Tips for Working with Neutrals

Lara giving tips on using neutrals successfully in your home at Circle Furniture in Portsmouth, NH

In November the team at Circle Furniture in Portsmouth, NH asked me to do a presentation to their customers and design community on how to work successfully with neutrals in the home. I see a lot of clients struggle because they want to create a calm and neutral space, but they don’t want it to fall flat and bland.

Here are some of my tips: Work with a range of values (lights and dark) so that you are creating variety that will pull your eye around the room. Also, look at the colors in the natural world - maybe you don’t want sky blue, but there are beautiful terracotta, caramel and moss tones that layer beautifully onto popular neutrals like beige or greige. Remember that wood and metal pieces in the room - whether lamps, furniture or picture frames - are also a vehicle for color, and an opportunity to repeat or contrast your overall color story.

What I recommend avoiding is using too much of the same hue and same value in one space: don’t use the same mid-tone beige for carpeting, walls, and your couch, or else you will get lost in a sea of dullness.

Bottom line is to have fun, and pick colors that make you happy, rather feeling swayed by trends that may not be the best direction for your space. I love to speak about color and design - so please reach out if you have a group of folks that would be interested in learning more.