Colours for a colour-phobe

What do you do when you don’t want an all-white house but the thought of colour makes you cringe? Try these neutral hues, suggests Bea Taylor.

You’ve got your colour-nuts who somehow seamlessly mix bold hues with crazy patterns in every room, and you’ve got your monotone masters, those who prefer an all-white, minimalist look. Somewhere in between is the confusing position of those who cringe at the thought of bright and bold coloured walls, but also hate the thought of all-white.

So how do you choose a colour palette, that’s colourful, but not too colourful and that’s ‘‘neutral’’ but not beige?

Artist Greer Clayton has managed to do just this in her own home. A mix of tonal whites, earthy greens and warm greys link the rooms in her home in different layers that all pull together to keep the house cohesive.

It’s colourful, but it’s not slap-youin-the-face colour.

‘‘I’ve used stronger tones in the bedrooms to create a moody but comfortable feel,’’ said Greer of the charcoal, caramel and forest green she’s used in her children’s rooms. Usually those descriptions would provoke fear in a colour-phobe, but Greer said these colours can in fact act as neutrals.

‘‘By using midtones and what I call ‘muddying’ the colours, they become softer and more neutral but are also contrasted by surrounding white joinery to keep things fresh.’’

Greer gets her colour inspiration from the colours she explores through her paintings. She said the key is to vary the strength of a paint colour. ‘Even whites become stronger if you double and triple the strength.’’ On the other hand, you can also go the other way and lessen the intensity of a bold colour, she suggested.

Resene Colour Expert Carolyn Atkinson said, ‘‘you don’t need to have bold colours on every surface to make your house colourful.’’