Should Furniture Be the Same Color? (+ Great Color Combinations)

You don’t need to buy furniture in the same color anymore to make your living room, bedroom, or dining room look perfect. The old rule that everything in the room, including sofas, tables, chairs, and shelves, should share similar colors is obsolete. Even with different colors for your furniture and fabrics, you can still achieve a cohesive, coordinated look.

However, with the many color options available today, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when choosing furniture because you have no idea which colors to combine. It can be even more overwhelming when you are trying to make the best choice while staying within your budget.

There are many ways to give your room the pop you want, even with different colors for your furniture. Whether it’s your living room or dining room, you can always choose a great color combination for your furniture.

This guide shares tips to help you pick furniture in colors that go well with your style and preferences.

Does your furniture need to match?

Your furniture doesn’t necessarily have to match. However, you need to find a combination that keeps the room cohesive despite the differences in colors or patterns. Make sure the different pieces coordinate well so that your room doesn’t appear chaotic.

How to choose a color scheme for your furniture

When it comes to choosing the right color scheme for your furniture, consider your experience, culture, and preferences. You also need to keep the color of your walls in mind.

From the living room to the dining room, the bedroom and the outdoor furniture, several factors come into play when choosing the right color combinations. In the bedroom, for example, the bed is the largest piece, so its wood tone or upholstery sets the palette for everything else:

Air Oak Bed with Slatsby Ethnicraft · See productMansfield Bedroom Collection - Natural Walnutby Copeland Furniture · See productNotch Bed Frameby Normann Copenhagen · See productKurv Upholstered Bedby Mobital · See product

Tips on how to mix and match colors and patterns

Do you prefer warm colors like red, yellow, or orange? Or would you rather go for cool colors like blue, green, or purple? Here are tips on how to choose a color scheme for your furniture:

1. Consider your decor

Your room should have balance. That’s why you must consider what the rest of your decor looks like. If it’s muted, avoid furniture in very bright colors, as it will look out of place.

Remember, color sets the tone of your living or dining area. For example, with dark charcoal walls, citron green and white sofas can bring in more zing.

If you prefer strong colors like blue or orange for your walls, white furniture can soften the look so the room doesn’t feel too intense.

For white walls, you can have some pieces of furniture in turquoise and others in cool gray.

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2. Stick to a few colors

For a perfect color scheme, your furniture shouldn’t come in too many different colors. Too many shades make the room appear busy, and colors can affect your mood, feelings, and even behavior.

Keep the color and pattern of your cushions in mind too. Sofas and cushions in clashing patterns can look strange and confusing.

Look for colors that look great together and appeal to you. How you feel about a particular color is often deeply personal, shaped by your experience or even your culture. Some feelings about color are universal, though, such as the difference between warm and cool colors.

Pieces in a restrained palette of one or two colors, like these, are easy to build a room around:

Unfurl Sofa Bedby Innovation · See productRecast Plus Sofa Bed Dark Stylettoby Innovation · See productSeries 7 Front Upholstery Steel Chairby Fritz Hansen · See productLamy Ellipse Swivel Metal Chairby B&T · See product

3. Consider existing furniture and fabrics

If you’re planning a makeover, consider the pattern and color of any existing furniture and fabrics, especially if there’s a piece of furniture or a set of curtains you love and don’t wish to get rid of.

What you bring in should work with what you have. Take a photo of your existing sofa, TV stand, curtains, or rug when you go shopping. It will make it much easier to choose new pieces that go with it.

4. Use a color wheel

A color wheel can help you make the best color choices and create harmony in your living room, dining room, or bedroom.

It shows how primary, secondary, and tertiary colors relate to each other. A color’s position on the wheel shows how it combines with other hues and the effect it has on them.

• Complementary colors sit opposite each other. They blend well while still adding a touch of contrast.
• Analogous colors sit next to each other. They blend easily, but with less contrast than complementary colors.
• Triad colors form a triangle on the wheel. They are a great way to choose the main colors for your furniture against the backdrop of your walls.

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5. Number of colors to use

Your color scheme depends on how many colors you want in the room. Choosing between two colors is easier than working with three.

If you are working with three colors, apply the 60-30-10 rule: 60% of the room in the main color, 30% in a secondary color, and 10% in an accent. For example, 60% green, 30% green-yellow and 10% yellow, or 60% purple, 30% red-purple and 10% red. What matters is that the color scheme flows through the entire room.

Great furniture color combinations for your home

A well-defined color combination brings the right contrast and a personal touch to your room. Here are a few that always work:

• Matching temperatures: a cool color like blue goes well with another cool color like green.
• Neutrals with richness: soft beige pairs beautifully with rich brown or deep orange.
• Monochrome: combine several tones of the same color, such as pale blue with a deeper blue.
• Complementary pairs: coral with blue-green aqua, viridian green with purple, or green with red and grey.

Accent pieces are the easiest way to bring these combinations in. Side tables, consoles and pillows in bold colors let you add a splash without committing a whole sofa to it:

Sentrum Side Tableby Woud · See productHudson Side Tableby Tronk Design · See productBeBop Low Console Tableby Fermob · See productRoyal Velvet Accent Pillowby Fatboy · See product

Final thoughts

Coordinated colors don’t have to match. Your furniture can come in different colors, as long as there is harmony between them and with your walls and curtains. Mixing colors can make your room unique and more captivating.

It’s okay to mix and match colors, but be careful not to overdo it. At the end of the day, your room should display beauty and harmony.

Looking for furniture in great colors and a variety of designs? Browse our latest arrivals from designers around the world.