WARM WHITE WILL ALWAYS BE COOL

Recently, I was asked to pull together a furniture and colour scheme for some cool new clients that have recently moved to Nelson from Auckland. I visited the home to collect their brief, and instantly thought I had the colour scheme sussed. In fact one of the colours I suggested was already in their Auckland home, so we thought we were on the right track. 

The home had a black exterior, light oak flooring and a distinctively luxe batch vibe. It was surrounded by beautiful gardens, mountains and bush.  

I got to work and came up with two schemes:

My client and I pulled the swatches and had a second visit to make the final decision. But when I got there, they just weren't working! The greys looked blue and cold - the whites looked muddy and green. So we went back to the drawing board and pulled out some distinctly warm based whites - and dare I say it - even some creams!  My hands were sweating at this point: I had visions of Resene's Spanish White making a terrible comeback. 

In the end, we are down to two: Resene's creamy, chalky Half Bianca and Dulux's half Mount Aspiring. 

It was a really good lesson: 

1: Don't follow trendy colours unless they really WORK with the space and create the feeling you want for your home. 

2: Warm based whites work with low light and green/leafy outlooks.

3: Warm based whites look amazing with wooden floors.

4: Don't be afraid to mix it up in the bedrooms - choosing warm greys and tonal greens will break up a scheme, create interest and avoid the 1990's show home look!