My Mid-Century Color Palette

When we stage our listings for sale, we still rely heavily on gray, it has a broad appeal and makes a good neutral backdrop. Staging a home for sale is not at all like decorating a home. Home staging neutralizes a space, increasing it’s appeal, while home decorating is all about injecting your own personality and tastes.

For my own home, I love the bright colors that Mid-Century Design celebrates. (I’m a little over gray, after seeing so much of it!) I love a bright white backdrop for these vibrant colors.

When it comes to decorating your own home, designers recommend choosing colors that you look good in when you wear them. So, for me, that’s blue. I have always loved blue!

Mid-Century Primary Colors

My choices for the main colors in my decor are bright and cheerful. They include blues and oranges.

I’m going with this year’s (2020) Pantone Color of the year: “Classic Blue”. You can’t go wrong with something that’s classic. 🙂

To compliment blue I’m going with orange. Not only is it a classic mid-century color, it is one of the most cheerful colors in the spectrum. Think: sunshine, daylillies, and orange juice.

Classic Blue, Teal and Aqua. For my techy friends🤓: Hex Codes #2c3790, #00696d, and #c0622f

Orange #fc0622f, Burnt Orange #f66105, and Yellow ffde59

Mid-Century Secondary Colors

I could stop with the colors above and be happy. But I love color and want more of it anywhere I can get it, lol. These are quintessential Mid-Century colors that I want to include in small doses:

Chartreuse, Avocado, Paprika, and Beige/Brown

Including greens in your decor is actually pretty easy. You can satisfy the need for green by adding several house plants in each room. Plants add so much life and color. They also have another benefit: they clean your indoor air. Win-win.

Mid-Century Trims, Metals and Details

I have always adhered to the advice from designers to keep uniformity in such things as light fixtures, trims and wood tones. Until now. I think mixing metals is doable, although not always easy. I think mixing woods is almost a must, if you don’t have an endless budget.

Since all of my walls are off-white, I am doing one thing uniformly: I’m using black picture frames in the dining room. I’m open to different tones in the living room because it already has several wood shades.

How to Mix Metals

As far as today’s home decorating trends, metals are all over the place in 2020. We’re talking silver, gold, tin, brass and copper…anything goes. Brass was a popular metal during the 50’s and 60’s. It has made a come-back… just be careful to stick with matte finishes. The ultra-shiny brass of the 80’s looks dated today.

Mixed metals are gaining popularity, although they can be tricky. Click the image below for a good tutorial from Studio McGee on How to Mix Metals:

Our First Purchase

And this was our first purchase upon moving in! Tada! We’re super happy with this sofa from Wayfair. The Johnston 90.5″ square arm sofa in Azure. The entire experience was good, from ordering (half price on President’s Day!) to the delivery.

The color is perfect. We purchased the Safavieh wool rug about four years ago from Amazon. It has held up remarkably well. (It’s the main reason for my color palette) Now to get some pillows on this beauty! DIY Pillows coming soon.

When it comes to a color palette, I don’t think there is any wrong or right, just what you love. Let me know what your favorite colors are, and what you are choosing for your home decor!

Pin for Later Reference: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/704672672935598779/