I never recommend black paint, not because it’s bold, but because it usually isn’t.

Let me explain, because that tends to surprise people. Especially those who want their space to feel bold, modern, or grounded and are very sure that black is the answer. On paper, this supposition makes sense: black in an interior equals contrast, drama and sophistication. In real life, though, true black often reads harsh, flat, or oddly lifeless once it’s actually on the wall.

That’s something I learned long before I ever started working in interiors. My mom is an oil painter, and she never buys tubes of black paint. I knew her philosophy well, and still, when I was in art school, I decided to experiment with black paint anyway. After enough trial and error, I realized she was right. (Aren’t they always?)

What she understood, and what I eventually learned firsthand, is that the most beautiful blacks are mixed from other colors. They have undertones, depth, and a little mystery, instead of feeling flat or predictable.

Today, when I work with clients to pick colors for their homes in my color consulting business, I realize I’m doing exactly what she taught me, just on walls, bathroom vanities and shutters instead of canvas. Because what most people want when they ask for black paint isn’t black at all. It’s richness, depth, and contrast, without the visual equivalent of slamming on the brakes.

Instead of me trying to convince you, and you doing what I did with my tubes of paint in art school, is I’ll show you. Deep, nearly-black paints can deliver all the drama of strict black without the starkness of something straight from the can. And they can add tension to your interior design that brings everything alive! Read on to see how this actually works in real-life interiors.

Why Black Is Rarely the Obvious Choice

In the art world, black isn’t always treated as a standalone color, at least not by artists who are willing to slow down and ask questions instead of settling for what comes straight out of the tube.

For those painters, black is about tension and interaction: a nearly black touched with red adjacent to a green leaf will vibrate in a way pure black never could.

That same idea applies to interiors.

When you paint an entire wall, cabinet run, or set of shutters black, you’re working at a much larger scale than a canvas. Light hits it differently. Undertones become more obvious. And unlike a small painted detail, these surfaces have nowhere to hide. A flat black will reveal itself immediately.

That’s why “black” paint in interiors is almost never neutral. Whether you intend it or not, it will read as colder, warmer, heavier, or harsher, depending on the space.

Why True Black Often Falls Flat in Real Homes

True black excels at absorbing light. That can sound dramatic, but in practice it often works against the room.

Instead of adding depth, true black can:

• Look budget or builder grade
• Flatten architectural details
• Create contrast that feels abrupt rather than intentional
• Read harsher than expected, especially in low or uneven light

This shows up most often on cabinets, trim, accent walls, and exterior details, the very places people turn to black for “impact.”

What People Are Really Asking for When They Ask for Black

During my color consultations, when someone requests black paint, they’re rarely asking for the color itself.

They’re asking for contrast. Grounding. Sophistication. A little tension.

True black just happens to be the most obvious way to ask for that, not the most interesting one.

Nearly Black Paint Colors I Reach For

When I specify nearly blacks, it’s because someone wants drama without harshness, depth without predictability. These are a few favorites I come back to again and again:

• Sherwin-Williams Clove – A blackened brown with warmth and depth. We used this on the trim in our in-law apartment kitchen, and it creates contrast without sharp edges.
• Bucktrout Brown – A nearly black with a subtle aubergine undertone. We used this in a back stairwell, and it adds shadow and intrigue without feeling flat.
• Benjamin Moore Soot – A deep black-navy that feels tailored and architectural.
• Benjamin Moore Mopboard Black – A chalkier navy-black that works beautifully for exteriors, stairwells, fireplaces, and doors.
• Benjamin Moore Rojo Marrón – A nearly black-red that feels incredibly luxe, especially in low light or a shinier sheen.
• Sherwin-Williams Cascades – A deep teal alternative to black with movement and richness.
• Benjamin Moore Dragon’s Breath – A rich alternative to black for exteriors. We painted our barn this color, and the subtle green undertone is sublime.
• Benjamin Moore Tavern Charcoal – A green-leaning nearly black I specify constantly in consultations. It is one of my go-to shutter colors and great for painted floors too!

Why This Is About More Than Paint

This entire discussion gets at a larger philosophy I have about design, and honestly, about life in general.

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, but I don’t believe in settling for what comes straight out of the box. Asking better questions, pushing past the default option, and choosing something more intentional almost always leads to a better result, even if it makes the process a little more complicated. (This is the part that drives my builder-and-logistics-minded husband slightly insane.)

But it’s also how homes become layered, personal, and quietly extraordinary.

True black works when you’re following a formula.
Nearly black is what happens when you start curating with intention.

Final Thought: Don’t Settle for Black When You Want Contrast

If you love the look of black details and tried to recreate it with true black paint — or something straight from a spray can — and it fell flat, that doesn’t mean the idea was wrong. It usually just means the color choice stopped one step too soon.

When black features truly resonate in a space — the ones that feel rich, intentional, and memorable — they’re almost never pure black. More often than not, they’re nearly black: a shade with an underlying hue that introduces tension or harmony instead of shutting the room down.

That nuance is what makes the difference. It’s what allows dark elements to feel layered instead of heavy, dramatic instead of stark.

So if black felt too harsh, too obvious, or strangely disappointing, don’t abandon the idea altogether. Try asking a better question. What happens if you soften it? Warm it? Deepen it with another color hiding underneath?

Because nine times out of ten, the black you’re admiring isn’t actually black at all — it’s something far more interesting.

Need help choosing the right color?
If you’re feeling stuck or want a second set of eyes, I offer Virtual Color Consultations to help you make confident, intentional choices for your home, wherever you’re located.

The post Why I never Recommend Black Paint appeared first on A Season For Home.

Beige and taupe are both timeless, versatile, and endlessly useful, but they each bring a different mood and undertone to a space. Understanding those nuances can help you choose the right neutral for your home, especially as current color trends evolve.

But wait, what is a warm neutral? If you need a refresher on what is the difference between warm and cool colors, take a look at my post about it then head back over here to read on!

What is Beige?

Beige is a catch-all term for a warm neutral color with a sandy tone. Beige is technically a light brown with a good deal of white pigment added to it to lighten its value. Beiges include a wide swath of warm earthy light tans that can have undertones including pink, orange, yellow and green.

What Is Taupe?

Taupe is a warm neutral that lacks saturation. When compared to a neutral gray like Repose Gray by Sherwin Williams, it is definitely warmer.

Comparatively it feels much cooler than brown or beige. It is like a desaturated version of tan that falls midway between tan and gray. If it were to be lightened in value it would become a greige.

Taupe can have hidden undertones that can feel violet, purple or blue, however it comes from a base tone of orange or brown. These sneaky undertones are best identified when compared to other shades of gray, taupe and tan.

If you are looking for the perfect Taupe Paint, make sure to check out my collection of favorites here.

What is the difference between Beige and Taupe?

Both taupe and beige come from a base color of orange (a mix of red and yellow.) The difference is in the amount of gray that is mixed in. Taupe has more gray which gives taupe a desaturated cool feeling when compared to beige. Conversely beige feels warmer and more saturated than taupe.

Which to pick: Taupe or Beige?

I have found in my Color Consulting business that clients tend to shy away from the warmer rich beige paint colors associated with the late 1990s and early 2000s. And they are simultaneously trying to avoid gray, which dominated interiors for the last ten to fifteen years. Now, homeowners are looking for warm neutrals that do not feel yellowed, dated or too gray. The key is to find either contemporary beiges (that lack gold tones and too much saturation) or taupes that have enough warmth that they don’t feel gray!

So how do you know which to pick? Should I use taupe or beige? Well, if you have read my tips for picking your home’s color combination then you already know that the first step is to analize your home’s fixed elements!

If you have a golden granite countertop or other surfaces in your home with distinct pink or yellow undertones, you will need to pick a beige that will harmonize with the undertones in these materials. Conversely, if your space was last updated in the gray trend you can use taupes to warm it up without clashing.

Next, you can determine which you like better by comparing taupe and beige paint colors side by side. I have some favorites listed below! A lot of times you will gravitate toward one or the other.

You can also compare your taupe or beige to a known neutral like Sherwin-Williams Repose Gray. Repose is a true, balanced gray that can act as a benchmark. If your taupe looks significantly warmer than Repose, it’s likely a good middle ground. If it looks cooler you’re back in the gray trend all over again!

Avoid These Pitfalls

Warm or cool lighting afect these neutrals considerably. I have noticed in my color sonsutation appointments that vaulted spaces and open concept floorplans that have windows on opposing sides of the house, but no natural light in the middle can create havok on neutral paint colors! So below make sure you read what to avoid before you get out your paint brush!

While my clients are gravitating toward taupe more and more, I have noticed in some homes that taupe’s gray influence is both its beauty and its challenge. If you choose a taupe that leans too gray, it can start to feel too cool or oddly purple, especially in rooms with low natural light or north-facing exposure.

Whereas certain shades of taupe can look too gray, some beiges can appear too yellow! The main pitfall with beige paints is that its warmth and saturation can sneak up on you really quickly. I’ve noticed that on the paint chip, a color like Benjamin Moore Carrington Beige can look squarely in the beige category. However, when brushed out in a whole room, Carrington Beige can appear decidely yellow, which many of my clients want to eschew.

The moral of the story? Make sure to test your paint color by brushing it out before committing to the whole space! I always recomend starting with large scale paint sample sheets, like the ones from Samplize. These are a great mess-free way to see the paint color in your space on a larger scale.

Taupe Paint Colors to Try

If you’re looking for a balanced taupe, start with these tried-and-true favorites:

• Accessible Beige (SW 7036): Probably the most popular taupe today. With an LRV of 58, this taupe is light enough that it won’t darken a room but any lighter and it would be considered a greige and not a taupe. It’s beautiful for cabinets or walls.
• Smoky Taupe (BM 983): Soft and sophisticated, Smoky Taupe reads as a classic mid-tone taupe. This is one of Benjamin Moore’s most versitile mid-tone taupe paint colors and only get’s purplish notes at the very end of the day or in darker days of winter.
• Bungalow Beige (SW 7511): More saturated than Accessible Beige, and a great one if you’re torn between beige and taupe because it has more warmth that my other picks.
• Indian River (BM 985): With an LRV of 36 I’d reserve this for high-drama spaces (like a moody dining room or small bathroom) or to paint cabinetry or millwork. I used it in a small guest bathroom and Smoky Taupe in the adjacent guestroom.
• Stone Hearth (BM 984): I adore this color and think it is a great alternative to Accessible Beige. They have a similar value, but stone hearth has more green to it, so it will goes nicely with warm wood tones.
• Shiitake (SW 9173): I’ve used this one in my color consultations. If you like Accessible Beige, this is like a darker version of it.
• Pashmina (BM AD-100): Super popular taupe with a darker LRV 44.2. This can even work on an exterior! It’s lovely with grayed out off-whites and ashy pale oak wood tones.
• Briarwood (BM 1016): A deeper, earthy taupe that adds depth without going too gray.

Beige Paint Colors to Consider

For those drawn to a lighter, more traditional neutral, these updated beiges stay clear of the heavy gold tones of years past:

• Neutral Ground (SW 7568): A modern beige with subtle warmth that works beautifully in open spaces. One of my all time go-to paint colors!
• Canvas Tan (SW 7531): While it lives in the off-whites collection for Sherwin-Williams, don’t let that fool you. There is plenty of beige personality in this paint color to call it part of this collection. It has nice warmth wihtout heaviness.
• Natural Linen (SW 9109): In low lights this warm neutrals is bordering on greige but in sunnier spaces it feels warm and creamy. I’ve used this in color consultations quite a bit. It is a good fall-back neutral that can work on kitchen cabinets or walls.
• Wool Skein (SW 6148): This khaki-backed beige is light and soft. While Wool Skein does have subtle hidden green undertones they are lacking in saturation so it plays well with other colors, especially earthy greens and brick tones.
• Natural Tan (SW 7567): A light and airy beige with balance. It is a modern take on a beige which gives it appeal for designers.
• Timson Sand (BM CW-140): This cooler beige comes from the Williamsburg Collection, which means it’s based on a historically researched pigment. Today it brings warmth into a space without harsh yellows.
• White Sand (BM 964): This has a whisper of pink undertones in it without becoming bratty thanks to a bit of yellow that balances it. It is light in value (LRV 67) which makes it a great whole-house option paired with white trim.

The Bottom Line

The best way to tell taupe and beige apart is to compare them side by side and to a neutral gray. Beige tends to feel warmer and more saturated, while taupe feels a bit cooler and grayed out.

As design trends have shifted away from gray, homeowners are looking for warmth in their space, but they are not quite ready to head back to the rich gold tones of the early 2000s. Todays beiges are softer and less saturated, and are a great option if you have fixed elements in your home (like tiles and countertops) that have a good amount of warmth. Taupes may be your best bet if you are looking to warm up a gray interior, or find yellow tones too harsh for your taste.

Ultimately testing the colors in your space is the best way to tell if they are right for you. And if you are still struggling with a paint color choice, I am just a click away. Shoot me a message via my contact page or sign up for a virtaual color consultation!

The post Taupe or Beige: What is the difference? appeared first on A Season For Home.

What is Color Value?

Color value refers to how light or dark a color is, and it plays a big role in how a room feels. Think of it like a scale from white to black—every color falls somewhere on that scale. A pale blush pink and a deep burgundy might technically be the same hue (both red-based), but their values are totally different. Understanding color value helps you make smarter decorating choices because it affects everything from how spacious a room feels to how easy it is to read a paint swatch or coordinate furniture.

Think of a gray scale from white to black and everything in between. Once you can visualize that you can understand value.

One of the most practical reasons to pay attention to the value of your paint colors, textiles and surfaces is contrast. High contrast, like pairing light walls with dark furniture, can add energy and definition to a space.

Low contrast color pairings will feel more subtle and understated. Finding the right balance can be tricky. If everything in a room is the same value, it can feel flat or one-note. Or if a room is too high contrast, it will feel stark and unwelcoming. But when you mix light, medium, and dark tones intentionally, it adds visual interest and depth, even if you’re working with a neutral palette.

How is Color Value Measured?

When it comes to house paints, color’s value is measured on a scale called Light Reflectance Value or LRV. LRV measures the amount of visible light a color reflects, on a scale from 0 to 100, with 0 representing absolute black or no light reflected, and 100 is pure white, with maximum light reflected.

• Colors with a high value (or high LRV) are lighter, like soft pastels or whites, which reflect more light.
• Colors with a low value (or low LRV) are darker, like deep navy or charcoal, which absorb more light.

I recommend waiting on picking a paint color until after all of the other interior decorating elements have started to come together. Even though I love paint colors, they shouldn’t drive the other decor, nor be the star of the show! This way, you can also satisfy an area of the value scale where other materials and textiles have left holes.

How To Use Value In Interior Design

The value of color is an important consideration for all aspects of interior design as surfaces and materials throughout the space must be balanced and provide contrast. In my color consultations, value is commonly overlooked.

When a space feels overly contrasty, or falls flat: value is often the culprit! It is important for high contrast schemes to incorporate mid-tones, and it is important for monochromatic, subtle interiors to include values at the far ends of the scale too!

In the example below on the image on the left from Architectural Digest, the black window hardware is one of the only dark elements in the room, and they really pop. In the example on the right, I asked Chat GPT to add some dark pillows and a bold high contrast piece of art to help draw values from the far ends of the value range.

Adding pops of high-contrast elements throughout the space helps to balance the otherwise relatively low-contrast interior. Repetition of the dark values takes some of the focus away from the window hardware.

How To Know If Your Space Needs More Or Less Contrast

If you are not sure if you have overdone it with a high contrast look (I’m looking at you Black and White Farmhouse!), or you think you space feels flat, there’s an easy way to assess your space for value. Simply take some photos with your smartphone and then turn them into a black and white photograph. When you see your space in a gray scale you will be able to easily identify if you need more mid tones or more high contrast elements in your interior design.

In the above example from Joanna Wood in House and Garden, you can see she used a range of values, from white to black and many mid-tones in between. I think her use of a mid-tone paint color for the walls and white trim on the window was an excellent choice for exactly this reason! This provides a good deal of mid tone color value and a pop of high contrast white to make the look feel lively and fresh.

3 Tips For Decorating with Color Values Like A Pro:

Now that you know what color value is, you will notice it everywhere and it can seem overwhelming to know how to start fixing spaces that lack contrast (or that have too much.) Use one of these three tips to help make this process more systematic.

1. Add Depth To a Monochromatic Room

When decorating with a monochromatic color scheme, picking shades of the same color in a range of values can provide interest to the space. This will help soften a high contrast look and make it feel more approachable and livable.

2. Use a Color Scheme and Add a Range Of Values

Picking a home color scheme can be easy when you work within the confines of the color wheel. You can further narrow your color choices within common color pairings, like complementary or analogous schemes, by picking a range of values. For example, picking a soft peach and a navy blue would be a way to pull colors from opposite ends of the value range, and stay within a complementary color scheme.

3. Decorating with Color Values in Neutrals

Don’t forget that neutrals have a range of values too. Dark wood flooring can provide the needed depth on the darkest end of the range, while lighter neutral paint colors like Navajo White or Benjamin Moore Muslin can provide lighter value.

If you went all in on the black and white trend and now feel your space is too high contrast- it’s probably because it lacks mid tones- try painting your all-white walls with one of my favorite neutral paint colors: Smokey Taupe or get a similar effect from one of these neutral paint colors for minimalists.

Are you thinking of hiring a color consultant? I offer virtual consultations to clients all over the US. Sign up today!

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Read on: I will go over all the ins and outs of color saturation and the number one mistake I see when homeowners make when it comes to picking paint colors. Hint: it has to do with saturation!

What Is Color Saturation?

Let’s talk about color saturation—the often misunderstood but incredibly important part of how we experience color in our homes. If you’ve ever brought home a paint chip that looked just right in the store, only to have it feel way too intense on your wall, there’s a good chance saturation played a role.

In this post, I’ll break down what saturation actually means, how it’s different from chroma (yes, they’re not the same), and why understanding it can help you feel more confident when choosing colors—whether you’re painting a room, putting together a mood board, or just trying to figure out why that “soft sage green” suddenly looks neon in your living room.

Definition Of Color Saturation: In plain English

Saturation refers to how intense or pure a color appears. High-saturation colors feel loud and full of life. Low-saturation colors are quieter and more complex. Neither is better—they just bring different things to a space.

As an artist, I describe it like this: The more of a single hue pigment you add to the base or paint medium the more you will increase the saturation.

How Saturation Affects the Feel of a Room

Color isn’t just visual—it’s emotional. And saturation plays a huge role in how a room feels:

• Highly saturated colors: In larger spaces, highly saturated colors can become tiring and seem unsophisticated or childish. However, in smaller amounts, like on accent walls or on furniture, these brighter hues can bring energy, playfulness, and boldness. Deeply saturated colors can work well in a powder rooms, in low lighting areas or featured in smaller amounts in kid’s space.
• Desaturated colors feel more sophisticated, subtle, and calming. They’re the go-to for living rooms, bedrooms, or anywhere you want to chill out.

How To Avoid The Most Common Paint Color Mistake

The most common paint mistake I see is someone picked out a paint color by using a paint chip, but once it was on the wall, it was either way too bright or a totally different color than they thought.

The reason this happens is that paint chips are super deceiving! It’s not our fault. Our brains are wired to ignore subtle things and notice obvious things. It’s true! This being the case we go straight for the brighter colors and have a really hard time seeing subtleties in low-saturation paint. That’s how we end up grabbing a paint chip that is more saturated than we want.

To avoid this mistake, we have to trick our brains! To do this, we compare colors so we are able to pick up the underlying hues. Once our brains are attuned to the colors undertones, we can then more easily picture how it will look at a larger scale.

Case Study: Picking a Blue Paint Color

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you wanted to paint your living room a lovely historical blue paint color. So you pull out the Benjamin Moore Historical collection and flip to the blue section. You spot “Whipple Blue” and think, oh that’s pretty.

Friends, do not paint your living room with this color. Whipple is more saturated than the look you really want. Trust me.

Whipple Blue Room

The problem is, when you see it on the fan deck, the Whipple Blue is making all the other colors around it seem gray by comparison. As I said, our brains are wired to do this so it is not your fault!

Instead, you have to look at much more grayed out colors and study them systematically. For example, look at Brewster Gray in the image below.

When we grabbed the fan deck we totally overlooked this color because our brains say “gray” not “blue.” Right?

Wrong: Brewster Gray is not gray my friends, it is blue. You can see this fact by comparing it to other colors. I’ll show you three examples:

Example 1: Compare it first to my favorite neutral gray, Repose Gray from Sherwin Williams. Here you can clearly see that Brewster is a blue with green undertones.

Example 2: Next, place it side by side with a color from the opposite side of the color wheel and you will see its true blue nature. Here next to Cappuccino Muffin the Brewster Gray appears like a dusty blue shade.

Example 3: You can also look at it compared to a similar color with a similar value and saturation but in a slightly different hue. When compared to a slightly greener color you can also tell how blue this paint is.

Above you can see how Brewster Gray appears when it is used in large amounts. It is decidedly NOT gray at all but actually a gorgeous historical blue color. Read more about Brewster Gray and see more photos of how I used it in my home.

Tips for Choosing the Right Saturation in Your Space

If you’re trying to figure out which version of a color will work best in your home, keep these tips in mind:

• Consider Low and Artificial Lighting. Our eyes are more sensitive to the nuances of color in natural light. Meanwhile, low or warm artificial light tends to limit the perceived spectrum. If you are only going to use a space at night (like a TV room or den) then test out a more deeply saturated paint color. This will compensate for the dull artificial light and give you the look you want, even if you mostly use a space at night.
• Exteriors Need More Saturation: Natural daylight washes out exterior paint colors. That’s why I tell my Color Consulting clients to test out a range of colors including a few shades darker and some that are more saturated. Try one of our favorite greens for exteriors.
• Watch for undertones. Even muted colors have a temperature—some lean warm (like a soft greige), others cool (like a dusty blue). Saturation and undertone work together, and getting the balance right makes a huge difference. Read more about color temperature here.
• Pair thoughtfully. High- and low-saturation colors can work beautifully together—but you want contrast to feel intentional. Try pairing a bold terra cotta with a soft, chalky pink rather than two almost-the-same tones.
• Think about the room’s function: Want energy and creativity? Lean higher. Want calm and relaxation? Go lower. But remember with highly saturated colors, less is more. Think feature wall- not color drenching!
• Call In The Experts: Hire a color consultant for a virtual color consultation. Paint brands like Sherwin-Williams and Farrow & Ball often have collections that show the same hue across a range of saturation levels. These are goldmines for seeing how subtle shifts can change everything.

In Closing… Saturation Is the Secret Sauce

Color saturation might not be the first thing you think about when you’re choosing a paint color—but once you get the hang of it, it can totally transform how you approach color. It’s the secret sauce that makes a space feel intentional, harmonious, and, most importantly, you.

If you want more tips on reading paint chips, understanding undertones, or building a palette with confidence, stick around—or reach out for a virtual color consult. I’d love to help you see color in a whole new way.

The post Color Saturation appeared first on A Season For Home.

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What Is Hue?

In color theory, hue refers to the pure, base color of the spectrum, such as red, blue, yellow, green, etc. In other words, hue is the color’s name.

The color wheel is a simplified representation of an infinite prismatic gradation through the color spectrum. It breaks colors into three categories of hues:

• Primary hues: The primary colors are hues like red, blue, and yellow. These cannot be created by mixing other colors.
• Secondary hues: Secondary hues are created by mixing two primary colors to get green, orange or purple.
• Tertiary hues: These are created by mixing a primary hue with its adjacent secondary color next to it on the color wheel. Examples of Tertiary colors are: Red-orange, orange-yellow, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet and red-violet.

Hue versus Other Color Properties

While hue refers to a color’s pure identity—such as red, blue, or green—it is just one aspect of how we perceive and describe color. Chroma, value, and saturation are additional properties that influence how a color appears.

• Chroma refers to the purity or intensity of a hue, with highly chromatic colors appearing more vivid and muted colors appearing more subdued. Read more about chroma in our primer on Clean Colors vs Dirty Colors.
• Value determines how light or dark a color is, regardless of its hue. For example, a pastel blue and a deep navy both share the same hue but have very different values.
• Tints and Shades: Another key distinction is between hue and tint, tone, and shade, which describe how a pure color is altered by adding white, gray, or black. A tint is a hue like red is mixed with white to create a lighter, softer version of the color known as pink. Shade is a hue mixed with black, making it appear deeper and richer.
• Tone: The term tone encompasses tints and shades and refers to a hue mixed with gray, which mutes its intensity.

Understanding these differences helps in interior design because they affect how colors interact and how they are perceived in different lighting conditions.

Warm vs. Cool Hues

In addition to breaking hues into primary, secondary and tertiary colors, hues can be further broken into warm versus cool colors. Color temperature describes the warmth or coolness of a color, based on its position on the spectrum of light. Warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) have lower temperatures, while cool colors (blues, greens, purples) have higher temperatures, influencing the mood and ambiance of a space.

Warm colors are energizing while cool colors are relaxing. Furthermore, color temperature also affects our perception. In general, cooler colors recede while warmer colors come forward visually.

Color undertones affect color temperature on a relative basis. While blue is considered a cool hue, there are warmer blues with green or yellow undertones. Even so-called neutrals have an undertone which will give them warmth or coolness.

The Role of Hue in Color Perception

We see hue because our eyes detect different wavelengths of light. Cone cells in our eyes help us distinguish colors, but factors like surrounding colors and reflections can change how a hue looks.

Lighting affects hue dramatically.

• Notice how the above gray paint color, Sabre Gray from Benjamin Moore, changes as it gets closer to the window on the right side of the frame. The light makes the gray’s hue appear lighter, less vibrant and a little cooler.
• Additionally, artificial light can shift the hue depending on the color of the lightbulb. When I meet with clients for virtual color consultations, I show them how natural light shows the truest color. A gray wall may seem blue under LED lights but warmer in sunlight, so it’s important to test colors in different lighting.

Color is Relative

Colors are relative to whatever is next to them. When we pair colors together in a space we must also consider this fact. Look above at how our gray paint color from the example above, Sabre Gray compares side by side to Benjamin Moore’s Platinum Gray. Now in the context of another color, Sabre Gray no longer looks gray but instead looks green!

Metamerism happens when two colors look the same in one light but different in another. This is why a paint color that looks perfect in a store may seem off at home. Checking colors in your actual space helps avoid surprises.

How Hue Influences Interior Design & Home Aesthetics

Choosing a color hue to reflect a desired mood for a space is a key component of interior design. A warm khaki color with rich reds and browns gives a cozy and enveloping vibe. While crisp whites, dusty blues and muted greens will create a calming, peaceful atmosphere. Knowing what you want the space to feel like will help determine the correct hues for your space.

Choosing a second color to complement the dominant hue is a great way of adding interest and personality to a space. For example, adding a small amount of a complementary color (from across the color wheel) can add contrast and balance.

PRO TIP: Using an accented neutral color scheme is a great way of simplifying the process of decorating your interior. Choose one favorite hue, then use it in small amounts with mostly neutral furnishings, textiles and paint colors. Just make sure to match your neutral undertones so they don’t clash!

Hue and Color Harmonies

You can create pretty color combos and visual balance when you study how the colors interact and make use of standard color harmonies. In design we follow some basic rules of color harmonies. Here are the cliff’s notes:

• Analogous Colors – Three hues next to each other on the color wheel (e.g., blue, blue-green, and green). Great for a peaceful vibe.
• Complementary Colors – Two hues directly opposite each other (e.g., blue and orange). For a high-energy bold statement.
• Split-Complementary Colors – This is similar to complementary but slightly mellowed. Instead of pairing a primary with its complement, you go to the hue just above and below the complement. An example is a base hue of blue plus the two colors next to its complement which are yellow-orange and red-orange. It is a favorite because it will give you plenty of contrast with less intensity.
• Triadic Colors – Three evenly spaced hues on the color wheel (e.g., red, yellow, and blue). To keep this from seeming childish it is best when used in an accented neutral scheme. I also recommend going with low chroma colors to pull this off with aplomb! See below how I paired low chroma versions of the primary colors in a color triad.

PRO TIP: When using color harmonies, consider hue dominance—one color should take the lead, while others play supporting roles. Also, adjusting saturation and value can soften contrasts and make color combinations more natural.

Common Pitfalls When Choosing Hue

Ignore Glaringly Obvious Colors

In my interior color consultations the most common mistake I see in clients home are much brighter colors than the client intended. Looking at a fan deck can really make matters worse. I tell people to disregard 90 percent of the fan deck and to stick with the most muted shades!

For example, if I were to pick up the Benjamin Moore color preview fan deck and look for a green paint color. I would flip to the green section, right? Wrong… Take a look below. The greens in this paint deck are much too bright and garish. Instead look in the muted grayed out colors and you will find much more pleasing hues for interior design. Here I used Dry Sage to illustrate how even a muted shade like this will make your space appear green, but in a more pleasing way.

Another way to avoid this mistake is to make sure to use large paint color samples, like those from Samplize, and brush out paint colors before committing to it.

Try A Large Sample Of Dry Sage For Your Space.

When choosing accents, make sure to match the chroma of the other hues in the space. Do not mix dirty tones with clean ones or vice versa!

Identify Hue undertones In Neutrals

And lastly use caution when picking neutrals. In my mind, even neutral colors have a hue. After all, neutrals are essentially low chroma tints of a pure hue.

Neutrals are by far the hardest hues to get right. They often have seemingly subtle undertones that are amplified when used to scale. One favorite paint color, Wickham Gray HC-171 by Benjamin Moore is a tricky one! It has undertones that can be overlooked when viewing the paint chip. See below, it just looks like an innocent gray, doesn’t it?

Welp, not so my friends! It is actually a low chroma tint of blue. Aka it has a blue undertone.

To dig in, I find it is helpful to compare paint colors to see these subtle undertones. Take another neutral and place them side by side. Now, below you will see how the blue undertone of Wickham Gray is much more noticeable when it is compared to Revere Pewter. Incedentally Revere Pewter has an orange undertone (it’s complement!)

Lighting

The other big mistake I see with picking hues for interior design is due to lighting. Artificial light limits our eye’s ability to perceive entire sections of the visible color spectrum. In other words, colors will look much more muted at night. And depending on the temperature or kelvin of your lightbulb, the color will read very differently! Simply turning on a light or changing a lightbulb will completely distort our perception of a hue. I always pick paint colors, tiles, stains and fabrics in daytime and then look at them again at night. It is helpful to look at samples at all times of day and in various lighting conditions to determine if it is right for you.

Screen Colors Vs. Real Life Colors

Colors on a computer screen lack the nuance of real-life paint colors. Some of my favorites, like Sherwin-Williams’ Wool Skein or Relaxed Khaki, look flat or dull on a screen but feel rich and complex in person. That’s because screens use additive color (mixing red, green, and blue light), while paint is made with subtractive color mixing, where pigments absorb and reflect light in more intricate ways.

Using Hues Like A Pro

Picking the right hue isn’t just about choosing a color you love—it’s about knowing how it will actually look in your space. Light changes everything, undertones can sneak up on you, and fan decks can be seriously misleading. The good news? A little knowledge goes a long way. Stick to muted shades, test colors in different lighting, and compare neutrals side by side to spot those tricky undertones before you commit.

Even so-called “safe” colors like grays and beiges have hidden surprises. What looks like a soft gray on a tiny swatch might turn green or purple once it’s on your walls. That’s why I always recommend sampling colors on a larger scale and viewing them throughout the day—you’ll thank yourself later!

At the end of the day, getting hue right is less about following strict rules and more about training your eye to see color for what it really is. Take your time, test before you commit, and most importantly—trust what you see in your space, not just what looks good on a screen or in a store.

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Understanding cool colors and warm colors

Cool vs warm colors are defined by their perceived color temperature which is based on a kelvin scale. In interior design we break colors into warm vs cool. We’ll cover more on this below, but first let’s review a little vocab lesson! First we need to define hue, saturation, value and chroma so we are all speaking the same language! Then we’ll talk more about temperature in a sec.

• Hue: This is the name of the color. For example red is a hue. While there are different reds out there, like firetruck red or brick red, the hue for both is red. Read more about color hue here.
• Saturation: This is the amount of pigment a color has. It goes from intense to faint. An unsaturated color will appear almost gray with a whisper of color added to it while a deeply saturated ones reflects its true intense hue.
• Value: Color value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. Higher values appear lighter (closer to white), while lower values appear darker (closer to black.)
• Chroma: This describes the purity of a color’s hue. This concerns when a complimentary color is added to the hue to make it appear more dirty, muted or complex. Read more about clean colors vs dirty colors and color chroma here.

What is color temperature?

Color temperature describes the warmth or coolness of a color, based on its position on the spectrum of light. Warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) have lower temperatures, while cool colors (blues, greens, purples) have higher temperatures, influencing the mood and ambiance of a space.

What Are Cool Colors?

Cool tone colors are any hues, tints or shades that fall on the cool side of the color wheel including green, blue, indigo, violet and purple. While true black and pure white do not have a color temperature, most “neutrals” do have an undertone that puts them on one side of the color temperature scale or other. In other words, there are cool grays and whites.

What Are Warm Colors?

Warm color comes from the side of the color wheel including red, orange and yellow and everything in between. Warm colors also include a variety of neutrals including brown, tan, taupe, beige and cream.

How Do I know if a color is warm or cool?

You can tell if a color is warm or cool by locating it on the color wheel. Divide the color wheel in half, red, yellow and orange are on the warm side and green, blue and purple is on the other side. Where does your color fall?

Sometimes, your color is more subtle, like when you are picking out a white trim color! That’s when it is not as easy to tell. This is when noticing the undertones is important. I find it helpful to see the undertones in subtle tints and shades when I compare them to either a neutral gray tone or another color of similar value.

When you have a more deeply saturated color, contrasting similar hues will often show which is warmer or cooler. You can also pick the most “primary” version of a color and place your color side by side with it. You’ll be able to tell if it is cooler or warmer.

The above image illustrates that the term warm or cool is all relative! Meaning, there are cool colors and warm colors that are determined by which side of the color wheel their hue is on. However, when you compare them to other shades of the same hue, one will appear more warm than the other.

Tips For Using Cool and Warm Colors In Interior Design

Warm tones can make a space feel more inviting and homey. This being the case they can make a large space feel more snug and inviting. Use cool tones to create a serene environment and to make a smaller room seem larger.

Using Warm Tones In Interiors

To create a warm color scheme for a cozy living room lean into warm neutrals and use a desaturated shade of brown for your wall color (like Castle Gate by Benjamin Moore.) Then furnish your room with a chocolate brown sofa and beige upholstered chairs. Choose terracotta pillows and a throw blanket for a few pops of color. Finish the scheme using an area rug with shades of brown, beige terracotta and warm gray to pull it all together.

Using Cool Tones In Interiors

Cool tones can make you feel calm and serene like being near the ocean or at the spa. Base your interior space using an accented neutral scheme using relaxed white slipcovered furnishings and light gray walls (like Collingwood By Benjamin Moore) and add a few pops of blues and green in textiles and artwork to add colorful dimension.

Can you mix Cool Tone Colors With Warm in Interior Decoration?

Yes you can mix cool and warm tones. In fact I highly recommend it! Below I’ll show you three ways to try mixing hot and cold colors in your home.

A common color scheme is known as a complementary scheme. This is where a primary hue (like blue, yellow or red) is paired with the color directly across from it on the color wheel (orange, purple or green, respectively.) Decorating with both warm and cool colors helps to balance out your space. If you are not sure how to do this, try using the 80/20 rule, decorate the space with 80% of one shade and add 20% of its complement!

Analogous color schemes are another simple way to mix warm and cool colors. Take Green and choose the colors on either side of it on the color wheel (blue and yellow) to create a three color palette.

Another way to mix cool tone colors and warm colors is to use a color triad. This is where three equally spaced colors are paired together. To make this work it is best to let one of the colors dominate and use the other two as accent colors.

Do you need help with your colors? I work with clients one on one in person during live color consultations. Sign up for a Virtual Color Consultation today to save your spot!

The post Warm Colors Vs Cool Colors: What is The Difference? appeared first on A Season For Home.

Lauren Shadid Architecture + Interiors

First of all, let’s preface this discussion by saying I am not a fan of calling colors “dirty” because that connotes they are bad. I personally prefer these so-called “dirty” colors over clean ones! When working with clients to pick out their home color palettes, I like to call dirty colors “low chroma”, “muted”, “complex”, “earthy” etc. Conversely, I refer to clean colors as high chroma, pure and bright.

The first time I heard a color described as “clean” I had already achieved my degree in Art, but I had never heard of clean colors or dirty colors before. {I had heard about the importance of keeping my brushes clean when creating a painting, but that was it!}

Knowing the difference between clean and dirty colors was essential in doing my job as a design assistant! My boss was a well-known color expert and in the Color Marketing Group. Before she sent me out into the design center to bring back samples of “red” fabric, she taught me that even a subtle difference in chroma can really make or break a color scheme.

In this post, I will go over what a clean color is, when to use them and when not to! I will also share some examples so you can SEE just what I am talking about!

Essential Color Vocabulary

Before we get into clean vs dirty colors, I need to go over a little bit of vocabulary and color theory. There are four terms that are essential to understanding what a clean color is: Hue, Value, Saturation and Chroma. If you already know these terms, jump ahead to What Is Clean Color in the following section.

What is hue?

In color theory, hue refers to the pure, base color of the spectrum, such as red, blue, yellow, green, etc. Hue is the color’s name.

• Primary hues: Red, blue, yellow (cannot be created by mixing other colors).
• Secondary hues: Green, orange, violet (created by mixing two primary hues).
• Tertiary hues: Red-orange, yellow-green, etc. (created by mixing a primary with an analogous or adjacent secondary hue).

What is Color Value?

Another property of color is value, which refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. In talking about house paints we measure this in a scale called Light Reflectance Value (LRV). LRV measures the amount of visible light a color reflects, on a scale from 0 (absolute black, no light reflected) to 100 (pure white, maximum light reflected).

• Colors with a high value (or high LRV) are lighter, like soft pastels or whites, which reflect more light.
• Colors with a low value (or low LRV) are darker, like deep navy or charcoal, which absorb more light.

If that doesn’t make a ton of sense to you, maybe this will help. During a color consultation I tell clients to forget all about the hue of the color when trying to understand value and instead think of a gray scale from white to black and everything in between. Once you can visualize that you can understand value.

What is Saturation?

The third key property of color is saturation which refers to the amount of pigment in a color. It describes how vivid or intense a color appears. As an artist, I describe it like this: The more of a single hue pigment you add to the base or paint medium the more you will increase the saturation. Saturation is a relative term that serves in proportion to a colors value.

What is Chroma?

The last vocab word to know for this discussion is chroma. This term is often confused with hue, but they’re different. Here’s how:

• Hue is the basic, pure color on the spectrum, like red, blue, or green. It defines the “type” of color based on its position on the color wheel. Hue answers the question, “What color is it?”
• Chroma, on the other hand, refers to the purity of a color. It measures how clean or dirty a color is. It measures how much gray a hue has.

For example, both a bright firetruck red and a muted brick red share the same hue (red), but their chroma levels differ. The firetruck red has high chroma, while the brick red has low chroma.

High chroma means the color is a pure hue, while low chroma means gray, brown or a complimentary color is added into the pure hue to make it appear more muted, muddied or grayish.

What is a Clean Color?

It is important to understand that colors have hue, value and saturation. Each property can be tweaked to change the color! And it is important to understand any hue (green, blue, red etc) can have variations that are either clean or dirty!

A clean color is a high chroma color, whereas a dirty color is a low chroma color.

A clean color is a hue that is pure, bright, fresh and simple. When talking about mixing colors on the color wheel, a clean color is a single pure hue or one made from mixing two primary (or analogous colors.)

Clean colors do not have other pigments (from across the color wheel) to muddy them.

Conversely, a dirty color will appear more muted and complex. They’re a little more je ne se quoi! Like an expensive perfume that has a touch of musk, these dirty colors often have a touch of their complimentary color blended in in a small amount to make them less stark.

Below you can see two kitchens. One uses a clean palette and the other a dirty palette.

Above Left: In the first example on the left the aqua blue cabinets and orange pillows are clean colors.

Above Right: In the second photo on the right, the cabinets are a more complex blue-gray-green and they are paired with a rug with complex earth tones. The second palette is all dirty colors.

When To Use Clean Colors

• Use clean colors to decorate your home if you love them and prefer them over dirty colors.
• If you like a fresh, bright look.
• If your fixed elements in your interior space (like countertops, flooring and unchangeable surfaces like fireplace surrounds) are mostly cool grays.
• If you love to decorate with black and white with pops of colors. Clean colors look awesome in these spaces.

When To Avoid Clean Colors

• Do not use clean colors when your fixed elements are warm and earthy. For example, if you have travertine floors or tile or a brown granite countertop you will have an easier time working with low chroma colors.
• In general, if you like to decorate with mostly cream and beige you should avoid clean colors. When paired with warm neutrals clean colors can look jarring and brash.
• Most importantly, don’t use them if you don’t like them. Before every color consultation, I work with a client to determine if they prefer one over the other using sample images and a shared Pinterest board. It is important to surround yourself with the colors you love. So if you lean toward more muted subdued tones don’t decorate with clean colors.

Color Rule: Do not Mix Clean and Dirty Colors

You will also want to avoid them if your whole house is already decorated with more muted colors. Which brings me to the most important part of this post: you should not mix clean and dirty colors!

Don’t worry there are clean and dirty versions of all the colors so you’ll still be able to decorate with all your favorite colors, you just need to pick the right ones, and then keep in the same color family.

For example I have two monochromatic blue color schemes above that show the use of both types of colors. Both look great! It’s just a matter of deciding which one you like better, and sticking with it.

When picking a color scheme for your house, it is important to keep the chroma of the colors in the same range so they all live happily together.

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Examples of Mixing Dirty and Clean Colors

Now let’s look at a few examples showing color schemes where clean and dirty got mixed together. Below on the left you can see a color scheme which is comprised of all clean colors plus one low chroma yellow, aka dirty color. (I picked Lapland, AF-410.)

On the right the exact same palette is used swapping in a cleaner yellow color for the Lapland. Take a moment to study these two!

Once you study the two palettes it is clear that breaking the rule of mixing clean and dirty colors is a rule for a reason! That said, there are exceptions to this, but in general leave the rule-breaking to the experts who know when they can get away with it.

Or perhaps you may be thinking, well maybe Lapland is just an ugly color. Not so! When Laplad is paired with other colors with a similar chroma, ones that are equally dirty, it is a real beauty of a color! See below how harmonious it looks in an all-dirty palette.

When paired with these other complex shades, all of which are muted hues, it suddenly seems just right!

How Can I Tell If a Color is Clean or Dirty?

The best way to know if your color is clean or dirty is to compare it to another hue in the same family. Colors are always affected by what is next to them, so to study them, understand their undertones and determine if they have a low or high chroma you must compare them to a control color.

To find the undertone of neutrals, we use a gray to find them. However, to see the chroma of a colors you have to use the most “primary” version of the color for best results.

For example, if I wanted to find out if my yellow was dirty or clean I would place a paint chip of a brighter, saturated yellow next to it to compare it. That way you can see the undertones.

To complicate matters… there are varying degrees of dirty or cleanliness too! Oh no! Remember this image we just talked about (shown again above) when I added Dorset Gold into our “clean” palette to fix the problem Lapland created??? Well, I have news. Dorset Gold is fairly “dirty” when compared to an even cleaner yellow! So in other words, it is always relative.

How To Pick The Right Level Of Chroma

Let’s say you read all this and you’re more confused than ever. There’s good news.

• Go Historical: Many paint companies have historical color palettes and in general, these colors are all on the dirty end of the spectrum. So if you’re not sure, and you prefer more muted and complex colors you can stick to picking from the historical deck.
• Use a Curated Brand: In general, all of Farrow and Ball colors are dirty and are curated so that you can pair them easily.
• Use Only One Deck or Collection: Sherwin Williams recently launched some color capsules. I also like the Affinity colors collection from Ben Moore for picking a palette within the same range of chromatic cleanliness.
• If you like clean colors, the Sherwin-Williams fan deck separates out the clean colors nicely.
• And if you’re not sure still, maybe it is time for a one-on-one color consultation with me! I am booking online virtual color consultations for interiors and exteriors as well as in-person color consultations in Vermont only.

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