10 Easy Ways to Sneak Colour Past Colour Phobics

Your partner likes neutrals and you love colour. Here’s how to create interior variety without a tussle

Sarah Warwick 10 September 2017

Houzz Contributor. I'm a freelance journalist and editor writing for nationals, magazines and websites. A serial house revamper, I love great design, beautiful interiors and practical solutions.

Houzz Contributor. I'm a freelance journalist and editor writing for nationals, magazines... More

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It’s not easy when your taste in colour schemes is miles away from your partner’s. Whether it’s because they lack the confidence to introduce anything but barely-there beige; or they’ve decided that when the time comes to sell it’ll be better this way; or they make a strong argument for the spacious and restful atmosphere their subtle palette achieves, persuading them to take a different approach is tough. But there are ways to show that adding colour needn’t disrupt the mood or affect saleability, and that they might (whisper it) even like it. Try these strategies.

Transitional Home Office Transitional Home Office

Put on an exhibition
This artwork may create a brilliant burst of colour amongst the clean, quiet white and wood tones, but introducing it hasn’t involved changing the colour of walls or woodwork – meaning the look is still unfussy and the flooring is still neutral. The lesson? Introduce colour via art and your other half might be persuaded that it’s moveable and leaves the scheme beneath it like just as before.

In this room it’s a painting that adds life, but it’s equally possible to hang a decorative rug, or even a framed section of wallpaper to add the necessary oomph without spooking the horses.

Expert advice on buying art

The Couture Rooms

Flirt with colour
Here’s another way to introduce colour without making changes to the major elements of a room scheme: we’re talking wall and floorcoverings, as well as furniture. Here, orange cushions on the sofas bring a warm accent to an all-neutral living room, and the shade is repeated in the interior of the pendant lampshade. It’s colour, but at a level where even the most colour-averse decorator can surely live with?

If this is your chosen way to satisfy a colour craving, you could alternatively opt for a lampshade or lamp base in your chosen accent shade, add in a throw, pick the colour up in a rug, or perhaps even in the window treatment.

Nathalie Priem Photography

Turn up the volume
Maybe the quibble with your partner’s taste is that their preferred decorating schemes don’t make an impact, because what they call subtlety is merely (in your humble opinion) simply flat. If that’s the case, a darker neutral scheme, like the one in this living room, could please both parties.

Here, the deep grey of the wall tends towards blue, creating colour a neutral-lover can appreciate while still complementing a mid-grey sofa, and steel grey window treatment. For a scheme with depth if you’re repeating this trick at home, think pattern, like these geometric motif cushions, and texture – here created by the carpet and linen look curtain.

ZAC and ZAC - Photography

Play with pastels
If you’ve always dismissed pastels as strictly for children’s rooms, or typical of a vintage decorating style that’s just not you, this room could change your mind. In this geometrically themed scheme, they look grown-up and smart. They’re also a compromise that can please both colour lovers and colour phobics as the original hues are there in pastel schemes, but softened with white, leaving an overall effect that is gentle.

Consider using grey with a pastel pink for a modern edge. Here, as well as soft grey, a deeper charcoal as part of the wallpaper motif and piping for the cushions works like an accent shade that keeps the look sharp.

Dulux

Go solo
A room full of colour like this one really isn’t the step too far it might appear for those who spurn all but neutrals. If their argument is that lots of colour is too loud or lively, then a monochromatic scheme can confound their expectations. Here, it’s blue that’s been chosen, but any single base hue can be used as the starting point for a monochromatic room with different shades of that colour creating contrast, but one that’s understated.

Monochromatic schemes can start with any colour, but neutral aficionados are more likely to be persuaded by a blue-based room, like this one, or a step-off point of green – both of which will conjure up the calm, relaxing feel they love.

The easiest way to start planning a monochromatic scheme is to pick up a column from a paint chart that will show shades from pale to dark that work beautifully together.

Alex Maguire Photography

Scale down
Here’s an alternative compromise for fans and foes of colour: agree together that it can be used in a small room. For many, a cloakroom’s the ideal venue for an experiment and in this one, the wallpaper has introduced personality, a range of lovely shades and warmth to a cool white, chrome and tiled room. It’s certainly a demonstration of qualities neutral devotees can learn from.

Shop for a wallpaper you’ve lusted after for a small space. You won’t need much, so what seemed unaffordable for another room can be achievable in a compact area. Here, it’s reflected in the mirror, squeezing even more value from a modest investment.

Nicola O'Mara Interior Design Ltd

Draw an outline
Interior woodwork is frequently white, but architraves, skirting boards and window frames can be the way to sneak colour into rooms without causing grief. Here, a sophisticated navy contrasts with plain white walls and a grey carpet, and is then subtly repeated in a bedside cabinet and pillowcase. Toning blues layer the bed, too, but quiet colour’s the theme rather than anything vivid.

Notice, too, how the architrave helps to frame the view to the artwork on the wall beyond as well as the pretty chair and basket, making a feature of the landing area.

Snell David LTD

Work with sunlight
The quality of sunlight throughout the day can have its influence on how persuadable your partner might be about introducing colour. In this dining room extension, the gorgeous green on one wall remains subtle illuminated by daylight, and tones with the lawn and foliage beyond, with an effect a neutral-lover can fall for. Warm colours, on the other hand, can seem to glow in the sun in all but north-facing and gloomy rooms, confirming their lack of reciprocal love.

To test colours before you commit, paint a large section of lining paper and tack it to the wall rather than relying on a stingy square, and check out the look throughout the day.

How to Pick the Perfect Paint Colours for Light-starved Spaces

Chris Snook

Watch the background
Wallpaper with more than the faintest of patterns needn’t be dismissed. To smuggle colour through the door, look for a white background in a paper with colour introduced via the motif, as in this hallway. Here, the paper extends from dado rail height only, meaning the colour’s area is even more limited, but remains impactful.

This stair runner is subdued in colour, but it’s another opportunity to boost colour. Try a version featuring a bright stripe amid quieter shades as an alternative way to bring in a bold.

Designerpaint

Revamp furniture
Look to chairs or tables that have seen better days as a canvas for colour – after all, they’re getting a new lease of life and it doesn’t have to be a lifetime commitment. Here, the shade is a glowing yellow, giving the room a contemporary injection of style.

Remember that you’ll need to sand the surface of old wooden furniture and get rid of the dust before you set to with a new colour. A coat of primer will help create an even paint finish afterwards.

Adore colour or must have neutrals? Tell us your preference in the Comments section.