Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Whole home · colors from 5 paintings
A good room color combination needs a light wall, one main furniture color and a few darker accents. These five schemes come from paintings, so the balance between light and dark has already been worked out for you.
Quick answer
Pick one scheme, put its light wall color on the walls and use the other four colors in furniture, wood, one bold piece and one textile. The Rembrandt scheme is the calmest and the Kobell scheme the most colorful.
Each scheme is one painting's palette, split into walls, main furniture, wood, one bold piece and one textile.
From Portrait of a Man, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
#DDD4B7#BA8F6A#876443#594B2F#3E3221A soft cream wall at LRV 66 with tan furniture and dark brown textiles. It is the calmest scheme and suits a living room or study.
From Christ Healing the Blind, El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos)
#EED9B3#A18B6D#543F2F#3D6287#6D7440A warm cream wall with taupe furniture, deep brown wood and a strong blue accent piece. Use the blue on one chair or a rug to add contrast.
From Saint Reparata Tortured with Red-Hot Irons, Bernardo Daddi
#F3D2AA#989361#986541#B94F30#D0945BAn apricot wall with an olive main color and a red-orange bold piece. It suits a dining room or a sunny family room.
From The Annunciation, Petrus Christus
#E4C17E#BC8B4B#715130#97784B#6D3020A golden wall at LRV 56 with caramel furniture and a deep red-brown textile. It makes a warm, glowing space for a reading room or bedroom.
From A Huntsman and a Peasant Woman by the Isar River with a View of Munich, Wilhelm von Kobell
#DFBD9E#94A2DA#8F6D47#6D75A5#684531A peach wall with a periwinkle main color and a brown textile. It is the lightest and most colorful scheme, good for a living room with plenty of daylight.
The same paint reads differently in cool north light, warm south sun and under evening lamps. Find the column closest to your room.
| Color | Neutral daylight | North light | South light | Evening lamps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Terracotta Gold | ||||
| Soft Periwinkle |
Pick which color goes on the walls, the big furniture and the bold piece. Floors, shadows and trim follow your choice.
The framed picture on the wall is Portrait of a Man.
Start with the wall color. Each scheme here begins with a light shade, with LRV values between 55 and 71, so the room stays bright. Then choose one main color for the largest piece of furniture, one wood tone, one bold piece and one textile.
The schemes follow a simple pattern: a light wall, a mid-tone main color and darker accents. This is easy to copy at home.
If you are unsure, start with the Rembrandt scheme. Its walls at LRV 66 and its warm tan and brown pieces fit most homes.
If you like more color, the Kobell scheme adds a blue chair and a peach wall. Choose one scheme and stay with it instead of mixing parts of several.
Warm walls pair best with darker versions of themselves. In the El Greco scheme, a cream wall sits with a taupe sofa and dark brown wood. The blue is the only cool color, so it stands out as the bold piece.
In the Daddi scheme, the apricot wall, the olive main color and the red-orange accent are all warm, which gives a richer, more traditional room.
For trim and ceiling, use a white or cream that is lighter than the wall. If the wall is yellow-toned, a slightly warm white looks softer than a bright one.
Floors can be wood or a neutral rug. Dark floors work with every scheme, as long as the walls stay light enough to balance them.
Warm creams and apricots brighten north-facing rooms, where daylight is cool. The Christus golden wall is a good example: its LRV of 56 holds up even in a dim room.
In strong south light, the peach and cream walls look lighter and softer. The Kobell scheme works well here because the blue chair is a cooling counterpoint.
Under warm evening bulbs, all five schemes move toward gold. The darkest colors, like #141413 and #543F2F, become shadows, and the wall colors glow.
If your room has little daylight, choose the lightest wall in the group and add lamps at different heights. Dark accents need good lighting to show their color.
Test all five colors in the scheme, not just the wall. Paint a large sample of the wall color, then place fabric or objects close to the colors for furniture and accents.
Check the sample in the morning and in the evening. Warm colors can look yellow in the morning and orange at night, so decide with both in mind.
The nearest paint matches in the data include Sherwin-Williams SW 7027 Well-Bred Brown for #543F2F and SW 6368 Bakelite Gold for #D0945B. Use these as a guide for the darker colors, and match the walls with a chip beside the painting palette.
Take a week to live with the sample. The best test is whether you still like it after a few evenings.
A light warm wall, a mid-tone main color and a few darker accents. Each of the five schemes follows this pattern.
The Rembrandt scheme is the calmest, with a cream wall and brown furniture. The Kobell scheme is brighter, with a peach wall and blue furniture.
Five is a good number: wall, main furniture, wood, one bold piece and one textile. More than that can feel busy.
Yes, but the dark colors here have LRVs between 1 and 6. They absorb light, so use them on one wall or on furniture.
Four of the five schemes are warm. If you want a cooler feel, pick the El Greco or Kobell scheme, which each include a blue.
A card with every color on this page, its LRV and the paintings it comes from. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
Painting images: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain (CC0). Colors measured by Light & Pigment. Paint names belong to their brands and matches are approximate. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
