Designing Your Home With Black, White and COLOR!

Today’s guest post is by Jaime Derringer, Founder and Executive Editor of the popular design blog, Design Milk.  

I’ve always struggled with color. As you can tell from my website, Design Milk, I love everything black, white and gray so you’re probably wondering what I’m doing writing about color? Well… surprise! I love color! I know you wouldn’t expect it based on my site’s palette, but I’m a huge fan of just about every shade, hue and pigment out there. I’m especially fond of all things multicolor, bold and vibrant.

When I was initially designing my website, I struggled with whether I should add color. I went through quite a few options and couldn’t make up my mind. I realized that no matter what accent color or color palette I chose, I’d eventually end up changing my mind, so I opted for no color at all to let the photos in the content become the colorful stars of the site.

Nothing makes a color pop more than against a black and white background, so I thought it might be fun to look at some colors that I could have used on my website in addition to black and white. Since Design Milk is a blog all about design, what better way to share color than through design?

BLACK, WHITE + YELLOW

Like a bumblebee? Yes! But, um, no. This gorgeous black, white and yellow kitchen looks nothing like a bee! Image from Colorama.

BLACK, WHITE + RED

Wow – there’s nothing like a giant piece of red glass as your backsplash to make a huge impact. This design is by Neil Lerner Designs.

BLACK, WHITE + GREEN

This image, from the IKEA catalog, shows how dramatic a wall color can be.

BLACK, WHITE + ORANGE

Sometimes simple pops of color aren’t enough and you need to create pattern. Image from Blount Design.

BLACK, WHITE + HOT PINK

This bedroom from Elle Décor, is a beautiful example of how hot pink accents can change a room’s vibe. If the pink accents had been navy or beige, just think about how different this room would look and feel.

 

Allison is the blog editor and gal behind the Twitter, Facebook & Pinterest at COLOURlovers. When she is not spreading color love around the web, she writes and manages Engaged & Inspired, a wedding blog and vendor resource for brides.