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.  

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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.