Color Palettes

The 3 Steps to Creating a Black and White Home Office Design

When designing a black and white home office, there are 3 steps you need to go through. 1) eliminate color, 2) balancing the black and white, and 3) adding warmth. In this post I go over all the ideas you’ll need to create a well designed home office space.

Step 1: Eliminate Color

You can always have pops of color around your black and white home office, but these colorful pieces need to be hand selected and limited. If you have a too many colorful pieces, you start taking away from the overall black and white color scheme.

So you’ll want to take out all of the colorful pieces in the home office. Or store them away in black and white storage containers. Check out the storage boxes and files in picture (4).

Later in the post, I’ll show you how to add some warmth to your home office. Otherwise it could feel a little bit sterile.

Creating a Stylish Workspace: Modern Home Office Ideas

Step 2: Balancing the Black and White

In the pictures in the mood board above, you can see that all of the home offices have a white base, and are decorated with black and white pieces. If you are looking to create a home office with more black in it, then check out my post for more specific ideas here: Color Style Guide: Black Home Office Ideas.

So here are some ideas on how to add patches of black to your home office:

Use a black area rug, or window curtains
Have a look at how the black cushion in picture (3) adds a lot of black into the space. So does the black lamp on the desk.
Use black and white storage containers (4)
Paint the inside of your shelves black, just like the home office in picture (5)
When it comes to office decor, go with black and white design pieces framed in a black frame (2). Or if you have any books with black and white covers, then display these out in the open.

Step 3: Adding Warmth

Here are some ways you can add some warmth and color to a black and white room. This will help make the space feel less sterile.

Try and infuse some natural materials into your black and white home office. You could use a white office chair that has wooden legs, a wooden desk top, or how about using a wooden planter.
Add some plants into your home office space, as these will bring in shades of green.
You can try and soften the home office a bit by adding in more fabric. Either by using area rugs, layering up the curtains, or by hanging a tapestry on the wall.

At the beginning of this post, I talked about how you would need to take out any colored pieces, to create a strong black and white design. Having 1 or 2 colored pieces, say a red lamp, is a great way to add a pop of color to the room. And since the whole room is black and white, this one colored piece will really stand out and make a statement.

Gold or silver decor pieces make a good color combination in a black and white home office design. Hang up a gold frame with a black and white design piece in it. Or have a brass desk lamp.

Here are some other home office posts for more ideas:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6

April 15, 2016 in Color Palettes, Home Office

Color Guide: Grey Kitchen Ideas

A neutral color scheme (grey, white, off white) is always a good color scheme for a kitchen. These neutral shades create a timeless kitchen design. One option is to create a grey minimalist kitchen style, or add pops of color through the decor or feature pieces.

Here are some grey kitchen ideas that will help you design and style your space.

The Walls of Your Kitchen

When most people think of a ‘grey kitchen’, they’ll imagine a space with grey walls. This is one option, to paint all of the walls grey. But you could also paint all of the walls white and still have a grey kitchen.

If you paint the walls white, you can still style the space grey by using grey curtains, or a grey kitchen table cloth. Check out the ‘Styling the Kitchen Grey’ section below for more ideas on how to style a grey kitchen.

Luxury Grey or Light Grey

Whether you do paint the walls grey or only decorate the space with grey pieces (or both), the shade of grey you use will really impact the style and feel of the room.

A dark grey color kitchen palette, will feel more luxurious, and secluded. While light grey kitchen walls will make the space feel open, airy, and spacious. You can see how the shade of grade makes a big difference in pictures (1) and (6).

Color Style Guide: White Kitchen Ideas and Designs

Styling the Kitchen Grey

Here is a quick list of items around the kitchen that can be grey to style the kitchen:

Grab a can of paint and DIY yourself some grey kitchen cabinets (DIY Challenge: Give Your Closet Doors A Makeover – Ideas and Design Tips)
Or go with grey countertops
Look for grey curtains
How about using a grey table cloth or a grey kitchen table
Or grey seat cushions
See if you can get a grey centerpiece
There are grey light fixtures, lamp shades
Hang up some black and white photos/paintings in a grey frame
Go for a grey kitchen backsplash (21 Kitchen Backsplash Ideas and Design Tips)
Laydown some grey kitchen rugs
Or hang up some grey kitchen towels

Pops of Color

If you want to create a minimalist kitchen style, then stick with a grey and white kitchen color palette. This means taking out (or storing away) any items in the kitchen that are not white or grey.

You can always add colorful pieces into your grey kitchen. But I would stick to 1 to 2 colors. Any more that that and you start to take away from the overall grey color scheme of the kitchen. Some good color combinations include:

Grey and yellow (either have both light shades, or a dark grey and light yellow)
Black and grey
Blue and grey
Grey and gold

Here are some more kitchen posts to get ideas from:

image credits: 1/2/3/4/5/6

April 13, 2016 in Color Palettes, Kitchen

A Different Style: Black Kitchen Ideas and Designs

To really create a designer and luxurious black kitchen space, try and avoid having any other colors in the space. Take out any colorful pieces from the kitchen. This doesn’t mean you can’t add some warmth and shades into the space – they just need to be handpicked pieces. Here are some black kitchen ideas to help you design your space.

Use Neutral and Natural Colors

Add pieces into the kitchen that have a natural or neutral color. So use natural materials like metals (brushed stainless steel, copper, brass), wood, and stone (tiles, marble), or even brick.

Check out the great combination of black cabinets and an exposed brick wall in the kitchen in picture (2).

Or see how the wood really stands out and adds warmth to the black kitchen in picture (1).

Try to balance the amount of black you have. All black cabinets, with a white backsplash and countertop is an example of good balance – just like in picture (3).

Then again some people might like an all black kitchen (4). You can add some style to it by infusing different textures. A stone wall (6), a wooden one like in picture (7), or glossy tiles (8) adds a design element to otherwise flat dull black walls.

Making Sure It Is a Bright Space

The black decor and walls of the kitchen will make the space feel quite dark. So you’ll need to make sure you have enough lighting, especially around the work areas (countertops, cooker, over the kitchen island, over the kitchen table, and over the sink).

Kitchen Lighting Ideas Mood Board and Inspiration

Some elegant lighting ideas include black pendant lights, but the inside of the light shade is another color like gold or silver.

Here are some other kitchen posts to get ideas from:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

Style Guide: Black kitchen ideas and designs

April 12, 2016 in Color Palettes, Kitchen

Decor and Design: White Home Office Ideas

To really create a white home office, you are going to need to take out any colored items that are in the room. This doesn’t mean you can’t have some colorful pieces. But they need to be hand selected to go inline with your color palette.

Adding 1 or 2 colors into your overall color scheme is alright. Any more and you start taking away from the overall white color scheme. Here is a list of white home office ideas to help you transform your space.

Adding Pops of Color

Use a colorful top for your desk
A colorful chair cushion can add a pop of color to the space
So can colorful stationary storage containers
Use a colorful large frame to hang up a piece of black and white artwork or photograph
Or use a neutral colored frame (white, black, silver) and hang up a colorful piece of artwork
Add some warmth to your home office space by using wooden pieces. Check out the home office in picture (1) to see what I mean
Use a colorful area rug
Spray paint a cork bulletin board white/pink/blue/gold
Having plants in your home office will add some shades of green (5)

Adding Textures and Layers

To create a luxury home office style, try and stick to the overall white color scheme when adding pieces to the space. But look for white pieces that have a subtle texture or pattern.

One good example is to use a marble top for your desk – just like the marble desk in picture (6)
For the walls you can use wainscoting (The Finishing Touch: Wainscoting Ideas and Designs) or add decorative crown molding.
Or go for a subtle texture look by painting your walls and use a sponge with light grey paint to create a marble look, or use a brush to create a linen effect (Texture Wall Painting Ideas: From Faux Wood to Linen Effects).
And you add some depth and layers to your closet and cabinet doors by adding trim (DIY Challenge: Give Your Closet Doors a Makeover – Ideas and Design Tips) and decorative handles

Here are some other home office posts to get more ideas from:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6/