Have you ever wondered how some people always seem to have the most beautiful, effortlessly chic homes? You walk in and all of their rooms flow together ever so nicely. There doesn’t even seem to be one item that was just inadvertently thrown in a room just because. Let me let you in on a little secret that I just discovered. These people have a trick up their sleeve: they know their home’s color story.
Their homes did not “come together” by accident. They have actually spent time thinking about how they want their home to feel when a person walks into a room. That “effortlessly chic” feel actually takes effort. I know, I was devastated too! But I’m here to save us both!
With a little bit of effort and thought into figuring out your home’s color story, you will end up saving yourself a lot of headaches, and money, in the long run! So, let’s get into it.
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What is a Color Story in Interior Design?
Color Story: Is a palette of colors used together to make a cohesive fashion statement throughout a collection. (source)
If you have ever taken a class in fashion or clothing design then you will have heard the term color story before. In interior design, it means relatively the same thing. Your home’s color story is meant to help you make a cohesive design statement throughout your home.
You do not need to be a professional designer to figure out your home’s color story, or to implement it into your decorating process. Below, we will discuss how to create your home’s color story in more detail.
Knowing Your Color Story Will Make Your Decorating Life Easier
First, I want to say that there is no right or wrong way to dive into your decorating process. Every person’s process is unique, but there are certain things that you should know by the end of your planning stage.
- What is your decor style?
- Ex. Modern Farmhouse, Cottage Chic, Bohemian, etc.
- What is your color story?
- Do you have a budget?
These are just a few questions that you should be able to answer. All of these questions will guide you in your decorating journey.
A few years ago, I attended a conference with my husband where Billy Beane was a guest speaker. (If you’re unfamiliar with who Billy Beane is, Brad Pitt played him in Moneyball.) Billy gave a really inspirational speech and ended it saying something that I think about almost every day. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here, when you are unsure of what turn to take next you need to trust the data.
For the sake of this topic, your color story is your data. When you are ready to decorate your home you need to trust your color story. It is your guiding light when the options seem endless and you start to doubt yourself or the process.
Trust me, it just makes everything easier!
How To Create Your Home’s Color Story
Ok, by now you’re probably thinking that all of this sounds good. You are tracking right along with me, but how do you go about creating your home’s color story? Let me share with you a few ways that helped me.
Discover Your Current Trending Colors
Let’s start with what you already have.
- Take a photo of every room in your house.
- Analyze what you see. Are there rooms you love? Kind of like? Absolutely hate?
- Find the color trends in the rooms that you love. It could be the paint color on the wall, or a piece of furniture, or the curtains, etc. What is it about that room that inspires you?
- Create a mood board on Canva to help you visualize it all together. @laurenajamison has a tutorial saved to her highlights on Instagram with a step by step on how to create your Canva mood board if your unfamiliar with the app/website. Below is the one I created for my home.
Find Your Inspiration
If you don’t have any rooms that you love quite yet or you want to start fresh, it is time to go out and find your inspiration. You can do this by searching Pinterest or screenshotting images on Instagram.
That is what I did with the bottom images in my mood board above. My bathroom & entryway need some TLC and these are some images that I had saved on my Instagram over the past few months.
Once you have gathered a bunch of images it is time to edit them down. Go through them and pick your absolute favorites. You will start to notice a trend in coloring, or room layout, or decor style. You can create your mood board using images of rooms that are not yours too!
Like I mentioned before, there isn’t a right or a wrong way of doing this. You just need to start playing around with your options and find what inspires you.
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