HGTV Decorating
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Even though today’s home furnishing trends are sparkling with more and more color, using neutrals is still your most practical, long-term, budget-friendly choice, says color guru Dewey Sadka, author of The Dewey Color System: Choose Your Colors, Change Your Life. "It makes good sense to use neutrals on high-end items, such as curtains, carpets, flooring and furniture," he says. Then you can go wild with color in other parts of the room. Colors come and colors go, but neutrals always work with what’s in style. Check out how these rooms use neutrals in the mix.
Subtle shades of cream and beige combine in this formal entry in an Italian-style home designed by Alia Meyer.
Earthy brown vases warm up Simon Temprell's gray and white open-plan kitchen.
In spite of the lack of color, there’s plenty of contrast in designer Stephanie Henley’s neutral living room.
Designer Jeanese Rowell combined high-contrast neutrals to create this very formal bathroom.
Designer Ammie Kim’s peaceful bedroom combines shades of cream and brown in the most inviting way.
Designer Jennifer Charleston used gray mosaic tile with limestone floors and other earthy elements to create a neutral refuge.
Shots of red and the combination of natural and man-made neutrals makes for high style in designer Katie Leavy’s dining room.
The neutral color (or should we say non-color) family includes a surprisingly broad range of hues, from white to black and a variety of browns and grays. Everything, in fact, from ecru to eggshell and cappuccino to gunmetal. Using these shades in your home can help you feel more centered and better able to prioritize your thoughts and actions, according to Dewey Sadka, who has developed a validated color-based personality test. But each shade says something a little bit different. Scroll over these neutrals to find out what sort of impact Sadka thinks each shade might have in your own home.
Using neutrals in your home doesn’t mean limiting yourself to black and white, as these furnishings so aptly illustrate.
The Cirque ottoman from Storehouse is a study in neutral contrast.
The shaded chandelier, this one from Pottery Barn, is big this year, bringing a shot of neutral style to any dining room.
Designer Jonathan Adler's sculptural organic vases show off the best of the neutral palette.
A taupe Mies van der Rohe Barcelona lounge chair is the ultimate in understated style.
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Anne Krueger is the editor of HGTV.com’s Decorating newsletter. She has written for In Style, This Old House, Martha Stewart Living and The New York Times.