LHF-Dos&donts

Ahh… the fall color palette. Brilliant yellow. Vibrant orange. That-would-look-great-in-my living-room gold.

How many times have you gazed out at the brilliant fall foliage and said, “Hey, I wish I could look at those colors all year round.”

Let’s be honest, you probably first say, “Dang, I gotta rake this stuff up.”

But then you might take a moment to admire the colors.

Using fall colors in your home can be cool, or it can go totally wrong.

When It Goes Totally Wrong

uglyorangeroomNature is magic. That’s why all the fall colors work together to create one big, fat beautiful whole.

You’re not magic. You’re only human. And when humans try to put every single fall color in their home it creates one big, fat ugly mess.

A mess that gives you a headache, no less.

Imagine it. Bright orange carpet with intense yellow walls and brilliant gold cabinets. Ugh!

I’d rather go rake leaves.

If you must go for super-bright fall colors, pick ONE. Uno. That’s it. Try a single bright orange chair. A single brilliant gold throw rug. A single intense yellow bookcase. That’s it. Statement made. Headache avoided.

sherrillchair

When It’s Cool

Another way to bring fall colors into your home is to pick a single color. One. Uno. And then pepper colors from that color family throughout your living space.

Let’s say you went with orange. No, you’re not going to put a bright orange chair in every room.

You’re going to select different thingamabobs in different shades of oranges for different parts of your house. We already know you can have a bunch of thingamabobs. And you can also pick from a bunch of different oranges.

The orange color family has members named:

  • Bronze, Burnt Orange
  • Carrot, Copper, Cinnamon
  • Gamboge, Ochre
  • Paprika, Rust, Tangerine

pantone fall color palette

Maybe a rust wall with a burnt orange arm chair or paprika ottoman could work. And you gotta use gamboge, just so you can feel all sophisticated when you tell people you have gamboge in your home.

Keep the base neutral with beige, grey, brown or greige, then have fun with all that rust, paprika, tangerine and, of course, gamboge.