How to Use the Same Color Palette Five Different Ways

The secret to a colorful home is fewer colors. You don’t have to use every color. You don’t have to use a lot of colors. You have to use the right colors consistently.

Which colors are right is up to you.

What I want to show you today is how powerful a whole house color palette can be for creating a connection between rooms and overall flow through your home.

Everyone would describe my home as colorful. But I only use a few main colors and neutrals in my home.

In my living room, I use gray, teal, and green. In my dining room, I use teal, green, and smoky blue. The kitchen is smoky blue with touches of gray and green. In my bedroom, I use teal, turquoise, and gray. In my son’s room, I use teal and green.

All kind of sounds the same, right?

But these rooms aren’t all the same. They all have their own personalities because I applied the same colors differently in each space.

That means I created a colorful home with only a few colors. It flows together, yet every room feels distinct.

Yes, I used the same color palette in five rooms, but they don’t all look the same.  They just look good together.

1.  A Bold, but Elegant Color Combination

In my dining room, dark teal walls above the board and batten, smoky blue floor to ceiling curtain panels, and sophisticated touches of chartreuse create an elegant feeling.

2. Identical Colors Used to Create a Different Feeling

The exact same wall color in my youngest son’s room paired with lime green creates a youthful and energetic space.

3. Surprise!  The Same Colors, This Time as Accents

A brighter teal and the same chartreuse green pop off dark gray and navy in our living room, creating a fun, but relaxing lounge for the heart of our home.

4. Wall Color There, Becomes a Rug Color Here

The gray is repeated on the rug in the adjacent kitchen and the green reappears on a light fixture, while the walls are a light smoky blue to keep the kitchen light and fresh.

5. When You Find a Wall Color You Love, Use It in Multiple Rooms

In our bedroom, we used the same dark gray wall color from our living room (and also our office) to create a moody accent wall behind the bed.  It’s the perfect backdrop for the turquoise lamps with teal patterned shades.

How You Use Color is More Important Than How Many Colors You Use

There is nothing the same about these rooms, except the color. The color is what unifies them, what makes them belong together, what makes them flow. The color is the great connector.

They all feel different.  They all have a different energy.  They all showcase the same colors, but they’re applied differently.

The trick is in the application. A wall color in one room becomes a rug color in the next. A small accent color in one room becomes a statement color in the next.

The same (few) colors used in different ways creates different effects.

When we finished our basement, we took a similar approach. We chose a whole basement color palette. We repeated some of the colors from upstairs (dark blue and smoky blue), but we wanted to define the basement as a separate space, like an escape within our home. Careful use of color allowed us to tie this space into our home while giving it a unique personality.

We only introduced one new color in the basement – yellow.

My office is white and blue with touches of yellow. It also has a great bamboo counter and zebra wood desk.  Of course, teal and turquoise make an appearance, too.

The game room is overflowing with white, gray, blue, teal, turquoise, and yellow.

The family room has smoky blue carpet, white walls, and the bamboo reappears as an accent wall.

The same blue from my office (and the rug upstairs in our living room) reappears in the playroom as an all-encompassing mural.

Again, it sounds like all the same colors (because it is), but the rooms don’t look or feel the same. They just look like they go together. That’s the power of a defined color palette.

Want some help choosing colors for your home?

Ever wish someone could just tell you what colors look best together? You’re in luck. Check out my Create a Cohesive Home with Color class and learn how to confidently choose colors for your whole home.