“I have one big open space so all I need is just one color.” I’ve heard this over and over and over again from my clients and it’s really not true!
The open concept home, or open floor plans, can be very tricky but the worse thing you can do is just make it one color. Why would you want to do that? I know it’s a challenge to figure out where the color should start and where it should end but there are points in the home.
Here’s a home that has an open floor plan. If you make it all one color it’s uninteresting and boring. Yes, you can add color with your decor and furnishings but with all that wall space, how can you NOT put color on it?
Now I’m not saying go crazy with your wall color and choose a heavy color for each room otherwise you get the quilt look like I’ve mentioned so many times before.
You CAN have different colors in each room but it’s imperative that the colors are light, mostly the same tone and value and transition well from room to room like I have here.
Look, I have six colors right here in this area from ceiling color right down to a color for the architectural columns that you see in the back. I certainly wouldn’t use any more colors in this home – at least not on this level. I’d start reusing them for other rooms because keep in mind, color will look different in different lightings.
For example, I’d use the light blue that I chose for the ceiling color in the dining room perhaps for the Master Bedroom. I’d use that silvery pinkish-gray kitchen color for the Master Bathroom. The pale green goes in a guest room and the brightest yellow is for the bonus room. The darkest blue would be great for a boy’s bedroom and the lightest beige perhaps a nursery.
See? I just used six colors in one area of an open concept home and repurposed them thought out the house.
Decorating by Donna • Intuitive Color Expert 
Excellent ideas! Love the colors!
Thanks Cynthia! They are popular ones here in South Charlotte 🙂
Open floor plans are so often bathed in the same color as a default! There are much better alternatives, as you point out 🙂
Thanks Kristie. Do you have a lot of open concept homes you design for? Just about ALL the homes here in South Charlotte are open. I have one today, a 6500 square that thinks she may need just one color for an entire downs stairs area. Each home is different but it certainly can be broken up with some hue 🙂
Thank you Donna for including CustomMade in your blog and recognizing custom Makers. I think our work compliments each other very well.
Oh it does! I want to buy just about everything on your site!
Thanks for promoting us Donna, we appreciate it!
My pleasure!
You’re so welcome!
Donna, can you tell me what these Color names are? I want to try them out!
Tracie, I’d love to tell you what they are but they are just colors I made up just for this graphic. If you’d like, I can offer you a virtual consultation and look at the paint decks and find the colors that are close to these.
Whenever you see these graphics in my blog, they are usually colors I just visually design as I go. I can get these colors for you, just let me know what paint brand you want to use.
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My main level floor plan has reddish wood on the floor. Dark cabinets. What other palate wld u consider ?
Reddish wood like cherry? It depends on what type of wood you have. Try something in the sage green family. Valspar has some of the best greens in their Historic Preservation collection.
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