How to Design a Living Room Color Scheme

The right mix of color can create a vibrant personality for your living room, but you also want color to be livable. Learn how to design a living room color scheme in this video by Better Homes and Gardens:

Before you get started, take a long hard look at what you WON’T change. If the couch and curtains are staying, that is the starting point for your color scheme. In the room featured in this video, the color scheme starts with a blue sofa and neutral floor coverings.

Find a patterned fabric you love that has the colors you want to use. As you pull out colors from the fabric, the real secret is to mix and not match (that is, you don’t want the same shade as your starting color). Instead, look for a relative in that color family. In the featured room, the navy blue in the sofa translates to watery blue in the fabric, and the pillows pick up the light pink in the pattern but in a more intense hue.

You can pull out more colors from the fabric, but beware of lone accent colors. Accents need a friend or two to make the room feel balanced, so be sure to repeat the hues.

If you want to take a risk and add another color, make it a calculated one like the pink pillows in the featured room. On the chair, the muted mauve in the botanical fabric is reinterpreted as a deeper plum.

Don’t forget the neutrals as they help amp up your signature colors. Aim for a light and a dark in the room to give it dimension. In the featured room, the walls are the light neutrals and the woven window shade and accent chairs serve as the darks to really ground the scheme.

When it comes to building a room of color, every piece plays a part. By focusing on each element, your space will be transformed into a world of livable color.