While the rest of the country calls the season we are in “spring,” here we call it “stick season.” March and April are an achingly long season of high winds with sideways rains, interspersed with snow and lots of mud. All the while, we wait for May flowers, warmer weather and time spent enjoying lobster rolls and watching the seals swim along the shoreline.

You dear reader, are about to benefit from my newfound mental escape: I bring you the prettiest New England Coastal Color Palette. So, if you are looking for a getaway or are looking for a coastal color palette, pull up a chair! I have tons of photo inspiration and actual paint colors for you to get started!

New England Beach House Color Scheme

Our palette includes a range of soft neutrals and greens as well as the requisite blues.

• Simply White: Creamy and bright- this classic white creates plenty of contrast for a classic beach house vibe.
• Sail Cloth: A go-to wall color wherever you need a neutral.
• Accessible Beige: A soft taupe that goes just about anywhere. It can be used on walls or cabinetry and looks stunning with blues and greens.
• November Rain: A cross between green and beige- this color is great for bedrooms and transitional spaces.
• Pearl Gray: A super pretty and bright green with hints of blue and gray.
• Imperial Gray: One of my favorite paint colors for any home in New England- but especially appropriate for those along the coastline.
• Adagio: Our go-to coastal blue for that beach house look. It doesn’t lean too green or too purple- and lacks any overt intensity which would make it feel out of place.
• Washington Blue: No beach house would be complete without Navy! This classic shade is de rigueur!

Benjamin Moore Simply White: OC-117

This popular bright off-white paint is creamy and soft when compared to more stark white paints (like Chantilly Lace.) It has an LRV of 89, which means you will get classic beach house contrast for your trim and ceiling but it has enough warmth that it feels softer and relaxed: just right for a coastal home in the northeast.

Use this paint color for walls, trim, ceiling and cabinetry. Keep in mind that the all-white look is best when a room is bright to begin with.

Benjamin Moore Sail Cloth: OC-142

This super-soft khaki beige is the go-to neutral for this beach house color scheme. With an LRV of 71, it can be used as a wall color or for trim. It would work on cabinetry as well.

In brighter spaces, it will feel warm, soft and barely there, and in darker spaces, the yellowish feel may be more pronounced.

Sherwin-Williams Accessible Beige: SW 7036

For a cooler, mid-toned neutral I pulled in a favorite paint color from Sherwin-Williams: Accessible Beige. While it has a deeper value and LRV of 58, Accessible Beige can come in handy for built-ins or cabinetry, and works as a wall color as well. It is super pretty with navy and white too.

If you are painting your kitchen cabinets, you could use Accessible Beige, paired with white walls and navy accents for a timeless coastal look that will withstand the latest trend cycle.

Benjamin Moore November Rain: OC-50

This light neutral paint color has a green personality you may miss at first when looking at the paint chip. But don’t let that fool you. Once you paint a whole room with it, you’ll love the fact that it has a soft green undertone. In other words, it is not your basic builder beige!

I love it with creamy white, jute, sisal, linen and natural fibers. It is also pretty with aqua-gray and navy. It’s a no-brainer for our coastal palette!

Benjamin Moore Pearl Gray: 863

In darker spaces, you may need a paint color with a light LRV- but with a bit of pigment beyond your basic neutrals. Enter Pearl Gray.

This clean and fresh seafoam color has an LRV of 73, which gives it enough brightness for darker spaces. But it also has enough gray to make it feel appropriate in a New England coastal home. This is key! I like this paint color for bedrooms on the north side of a home (or those without a lot of natural light) and in transitional spaces like hallways.

Benjamin Moore Imperial Gray 1571

While splashy turquoise and tropical blue-greens work well in areas with cerulian colored ocean, here in New England, our waters are steely gray- and that means for our interiors the tones are equally understated.

When working with this palette, use Imperial Gray as a paint color, but also take the paint chip to pick out your furnishings too. While on its own, it appears gray- it actually has plenty of aqua in it to make it feel like it belongs in a serene beach house color scheme.

Benjamin Moore Adagio 1593

This blue-in-disguise looks gray on the chip, but blue when painted in a space. This blue gray paint color is classic and historic looking, but can effortlessly blend into a beachy look when paired with Simply White, Sail Cloth, Accessible Beige and November Rain. It also looks super-sharp with navy and natural woven fibers often found in beach houses.

I love the fact that it doesn’t lean too green or too purple- but sits firmly in the middle of the blue spectrum- all while keeping it’s New England chroma levels appropriateely low. {Not sure what chroma is? Read our primer on clean colors vs dirty colors to learn more.}

Benjamin Moore Washington Blue CW-630

This navy paint color is key to any beach scheme. It is a pure navy without leanings toward violet or teal. It would be a great kitchen cabinet or island color or to paint bookshelves or bedside tables.

Use the paint chip to find navy furnishings and accents, and try not to mix in purple-based navys by mistake. They’ll look off!

Color Pairing Ideas

Use this color palette to inspire your paint colors and furnishings. Here are a few tips to make this beach house color scheme work for your home.

• Make sure to repeat the colors through the entire home to help it feel cohesive.
• Feel free to branch out beyond these colors to make it your own, keeping the chroma level consistent. Rusty coral colors would look lovely with this, as would soft chartruse.
• Test the paint colors in your space before committing to painting the entire room. The lighting in your space will affect the way these colors read.

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 Coastal Color Palette For A New England Style Home appeared first on A Season For Home.

Color plays a huge role in whether traditional homes feel warm and inviting or dark and heavy, but it is also one of the easiest things to get wrong.

These color mistakes happen during a renovation, when decision fatigue sets in and choosing a paint color feels like the one thing you can do quickly. (Been there!) Sometimes it happens after a move, when you bring all your old furniture into a new house and try to make it work by painting the walls a color you once saved on Pinterest. (I am looking at you, Collingwood!) And sometimes it happens simply because you have lived somewhere so long that you can no longer see it clearly anymore, like being nose blind to your own house. (Guilty!)

If you are reading this thinking, uh oh, relax. I’ve made these mistakes too. I’ll walk you through how to spot them, show you real-life dos and don’ts, explain why they happen, and most importantly, tell you exactly what to do if you realize you’ve already made one.

1. Going Too Dark in an Already Low-Light Home

With wooded surroundings, mountain shadows, smaller windows, lower ceilings, and plenty of gray days, many traditional New England homes already have less natural light to work with. Add a deep wall color, and suddenly the space feels heavier than intended. That’s when understanding how much light a color reflects becomes especially important.

I’m not anti–dark paint. I love a moody room when the light is right and the vibe is meant to be cozy. What tends to backfire is when paint is used as the main way to “decorate” a space, especially in homes that already struggle with light.

Color doesn’t have to live only on the walls. You can bring in just as much personality through rugs, art, upholstery, and accessories without darkening the entire room. It’s often the easier way to get depth without sacrificing light.

This is where understanding LRV, or Light Reflectance Value, really matters. You can find this helpful number on the websites of the major paint brands and often on the paint chips or fan-decks.

Use the LRV as your guide! In homes with limited natural light, I often look for wall colors in the 60s to low 70s. That range keeps spaces feeling bright without pushing them into sterile territory.

If you’ve fallen in love with a specific color, use the resources on the paint brand’s website to choose a slightly softer tint of the same hue. Your space will feel considered and have personality without feeling like you tried too hard.

PRO TIP: Not all paint chips are arranged mathematically! The Sherwin-Williams fan deck is arranged by value, but Benjamin Moore’s are not all done this way (including the Historic Deck!) So going one shade above or below will not always give expected results.

2. Relying on the White Trim and Colored Wall Formula

Here is where it is worth rethinking the default formula of white trim and colored walls. In many traditional and lower-light homes, that combination can feel flat or dated, especially when paired with medium-toned wall colors. It often reads less historic and more early-2000s builder standard than most homeowners intend.

Reversing the relationship by using a soft off-white on the walls and a deeper, more saturated color on the trim is one way to add character without sacrificing light. This approach keeps rooms feeling open and bright while still introducing depth, contrast, and visual interest. The trim becomes a design feature rather than just an outline.

For homeowners drawn to color-drenching but not ready to commit to fully enveloping a room in one shade, reverse trim offers a more approachable alternative. It brings in the same sense of intention and personality while still allowing the walls to breathe. In traditional homes, especially, this technique can feel more aligned with the architecture and less like a generic paint formula.

Used thoughtfully, reverse trim helps a home feel layered, considered, and distinctly itself rather than locked into a default paint strategy that may not suit the house at all.

3. Using Stark White Paint in Low-Light Houses

Bright, crisp white paint has become the default in many homes, but it is rarely the best choice for traditional New England spaces.

Stark whites can sometimes read less “classic” and more like your contractor grabbed a can of any-old-white for a quick fix.

I understand the temptation to paint a dark house with bright white walls, but this will backfire! White paint on walls and trim looks surprisingly budget-friendly and dingy in older New England homes. Rather than lightening the space, cooler stark whites look terrible in dark houses.

The key is to choose a bright white (with a high LRV) that has plenty of creamy yellow undertones. Like Dover White by Sherwin-Williams with an LRV of 83. This type of paint looks gorgeous in a traditional home and will keep your space bright and add contrast when used on trim work.

Creamy whites are almost always a better fit because they compensate for lower light levels and work in harmony with traditional materials. They soften transitions between rooms, feel more natural alongside wood and stone, and age far more gracefully over time.

Colors like Linen White or Navajo White by Benjamin Moore and Creamy by Sherwin-Williams are creamy whites I return to again and again because they bring warmth without looking yellow or dated.

Rarely do I recommend stark whites, like Benjamin Moore’s super-popular Chantilly Lace, to my clients here in Vermont. Stark whites can sometimes read less “classic” and more like your contractor grabbed a can of any-old-white for a quick fix. I find this is especially true in traditional homes where warmth and nuance matter.

4. Ignoring Fixed Elements When Choosing Color

Color decisions do not happen in isolation. Traditional New England homes often include fixed elements that strongly influence how color reads, things like brick fireplaces, stone, slate, tile, floors, and existing cabinetry.

When those elements are ignored, even a beautiful paint color can feel completely wrong once it is on the wall.

The goal is not to perfectly match everything. The goal is to make sure undertones are working together instead of competing. This is especially important in older homes where natural materials play a big role in the overall palette.

This is also where many homeowners get stuck, because it requires looking at the whole picture, not just a paint chip. Even when you dislike a fixed element, like an outdated countertop, tile, or fireplace surround, it still needs to be acknowledged.

Ignoring it and choosing colors that clash will only make it stand out more. When colors fight what is already there, the eye is drawn straight to the problem area instead of away from it. Working with existing materials, even temporarily, creates harmony and allows those elements to visually recede rather than demand attention.

This is key: The goal is not to celebrate every finish in your home, but to choose colors that calm the space until larger changes are possible.

5. Keeping Wood Trim and Ceilings That Feel More 1990s Than 1790s

This one comes up a lot.

Many homeowners feel pressure to preserve all woodwork, even when it was added decades later and does not actually reflect the age or style of the home. I have been in plenty of beautiful traditional houses where heavy stained oak trim, cabinets or ceilings from the 1980s or 1990s are making the entire space feel dark or dated.

Just because something is wood does not automatically make it historic or worth saving.

If the wood feels more 1990s than 1790s, painting it can actually bring the home closer to its original spirit. A thoughtful color choice can lighten the space, calm the visual noise, and let the architecture speak again.

I repeat, if you do not love it, you are not obligated to design around it forever.

6. Letting Trends Override the Home’s Character

Trends move fast. Traditional homes do not. Part of my job as a color consultant is to follow these trends and to steer my clients to decisions they won’t regret.

I get it! Trendy materials like white oak flooring or Champagne Bronze hardware can feel exciting in the moment.

Take it from me, someone who used white-washed flooring and gray shiplap in a 2018 reno. I regretted it within a few years. These trendy materials often timestamp a renovation even quicker in an older New England home.

7. Using High Chroma Colors in Traditional homes

Overly bold, highly saturated colors often work against traditional homes instead of enhancing them. When a color fights the home’s natural palette, it pulls attention away from the architecture rather than supporting it. In older houses, that usually feels wrong even if the color itself is beautiful.

Traditional homes tend to look their best in softer, more nuanced, low-chroma colors. These are sometimes called “dirty” colors, not because they are dull, but because they contain subtle undertones that give them depth and complexity. These muted shades allow architectural details like crown molding, millwork, and ceiling height to remain the focus instead of being visually chopped up by color.

High-chroma colors can overwhelm a space very quickly. When used on walls in traditional rooms, they often exaggerate transitions between walls and ceilings, flatten details, and make even beautiful trim disappear. A softer, lower-chroma version of the same hue, such as a muted green or blue instead of a bright one, almost always feels more intentional and far more livable.

Choosing low-chroma color does not mean playing it safe or boring. It means selecting colors with depth, richness, and staying power. This is where historic and New England-inspired palettes really shine, offering interest without competing with the home itself.

How do you know if you have made this mistake? Trust your gut. If a color feels loud, unnatural, or disconnected from the house, it probably is. And chances are good it will not age well either.

8. Thinking Paint Is Magic

This list of mistakes wouldn’t be complete without talking about knowing when paint has reached its limits.

Instead of feeling refreshed, the surface pulls attention and often ends up feeling like a landlord special.

Paint is incredibly transformative, but it is not magic! When I see people painting things like popcorn ceilings, dated tile backsplashes, or heavily textured surfaces, it’s often a sign that paint is being asked to solve a bigger problem.

In most cases, the issue usually isn’t the color — it’s the surface itself.

Using paint to mask something you fundamentally dislike rarely delivers the result you’re hoping for. Instead of feeling refreshed, the surface pulls attention and often ends up feeling like a landlord special.

Knowing when paint can elevate a room, and when it’s being pushed beyond what it can realistically do, is an important part of making thoughtful color decisions.

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 8 Common Color Mistakes to Avoid in Traditional New England Homes appeared first on A Season For Home.

If you’ve been scrolling lately and thinking, I just want colors that won’t look dated next year, you’re not alone. There’s a reason historic New England paint colors are suddenly everywhere—they’re the ultimate tried-and-true shades. They’ve already stood the test of time, and somehow they still feel totally on trend.

Maybe it’s because so many of us are craving warmth again. Maybe we’ve been bingeing too many episodes of For The Love Of Kitchens (guilty). Or maybe we’re finally over the stark grays that made every room feel a little… chilly. Whatever the reason, these classic hues (creamy whites, slate blues, sage greens, barn reds, and those earthy gray-greens) hit that perfect sweet spot between nostalgic and modern. You get character without feeling like you’re decorating a museum.

After renovating our 230-year-old Vermont farmhouse and working with clients who want timeless color with a fresh, current vibe, I can confidently say: these historic palettes are the ones that just work.

I put together mood boards for each color collection so you can see exactly how they play together in real life.

Let’s jump in.

What Makes a New England Paint Color ‘Historic’?

Historic colors tend to be:

• Rooted in natural pigments (think iron oxides, lamp black, milk paint)
• Softer, earthier, and less “manufactured” than modern trend colors
• Low-chroma, meaning they don’t shout, they whisper
• Grounded in architecture, landscape, and climate

They’re basically the opposite of colors that scream at you from across the room. Instead, they bring warmth, patina, and that magical lived-in feeling.

I think there is something truly sublime about a low chroma shade of paint.{ Read more about clean colors vs dirty colors to learn more about chroma.} These colors quietly say, I know what I am doing, and I don’t have anything to prove to you. They make a visual statement, but in a Mona Lisa smile kind of way.

Now let’s get into the fun part, my curated historic New England color collections. I created mood board collages for each one so you can visualize how these palettes feel in real life.

1. Creamy Whites & Soft Historic Off-Whites

Let’s start with the hardest-working colors in New England: warm whites that never look stark or sterile.

These whites have a softness to them, like filtered sunlight. They flatter old homes and new builds, and they look incredible paired with aged wood, antiques, or even modern light fixtures.

Pro Tip: If you’ve checked out my Top Five New England Paint Colors, then you know the key to hitting the sweet spot for homes in the Northeast means going with a warm yellow-based white, not a stark or cool one. While cool or bright whites (even White Dove) can look a little sad in a New England home, creamier whites can look lit-from-within!

2. Barn Reds & Weathered Farmhouse Browns

These rich, earthy reds and brownish reds are straight out of New England’s agricultural history. They feel nostalgic in the best way, but when used thoughtfully, they also translate beautifully into modern spaces.

Pro Tip: I am loving this embrace of rich red tones, but I have been discouraging my clients from going full 1990’s and painting their dining rooms red. Instead of painting an entire room with this color, use it in smaller doses, like for pops of contrast. I love seeing it on stair risers for a refreshing surprise, or to paint a furniture piece.

In 2025 I used Walnut by Benjamin Moore on the legs of our table in our breakfast nook, and I painted our firewood box on our new porch with it. It looks like it has always been there!

Want My Free Edgecomb Gray Palette? If you’d love a quick cheat sheet to one of the most beloved New England neutrals, sign up for my email list and I’ll send you my Edgecomb Gray Mini Palette, free! Sign up here!

3. New England Coastal Blues & Slate Tones

If New England had a signature color, it would be this: The soft, misty, slightly stormy blues that echo the coastline.

These are not bright cobalt or royal blues, they’re elegant, grounded, and versatile. They pair beautifully with warm woods, brass or nickel hardware, creamy whites, and classic New England architecture.

To be completely honest, I feel like a one-trick pony going back to these gray blues over and over again, but there is something so right about blue for adding color to your space, but keeping the space livable and calming.

Pro Tip: The key is picking those that border on the edge of gray. I like those that tend toward the green side of blue, not the purple side. These greenish gray-blues have a distinctly Cape Cod Cottage vibe that instantly makes a home feel soft, lived-in and homey.

4. Sage Greens & Soft Woodland Tones

These soft dusty greens are evocative of New England woodlands in September, subtle, cozy and grounded. They add instant calm to any space and have withstood the test of time.

Pro Tip: In homes with wooden ceilings or dormered bedrooms and irregular vaulted ceilings, I have found that reflections and low lighting can cause certain neutral paint colors to look different from one area to the next. Even two adjacent walls can look like they are painted two different colors. This is especially true in Northern climates and cloudier areas of the US. I have found sage greens to be essential problem-solving hues to use in these spaces. They look gorgeous in low light and minimize the odd reflections caused by wood ceilings and vaulted rooms.

5. Putty and Charcoal-inspired Neutrals

This catch-all section is devoted to a range of warm, desaturated neutrals that would be equally at home in Independence Hall in Philadelphia or the living room of an Instagram influencer in 2026. These putty, greige and charcoal paint colors are desaturated almost-grays. But they’re not icy or blue, like the flat grays that took over Pinterest during the gray trend. They’re more like taupe paint with just a touch of warmth and inviting touches of green that make them relevant today.

They’re perfect for homeowners who like gray in theory, but want something softer, warmer, and more timeless.

Pro Tip: When you have a big decision (like painting a 230-year-old home), and you don’t want the neighbors to think you went off the deep end (speaking from experience here, cough cough), choosing time-honored colors in this realm will always feel right. We painted our house with Dragon’s Breath and Finnie Gray, and the results are both timeless and relevant.

Make It Work For your Home: Old Colors, New Mood

Historic colors aren’t about recreating the past, they’re about borrowing the best parts of it. These palettes bring character and warmth into homes that sometimes feel too new, too plain, or too modern.

And honestly? There’s something magical about finding a color that feels like it’s always been there.

The post Historic New England Paint Colors That Just Feel Right For 2026 appeared first on A Season For Home.

As a certified color expert, I spend most of my days helping homeowners sift through endless paint chips and talking them off the ledge of second-guessing (because trust me, we’ve all been there). But my love for New England color didn’t start in a color studio. I grew up in a home on the Historic Registry, surrounded by quirky charm and old-house soul. And later, during our own multi-year Vermont farmhouse renovation, I learned just how transformative paint can be. The right color doesn’t just change a room,  it makes an older home feel warm, grounded, and true to its bones.

Over the years, I’ve noticed I return to the same tried-and-true hues again and again. Not because I’m stuck in a rut, but because these colors work beautifully with New England architecture and light. They feel timeless, cozy, and instantly welcoming. Today, I’m sharing those five go-to colors with you, plus the color principles behind why they’re so reliable.

Photo Credit: Crisp Architects

What Paint Colors Are Best for a New England Home?

You might be thinking, Why would paint colors behave differently here? I promise, they do. New England homes come with a special set of characteristics that influence how colors show up on your walls. Here’s what makes this region unique:

• Cooler, softer natural light. Many of my clients, especially those in rural areas, also get strong green reflections from surrounding woods, fields, and mountains especially in the summer months.
• Antique or unpainted wood tones. Older homes often feature warm, rich wood that plays beautifully with some colors and completely clashes with others. Add to that slate tile floors in the mudroom and brick fireplaces, and you have distinct russet browns and reddish earth tones that must be considered when picking paint colors.
• Classic architecture. Colonial lines, farmhouse bones, millwork, and low ceilings give older homes charm but can also create darker spaces. The right paint color can enhance this character instead of fighting against it.
• Major seasonal shifts. Summer sun washes colors out; winter brings cool shadows that make some hues look minty, dingy or muddy. The goal is to choose colors that ride these swings gracefully.
• Bright whites can fall flat. If clean modern whites feel harsh, sterile, or oddly gray in your home, you’re not imagining it. Luckily, there’s a workaround.
• Timeless New England style favors earthy, desaturated color. Ou color palette in New England is rooted in Colonial Pigments. As a result, low-chroma colors (aka dirty colors) and historically inspired hues feel naturally at home here (and no, you don’t have to stick to the “Historic” fan deck to get the look!)

With that foundation in mind, here are the five paint colors I recommend over and over for New England homes.

1. Warm, Creamy Off-Whites

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but one of my most reliable creamy off whites that looks gorgeous (even in the darkest spaces) is Sherwin Williams Dover White. This is the white paint I go to again and again for ceilings, trim and white walls.

Sherwin Williams Dover White. Photo Credit: @hatcliffconstruction

Why We Love Dover White By Sherwin Williams

• One of the biggest mistakes I made when we bought our 1790s farmhouse was painting the walls of our dark dining room White Dove by Benjamin Moore. What I didn’t know was that certain white paints look terrible in dark spaces! Silly me, I was just trying to brighten it up.
• What I learned in my Color Expert Certification traing is that this is a common misconception. In fact, bright whites can look flat or dingy in low light, but creamy whites glow in dark interiors with small windows or porches overhanging. Warm whites with yellow undertones can even handle the cool northern light we get in the winter!
• Now I know that Dover White is stunning in low light rooms. It has the same high LRV (83) as White Dove but carries more warmth, perfect for darker New England rooms.
• It plays beautifully with antique furniture, patina-rich wood, and traditional trim.
• While it isn’t stark, sterile, or overly yellow it also feels classic, cozy, and quietly historic.
• I highly suggest considering a warm off-white like Dover White as a softer alternative for trim when you want white but not builder-basic white.

Best for: Trim, ceiling and anywhere you want to use white. It looks great in foyers, on kitchen cabinets, living rooms, bedrooms and hallways.

2. Soft Beiges, Taupes & Warm Greiges

I feel like a broken record sometimes, but I will happily admit that Sherwin Williams Neutral Ground is one of my most recomended paint shades when coming up with clients home color combination . I literally cannot count the number of clients for whom I have specified this creamy warm neutral beige paint color!

But don’t run away when you hear me say “beige” this is much softer and lighter than the beige paints of yore. This is much lighter and not as intensely yellow of the beiges of the early 2000s.

Neutral Ground on The walls with darker contrast trim in a mudroom. Photo: @buildingacasehouse

Why It Works

• Neutral Ground handles both summer’s strong directional light and winter’s cool blue shadows.
• A higher LRV (70) brightens darker homes with low ceilings and small windows.
• Feels grounding and warm during long winter months.
• Doesn’t clash with earthy fixed elements like brick and antique floors.
• A perfect backdrop for the muted greens, reds, and blues often found in historic New England homes. Having a workhorse neutral like Neutral Ground is key when using an accented neutral scheme for interior design.

Best For: living rooms, dining rooms, parlors, historic trim moments

3. Earthy Sage Greens

Examples: Benjamin Moore Nantucket Gray (shown above in my office) or Sherwin Williams Grassland

Why It Works

• Soft, muted, low-chroma greens feel naturally at home in New England’s landscapes and historic architecture.
• Timeless without drifting into “colonial kitsch.”
• Beautiful for cabinetry, wainscotting, and even exterior trim.
• Adds color while keeping the overall palette calm and refined.
• Looks great with muddy and complex undertones of fixed elements like stone, brick and aged wood.

Best For: mudrooms, kitchens, libraries, guest rooms

4. Dusty Gray-Blues

When I meet with my clients before our color consulting appointments, I always make sure to ask what colors they are drawn to. Three quarters of the time the answer is often greens or blues. When I sift back through the paint schedules I have created, these dusty blues come up time and time again.

Examples: Brewster Gray, Wales Gray, Templeton Gray, Puritan Gray (all Benjamin Moore)

Brewster Gray by Benjamin Moore is a perfect example of a New England paint color that can be used on walls, trim or accents and always feels timeless.

Why It Works

• All of these above mentioned blue gray paint colors have enough weight for traditional millwork but stay soft and livable thanks to gentle graying.
• These mid tones vibe effortlessly with historic wood, clear old-growth pine planks, aged oak, even yellow-leaning maple.
• Look New England coastal, farmhouse, or traditional depending on your styling.
• I love these colors for reverse trim in spaces with lots of ornamental woodwork.

Best For: Stairwells with tons of woodwork, bathrooms, bedrooms, mudrooms, breezeways, Federal-era home’s foyers and stately home offices.

5. Earthy, Desaturated Reds (Brick Tones)

While red is not a paint color that comes to mind for most people, earthy brick colored pigments are traditional early New England and always look at home in the classic homes of the North East. I use these red paint colors in moderation for my paint schemes. The key is to use them for a pop of contrast!
Examples: Benjamin Moore Audubon Russet, Walnut and Boston Brick

A rusty red bench in a mudroom gives a pop of contrast. Photo: @sanfordcollectiveinteriors

Why It Works

• Browned, earthy reds with warm undertones feel rooted and authentic, never costume-y like blue or purple-leaning burgundies. I love those that look like they were created using natural pigments.
• Provide the “pop” most color schemes need while still looking natural and historic.
• Perfect for unexpected moments of charm: interior doors, stair risers, a kitchen island, or built-ins.
• Echo classic New England barn reds and brick tones.

Best For: front doors, dining rooms, interior doors, built-ins

How to Choose the Right Color for Your New England Home

Keep these principles in mind as you narrow your options:

• Pay attention to light direction, it changes everything. North facing rooms and those with small windows or low ceilings get less warm direct light and the colors will need to be adjusted accordingly.
• Consider your wood undertones, they’re part of the palette whether you want them to be or not. A lot of older wood floors and beams have orange tones which pair well with blues and greens but clash with taupes. Keep that in mind when you are picking your main neutral and your highlight colors.
• Look down. Your floors matter more than most people realize. As do the other fixed elements in your home including brick, stone and slate.
• Your personal style determines how muted or saturated you should go. While traditional New England colors are based on colonial era pigments, if you prefer a bit more saturation, the key is keeping it consistant throughtout your whole home palette.

The post The Essential New England Color Palette: 5 Foolproof Paint Colors for Classic Homes appeared first on A Season For Home.