"Does this match?" If you've been playing it safe with color, now may be the time to start thinking outside the box.
We've rounded up a few of our favorite examples of unusual, dynamic color combinations. They may not be what you're used to seeing, but somehow, they work.
TOP ROW:
1. Dark green and light pink (and purple!). Image from Design Public.
2. Samon and lavender, as seen in an interior from Canadian House & Home.
3. Pale pink and cerulean, in an Autralian home from The Design Files.
4. Cobalt blue and pink, from artist Isabelle Tuchband's Sao Paolo home (as seen in The Selby).
5. Camel and pink (seen in an interior from Skona Hem).
BOTTOM ROW:
6. Aqua and pink. BNO Design via Plush Palate.
7. Sky blue and deep red, from T Magazine.
8. Lavender and emerald green, in a Paris apartment from Design*Sponge.
9. Olive green and light blue, in an interior by architect Phillipe Harden (image via Apartment Therapy).
10. Navy and pink, in a Paris apartment from Marie Claire Masion via Decor8.
(Images: as linked above)
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These are great examples of artfully composed color combinations... Beautiful rooms and colors!
Love these!
#5, Camel and pink.
Really?
They may "go" but, well, meh.
#6... oh so sexy... i want
Really don't like camel and pink... but love sky blue and deep red !
2, 5, and 6 make me go yuck
Favorites are 1, 7, 9
Indifferent to the other 4
Well, I usually prefer to just not comment when my reaction is "yuck," but what the heck --Except for the one that's outdoors, "yuck" to all. Still wishing that non-overpowering, non-screaming, non-super-weird color combos could be considered as part of all this...
My combo now is a mix of 1 and 6 but with a lot of white (unpaintable walls!!)
2, 4, 6, 9! and i like the way the rug and curtains go together in #3--but not so crazy about the other shades.
Sky blue and deep red is not an unusual combo, and the "camel" in number 5 is more like vicuña. But I'm all for creative color combos and rule breaking. I dislike rooms that look too "designed", preferring those that appear to have evolved over time. Even if you dislike some of these choices, you must admit they don't look like they came straight out of a furniture showroom or catalog.
I love the bedcover in number 7, and the leather chair in 3 is a treasure.
These are gorgeous and intelligent. They make a canvas out of space. I would live in all of these, except 6. A little too hipster-Barbie dream house for me!
Is it me, or are most of these depressing?
Lovely, very inspiring!
I like all, but 6. Not a fan of the bubblegum pink room.
I lovvvve the sky blue and deep red. It's classy as eff.
I wasn't feeling much harmonizing going on in any of them. Blech.
whoops! not 6. #6 seems a bit like candy that is so sweet it hurts your teeth. meant to type 2, 4, 7, 9.
oh funny! I just postes about unexpected color combos today. Check my selection here : http://homeofbambou.blogspot.be/2012/10/do-or-dont-unexpected-color-combos.html
Actually I love camel and pink!
Later: Well, I've now seen not only that you (AT) have different categories including a "cool," but also, noticed that the way this post was prefaced on twitter was by saying "If you've been playing it safe with color..."
See, I knew I shoulda kept my yap shut!
#6 reminds me of a 1980's Barbie dream house...in Miami.
I can only see four pictures, but I think they're all very pretty.
5 & 8 do not look good to me at allllll. some of the others, i really like.
#6 - I am curious about how they got a bottle of Pepto-Bismol to explode like that!
love all the color
this seasons version of burgundy is now being called "Oxblood" and I paired it with cobalt blue in this post http://not-going-out-like-that.com/2012/09/25/oxblood-cobalt/
I think it can be paired in interior design just like in fashion
Weirdly, I think the more avant-garde color combinations often look best with highly traditional furniture. I think something about the weight/familiarity of the traditional shapes counterbalances the wilder colors. Sometimes, when similar color combos are paired with modern/spare furnishings, the result looks a little crazymclookatme -- or, worse, a bit cheap.
I think #'s 2, 3 and 5 look unplanned, like hand-me-down furniture. The only one I like is the turquoise and deep red in #7 and I kind of like #6. I guess the colors have to be really saturated for me to like them.
This is great! I'm so tired of seeing headlines "decorate with colour!" and then it shows a picture with a white room, white rug, white couch and a lousy yellow bowl and throw pillow.
I'm already in the process of making a deep red and sky blue room for my 2 y/o. It is nice to see a finished room in those colors. Reassuring!
The only one I like is 7. #9 is fine, but not unusual to me.
I don't understand the negative feedback. I like some more than others, but I definitely appreciate the offering. The first three, in particular, are to my eyes stunning.
LOL, number 2 says "Samon." I quite like number 3.
My living room is sky blue and orange! (It looks good, but the orange wasn't by choice [70s solid-orange student couch])
I don't know why some are considered unusual - e.g. what's unusual about lavender and salmon?
More like "anything goes" and one can't help but wonder "says who?". One, four and ten are interesting, but personally, don't care for pink, purple, lavender...
Love the interest in some of these (and especially the blue and red) but what's with all the pink? Ugh, I just despise pink. Nice enough spaces and it does work, pink just is not for me.
My favourite 'odd' combo is blue or lavender and orange, so number two was definitely my favourite.
(My home combines deep rose, lemon yellow, and spring green and mixes florals with checks. It apparently works.)
I love interesting color combos! Olatz Schnabel's bedroom--the aqua and red one pictured here--inspired my master bedroom makeover. Read about it on my blog: Sueathome.com
I appreciate them all! Wonderful examples of how one may use complimentary and analogous tones and shades. Well done!
@jdens, I concur!
I would tear my hair out in that aqua and pink place! Aaaagh.
They must have had a medium contact my great-grandmother since her entire house was that awful color.
(Err, that was a reply to @logicbutton, btw - for some reason, the post decided it wanted to stand alone.)
I have #1 going on in my space now. Love it.
I like them all. Every single one of them is evidence of a person who enjoys color, who thinks about color. Anybody can saturate a room in white or gray, and then add one turquoise vase or one lemon-yellow cushion -- and everyone has. The "camel and pink" (which reads more like "rust and orchid" to me) is amazing, and what's depressing is the number of people who would rush past that room's designer so they could fawn (so to speak) over someone else's all-neutral greige-athon. "Wherever did you find gray roses! They're perfect. And that molecule of cobalt is the perfect pop of color. Congratulations on achieving a living daguerrotype! It's to die in. I mean, 'for.' "
What is with all the pink? Six of these have pink in them. Not a lot of variety!
totally agree!