Mediterranean Color Scheme for Interior Walls, Wood and Textiles

How do you choose between these Mediterranean colors?

Start with the walls. The cream, #EBDCC4, has an LRV of 73, so it reflects light and keeps a room open. It is the safest base for living rooms, hallways and bedrooms. The closest matches measured are Sherwin-Williams SW 7573 Eaglet Beige, Behr N280-2 Writers Parchment and Farrow & Ball No. 2013 Matchstick, all near-identical.

Then pick one mid-tone to carry the personality. The coral, the gold and the blue sit at an LRV of 34 or 35, so they have almost the same weight. On a big wall they all feel equally strong. Choose one for a feature wall or a large piece of furniture and keep the other two small.

Use the two deep colors as anchors. The bronze brown, at LRV 7, suits wood, beams and door frames. The teal, at LRV 16, suits curtains, a rug or an armchair. A simple rule is one cream, one mid-tone, one deep color, and only small touches of the rest.

What goes with this palette: trim, ceiling and flooring?

For trim, use the same cream as the walls. The result is soft and plaster-like, with no hard edge between wall and frame. Avoid a bright white next to #EBDCC4. Its warm yellow undertone can make a stark white look cold beside it.

For the ceiling, use the cream as well, or ask the store to mix it at half strength for a slightly lighter lid. A light ceiling bounces daylight back into the room.

For flooring, dark wood in the range of the bronze brown (LRV 7) gives a strong base. Warm clay, sand or stone tile also works and lets the coral and gold feel at home. If the floor is already warm, bring in the blue and teal through rugs and cushions to balance it.

For hardware and lighting, dark iron or aged brass suits all six colors. Keep the finishes matte or low sheen so the colors look like plaster, not plastic.

How do these colors behave in different light?

North-facing rooms get cooler, grayer light. The cream's warm yellow undertone keeps it from turning dull there, but the soft sea blue (LRV 34) will look cooler and flatter. If you want the room to feel warmer, put the coral or gold on the wall and keep the blue for fabrics.

South and west-facing rooms get warm, strong light. It can push the coral toward orange and the gold toward yellow. The blue and the teal work well here because they pull the room back toward balance.

The bronze brown has an LRV of 7, so it absorbs most of the light that hits it. On a whole wall in a small or dim room it will feel heavy. Keep it to wood and trim in those spaces.

Evening lamplight is yellow too. Check your colors at night as well, since the cream will look deeper and the blue greener.

How should you test these colors at home?

Hex values on a screen never match paint exactly, so treat them as a guide. Buy sample pots of the matches given and paint each on a large board, about two feet square, in two coats. Leave a white border around the color so the wall behind it does not change how you read it.

Move the boards around the room. Look at them in the morning, the afternoon and the evening. Hold each one next to your floor, your largest furniture and your curtains, since those will change how the color looks.

Pay attention to how close each match is. Several are near-identical, but others are only very close or close, such as Farrow & Ball No. 86 Stone Blue for the blue. Test the actual paint you plan to buy.

Live with the boards for two or three days before you commit. If a color still looks right on day three, it will probably look right on the wall.