Our Home’s Paint Color Palette


A few years ago, I wrote a blog post sharing all of the paint colors in our home. Well, since that post, weโ€™ve done a lot more projects and room reveals around here. It was finally time to publish a new blog post listing all of the paint colors you can find in our home.

Itโ€™s funny because I get questions about paint colors all.the.time. Choosing the โ€œrightโ€ color can be really tricky and when youโ€™re choosing one for your own space it can be nice to see them in a real room before you take the leap.

Our Home’s Paint Color Palette

Today, I wanted to dive into our home’s paint color palette, sharing the colors we have throughout every room in our house. Beyond that, I want to talk about creating a cohesive look throughout your home. If you’re painting every room a different color, you want to make sure things work well together, or else it will feel disjointed and choppy.

Our home's paint color palette

If you take a look at all of the above colors, you’ll notice that they’re all very different (whites, tans, greens, blues), but they somehow work well together. How? They all have a warmth and softness to them. Even though the blues and greens would traditionally be seen as “cool” colors, their bases have a warmth to them.

A warm paint color palette for a cohesive home

I would suggest sticking to cool tones or warm tones when choosing colors. Here are a few other tips to create a cohesive paint color palette for your house…

  • If you have an open floor plan, keep the connecting walls the same color. For example, most of the walls in our home are painted Benjamin Moore’s “Ballet White”.
  • Keep trim and doors consistent. For example, most of the millwork in our home is Benjamin Moore’s “Simply White.” However, there are some exceptions. The baseboards are painted the same as the wall color in our bolder rooms.
  • Limit bold colors to fully enclosed rooms like bedrooms or bathrooms.
  • Create a mood board (using this tutorial) to see all of your various paint colors together in one area before painting. You want to make sure they work well together before you whip out that paint brush.

Now, let’s go room by room in my home and I’ll share all of the colors you’ll find around here. Unless otherwise noted, the sheen throughout our home is always eggshell.

Most Walls – Benjamin Moore “Ballet White”

The stairwell in our hallway

When we first had our house painted, I tried out so many various warm white colors on our walls. In the end, I settled on Benjamin Moore “Ballet White” and I still adore it, four years later. I went ahead and had most every single wall painted this color in our home, knowing that I would eventually customize each room with a different color. “Ballet White” has served us well and you’ll find it in our living room, kitchen, and hallways. It’s a nice creamy warm white color.

Front Door – Benjamin Moore “Blue Note”

Our fall front porch with faux mums

On our front door, I decided to go with blue against our red brick house. At first, I considered green, but ultimately decided that it felt a bit too Christmassy for my liking. “Blue Note” ended up being the winner and I painted both our front door and the metal door leading to our garage this beautiful color. It’s a pretty light navy that works well as a bold accent color.

Doors & Trim – Benjamin Moore “Simply White”

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When we bought our home, I had all of the doors and trim painted “Simply White” and it’s served us well. Most recently, I painted six doors in our newly renovated basement and I opted for that same color. On all of our millwork and doors, I used a satin sheen for a little extra durability.

Main Bath – Benjamin Moore “Rockport Gray” & “Ballet White”

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In the main bathroom, we always had “Ballet White” on our walls. When we renovated the space last spring, I decided to do beadboard on the bottom portion to add some depth and dimension. I painted the woodwork the color “Rockport Gray”, and I love the contrast against the “Ballet White” up top. It’s a warm gray that gives off moody vibes.

Main Bedroom – Benjamin Moore “Boothbay Gray”

Our home's paint color palette. Using Boothbay Gray in the bedroom

About two years ago, I gave our main bedroom a makeover. It just felt a tad boring and needed some personality. I love a calming blue color in a bedroom and “Boothbay Gray” was the right call. When deciding on a blue color, I wanted something that would work well with the wallpaper on our ceiling. This matches well and it has warm undertones, making it cohesive with the furnishings in the space. If you want a blue/gray paint color, this might be the one for you!

Guest Bath – Sherwin Williams “Clary Sage”

Our first floor bathroom

Our first floor bathroom is a cute little spot that we worked on right away after buying our house. As you can tell, I love a nice sage green color and this one is a good one! It pairs nicely with our creamy shower tile and the brass fixtures throughout the space.

Rory’s Room – Valspar “Warm Fog”

Our baby girl's nursery

In Rory’s room, I knew I wanted a pretty blush color on her walls. This post showcases the various shades I considered, but “Warm Fog” ended up being the winner. On the bottom portion of her walls, I DIY’ed this custom chair rail and picture frame molding to add some interest to the space. Unfortunately, I don’t have a paint name for this pretty green color because I had it color matched to her built-ins (KraftMaid “Bonsai”). But, I took a picture of the paint color formula if you wanted to take it to the store and recreate that green. It’s found in this blog post.

Kids’ Bath – Benjamin Moore “Boothbay Gray”

Our kids' bathroom is painted the color Boothbay Gray

I kinda stumbled into the paint color for the kids’ bathroom. My contractor was finishing up the space and he needed a paint color quickly. I wasn’t totally sure what I wanted to do and I had some leftover “Boothbay Gray” from our main bedroom and gave that to him. Luckily, it worked out great and it looks really fresh next to the crisp white subway tile. I think it’s a fun color for a kids’ space.

Ellis’ Room – Benjamin Moore “Tarrytown Green”

Ellis' nursery reveal

Welcome to the coziest room in the house…Ellis’ nursery. This dark green just envelopes you and makes you want to take a nap! Ellis loves his dark and moody room and I think he sleeps well because of it. Whenever we’ve had friends nap their kids at our house, they use Ellis’ room and always remark on how well their children sleep. I think it’s thanks to those blackout curtains, along with the “Tarrytown Green” on the walls. My only regret here is keeping the baseboards white. If I could go back, I would paint them the same dark green as the walls. Someday, I’ll get some time and do that. Someday.

Home Office – Valspar “Chimney Smoke”

Our pretty home office

In our office, the main walls are all “Ballet White” and then on one of the walls I installed this wall mural with bright and light colors. When we DIY’ed the built-ins, I knew that we had to go bold with color. “Chimney Smoke” ended up being the perfect navy color for these. I often get questions about the paint color because for some people it reads more like a dark gray. In our house, it’s a deep navy color and definitely more blue than gray. I even used this paint color on our basement vanity because I loved it so much. If you want a dark blue, this is it!

Basement – Clare “Greige”

Our home's paint color palette. Choosing a dark gray for the basement, "greige"

The most recent paint color I chose was for our newly renovated basement. I shared all of my color considerations in this blog post and ultimately went with the color “Greige” from Clare paint. It was actually the least popular color when I polled this community, but I knew in my gut it was the one! It’s a nice mid-tone gray with warm undertones and it’s a nice backdrop for our colorful wallpaper and rug in this room.

Kitchen Cabinets – KraftMaid “Bonsai” & “Cottage”

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Finally, let’s discuss the kitchen! I get asked all the time what color we painted our cabinets and the answer is we didn’t paint them! We chose colors specifically made by the cabinet brand, so we didn’t have to paint them ourselves. The green island is the color “Bonsai” from KraftMaid and the creamy exterior is the color “Cottage.” I love both colors and again, I went ahead and color-matched the wall in our dining room to that “Bonsai” cabinet color. I wouldn’t change a thing about these color choices.

Our home's paint color palette

Are You Still Having Trouble Choosing a Color?

Check out all of these blog posts for more tips and tricks to choose a paint color palette for the interior of your home.

Casey


The Year of Casey

Hey there!

Iโ€™m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m a Chicago gal teaching you how to design, DIY, and maintain your home…by yourself! Learn more about me right here.