Does a colorful home make you feel at home?
A colorful home isn’t for everyone. But I’m guessing if you’ve found your way here, you’re a color person (or an aspiring color person) too!
Embracing color in your home can be a little scary at first, but if you take it in baby steps, it gets easier and easier room by room, color by color. Pinky swear.
We’re sharing our home paint colors with you today. Plus, we have a free (which is always nice, right?) downloadable paint can label for you to use in your own colorful home…never forget what the heck is in that mountain of cans stuffed in your closet or garage, ever again. But first…
Who remembers the show “In Living Color” from the early 90’s?
As in J-Lo and the “fly girls”? The Wayans brothers, Jim Carrey? Homey don’t play that? If you don’t remember it, or it was before your time, go to YouTube right now. You will laugh for hours. Actually, scratch that, go over there after you’re done here 😉
The 90’s were so cheesy and funny for so many reasons. But one thing that was so dope if you will about that decade, was that EVERYTHING back then was so darn colorful.
Now I don’t know about you, but to me it seems like the past couple years of this decade have been I dunno…blanched? A little pale, perhaps? We’ve taken a turn for the “white” in decorating these days. Now I understand that people like the clean look a white palette. It’s so neutral they say.
Neutral? Yep. Can’t argue with that. As for clean…that is probably true, as well. So long as no one is actually living in the house. Especially children. Or furry things. If I attempted to make my house all white, I’d be straightjacketed and sent away.
And I suppose if I were aiming for an all-white look, that would be the best place for me to go since hospitals and institutions are certainly known for their sterile color schema.
Personally, I’ve largely ignored this white trend. Because the fact is that in this house, that would be a fool’s mission. And beyond that…can I be honest? I just find it kinda sorta boring.
When I think about what makes me happy in the world, I think about going to the fair with my family on a summer night. Sunrises. Sunsets. Rainbows after a storm. Packages under the Christmas tree.
A new box of crayons. Skittles. My favorite plaid shirt. Aisles of fabric in the craft store. Crazy wallpaper. A garden full of wildflowers. Fireworks. In short…
C–O–L–O–R
Living, breathing, laughing, crying, bold, unapologetic, choosing-a-side-anything-but-neutral COLOR. And that’s what I want to surround myself in at home. ALL the colors. Heck, even Wonder Bread knows white is kinda dull. That’s why they made the packaging full of big pops of primary colored polka dots, right? It’s just more fun.
Fun, and funny, too. Like that awesome 90’s show, In Living Color.
And although I do love me some I Love Lucy and TV shows circa 1955, I don’t want to go back to a black and white world. I’m gonna stick right here in 20-something and live my life in living color.
So with that, I’ll share with you the palette that greets me when I come home each day. If you’re a white purist, then step away from your computer. Scroll no further. You will DESPISE what you see here.
But if you like color, or even just tolerate it, you may find a shade or two you like. We do have some neutrals in our home, for sure. But I like to use the neutrals as a launching pad for a more patterned and colorful design.
But before we get into the parade of paint, I’m happy to share these free, downloadable paint can labels with you.
They are formatted to print 6-to-a-page onto standard labels as indicated below. Simply click here or on the image of the label above, and you can download your label template now!
supplies needed for paint can label download:
Avery Labels 3 1/3″ x 4″ (5624) for laser printers
Avery Labels 3 1/3″ x 4″ (8164) for inkjet printers
Our colorful home paint colors:
pink floral bedroom
Walls: Benjamin Moore “Simply White” in flat finish
Ceiling/vintage bamboo desk: Benjamin Moore “Razzle Dazzle” in satin finish
Accent pops throughout room/painted chair: Benjamin Moore “Seaside Resort”
foyer
Benjamin Moore “Nimbus” in pearl finish
dining room
Above molding: Benjamin Moore “Pale Smoke” in pearl finish
Below molding: Behr “Ultra White” in semi-gloss finish
family room
Benjamin Moore “Pale Smoke” in pearl finish
basement
Sherwin Williams “White Duck” in eggshell finish
guest bedroom
Benjamin Moore “White Christmas” in pearl finish
master bedroom
Behr “Blue Opal” in eggshell finish
camping bedroom
The walls in this room are painted with a faux technique called “denim”. This technique gives the walls the look of denim jeans.
It gives regular paint a more refined, interesting look with more depth and character. We LOVE it and have used it many, many times. If you’re interested in the full DIY denim paint tutorial, you can see that here.
(base coat) not sure…it was already painted a basic off-white/slightly warm white
(top coat) Sherwin Williams “Indigo Batik” in eggshell finish and mixed with glaze
train bedroom
This room has a faux finish paint style called the “linen technique”. It’s a very subtle look that gives the wall more depth and looks like a more expensive grasscloth wallpaper.
As with the denim look in our other son’s room, people always want to touch the walls because even close-up, it looks like grasscloth. There is a full DIY tutorial on this linen technique HERE.
(base coat) Kilz primer basic white
(top coat) Behr “Vermont Cream” in eggshell finish
kids bathroom
Behr “Almond Cream” in flat finish
stairs
(white) Behr “Ultra Pure White” Porch and Patio Paint
(gray) Ben Moore “Baltic Gray” Porch and Patio Paint
deck
Cabot solid exterior deck stain “Seacoast Gray” (it seems like they’ve changed the formulation for this particular color, so this swatch will not be super helpful in this case…just a heads up).
Our DIY painted outdoor “rug” is Clark + Kensington “Heirloom China” Porch and Patio paint
laundry room
(below molding) Behr “Ultra White” in semi-gloss finish
(above molding) Benjamin Moore “Nimbus” in pearl finish
notes:
- The trim in our home is painted in Behr “Ultra White” in a semi-gloss finish
- The ceilings are painted in Behr “Ultra Bright White” interior ceiling paint (automatically comes in a flat finish)
- if you aren’t confident in choosing the finish for your paints (also called the sheen), then we’ve got you covered! Check out this post on how to choose the right paint sheen for any room your home!
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