room and soothe the two busy patterns.
• Chartreuse yellow is the wild card, and provides just the right amount of contrast, lifting all the other elements.

Living Room Colour Palette: Option Two

• The walls are lined in pale pink Tea Paper wallpaper, which has just enough texture to contrast with the silkiness of the carpet.
• The mantle is painted in faux Scagliola, rather than sourcing real marble.
• The furniture is upholstered in a chintz from Bennison Fabrics, which sings against the pale pink wall.
• Curtains in a grey/brown colour pull in the greys from the rug. Another option would be to go for an unlined pale pink taffeta, to match the walls.
• A chevron-cut velvet adds an element of geometry.

Living Room Colour Palette: Option Three

• Sisal flooring underneath the rug makes the room feel less formal and more approachable.
• Chocolate-brown lacquer walls juxtapose the straw of the sisal for added interest.
• Opting for curtains in a similar chocolate brown to the walls creates a seamless effect.
• A statement print by Lee Jofa looks beautiful against the rug, and elements of red help to bring out the colours in the pattern.

Consider the Colour Palettes of Different Rooms

Laying out colour schemes for different rooms side by side makes it easier to see how each space will relate to one another.

Among loud and rich schemes, you need some rooms that are quieter and more relaxed. You also want to include elements of surprise and intrigue. It's a puzzle, and the pieces should fit together perfectly.

Dining Room Colour Palette

• A Chinoiserie wallpaper from de Gournay helps to add pattern and interest, as there isn't much opportunity for upholstery in a dining room.
• One option would be to keep the palette pale and soft with light blues and gentle greys, adding a gold leaf ceiling for sparkle.
• Another option – if you're after something richer – would be to go for rich silks and velvets in darker blues and deep oranges.

Hallway Colour Palette

• A floral runner juxtaposes the geometry of the rug in the dining room.
• With pattern on the walls in the living room and dining room, the hallway needs something calmer as a palette cleanser. A faux porphyry is subtle enough to provide softness, while also being rich enough to unify the two neighbouring rooms.

Your Assignment

Have a go at creating three different colour schemes based on one rug, each with a very different feel. Think about how you might decorate surrounding rooms, to balance and contrast these schemes.