For interior designers
Color for interior design
Rooms change color by the hour, which is why interior work starts from photographs and ends in physical samples. Photograph the room, identify what is really there, build a scheme around it, and shortlist real paints, then confirm with a sample pot on the actual wall.
Starting points
Three starter palettes, generated live
Each set is produced by the palette engine, not picked from a mood board. Open one in the generator to lock what fits and reroll the rest.
Warm earth base
Because clay, sand, and umber tones that behave like materials, not paint chips.
Soft muted living room
Because low-chroma companions that let furniture and light do the talking.
Analogous calm
Because neighboring hues blend the way daylight moves across a wall.
The shelf
Working colors of the field
The named colors interior designers reach for, each resolved against the 31,912-name registry. Tap a swatch to copy the hex; open the name for the full page with codes, palettes, and contrast data.
- Alabaster #F3E7DB the warm white that reads soft, not yellow, in most daylight
- Greige #B0A999 the gray-beige truce; the most requested neutral of the decade
- Taupe #B9A281 deeper than greige; grounds a room without going brown
- Sage #87AE73 the green that behaves like a neutral against wood and linen
- Terracotta #CB6843 fired-clay warmth for feature walls and tile conversations
- Eggshell #F0EAD6 a barely-there warm white for ceilings and trim continuity
- Linen #FAF0E6 textile warmth as a wall color; flatters warm-wood floors
- Mushroom #BDACA3 a pink-leaning neutral that softens north-facing light
- Clay #B66A50 the mid-depth earth tone that bridges terracotta and taupe
- Plaster #EAEAEA cool-neutral offwhite for gallery-style walls under art
- Limewash #DBD5CB a chalky pale neutral named for the finish it suits
- Putty #CDAE70 warm sand-gray for cabinetry that should not shout
Speak the language
Terms this field runs on
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Undertone The lean inside a neutral. Two whites disagree because one hides yellow and the other hides blue. Full definition →
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Undertone
The subtle secondary bias in a color that seems neutral. A gray can have a blue or green undertone; a white can lean warm or cool. Undertones decide whether two near-neutrals clash or agree.Full glossary entry → -
Metamerism Why a chip matched the sofa in the store and clashes at home: different light, different color. Full definition →
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Metamerism
When two materials match under one light source but differ under another. It is why a paint chip can match your sofa in the store and clash at home under different bulbs.Full glossary entry → -
Color temperature North light cools everything a step; south light warms it. Choose against the room's light, not the chip. Full definition →
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Color temperature
Whether a color feels warm (reds, oranges, yellows) or cool (blues, greens, violets). Temperature drives a lot of pairing decisions, since opposite temperatures add contrast.Full glossary entry → -
Tone Color plus gray. Toned-down versions of a hue are what most walls actually want. Full definition →
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Tone
A color mixed with gray, which reduces its saturation without changing lightness much. Tones read as muted and sophisticated.Full glossary entry → -
Neutral There is no true neutral paint; there are only leans you have or have not noticed yet. Full definition →
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Neutral
A low-saturation color like gray, beige, or off-white that supports brighter colors without competing. Every strong palette needs one.Full glossary entry →
The workflow
How interior designers use this site
- 1 Identify from the room photo Upload a photo and pick the exact pixel on a wall, sofa, or floor; the magnifier makes single-surface picks precise. Photo analyzer →
- 2 Shortlist real paints The paint matcher compares your sampled color across four major brands. Treat results as a shortlist and always test a pot. Paint matcher →
- 3 Preview in the room scene The visualizer's living-room scene assigns your palette to wall, trim, sofa, and rug roles so you see relationships, not chips. Palette visualizer →
- 4 Check undertones Two neutrals that clash usually disagree in undertone. The undertone finder classifies any color's lean before you commit. Undertone finder →
Field notes
What goes wrong, and the fix
- Choosing white from a chip Whites are the most undertone-sensitive colors in the deck. Sample the actual light: a warm white under cool north light turns gray. Classify the lean first. Undertone finder →
- Matching from an uncorrected photo A warm bulb casts orange over every pixel, and the analyzer will faithfully report the cast. Photograph in daylight or correct white balance before sampling. Photo analyzer →
- Ignoring the 60/30/10 balance Five colors at equal strength make noise. Assign one dominant, one secondary, one accent, and let the room scene show whether the balance holds. Room scene →
FAQ
Common questions
- Can I match a paint color from a photo?
- You can shortlist one. Photos carry the room's lighting and your camera's white balance, so use the analyzer to sample, the paint matcher to shortlist across brands, and a physical sample pot to decide.
- Why do my neutrals clash?
- Almost every neutral leans somewhere: a drop of yellow, a drop of blue. Two neutrals with different leans amplify each other. Check both in the undertone finder before pairing them.
- How many colors should a room scheme have?
- A workable starting rule: one dominant surface color, one secondary, and one accent, roughly 60/30/10 by area. The room scene in the visualizer maps a palette to exactly those roles.
- What is the difference between greige, taupe, and mushroom?
- All are gray-plus-something neutrals: greige leans beige, taupe leans brown and runs deeper, mushroom leans pink. Open each one's page here to compare their codes, undertones, and companions side by side.
- Which colors make a small room feel bigger?
- High-lightness, low-chroma colors that keep walls and trim close in value, so edges dissolve. Cool leans recede a touch more than warm ones. Build the scheme in the generator's muted mode and compare values in grayscale.
- Should ceilings always be white?
- No: a ceiling a shade lighter than the walls, or the wall color cut by half, often reads calmer than stark white. The tint tool produces exactly those cut percentages for any wall color.
Other work