25 Room Color Ideas From the AD Archive
Tony Duquette had it right: More is definitely more. And if you’re on the hunt for room color ideas—especially on the bright and bold side—there are few resources better than the pages of AD.
Although most modern-day design lovers shy away from using saturated swaths of color at home, opting instead for the Scandinavian neutrals that have become so of-the-moment, there’s something to be said for making a statement, whether your tastes skew toward the minimalist or you consider yourself more of a traditionalist. When splashed on walls, accented through accessories, or used to cover furnishings, vibrant hues have a way of infusing a space with cheerful energy, invigorating the senses, and prompting creativity with just one look. To prove our point, we took to the AD archives and came up with a collection of inspiring living rooms, bedrooms, libraries, and more that will have you seeing red, blue, green—every color of the rainbow.
From purple kitchens to turquoise powder rooms and pink staircases, here are 25 room color ideas to bookmark for your next project.
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Photo: Ken Hayden1/25Interior designer Todd Black conceived the bone-inlay desk and chair in the living area of the home shared by model, actress, and writer Veronica Webb and her husband, George Robb, and family, located in Key West, Florida. The dome ceiling was produced in Morocco.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn2/25The studio doubles as guest quarters in the upstate New York home of photographer Pieter Estersohn thanks to a tester bed hung with Turkish and French textiles.
Photo: Roger Davies3/25The São Paulo living room of architect and interior designer Sig Bergamin and his partner, architect Murilo Lomas, is a cocktail of colors and cultures. Fringed sofas clad in a Rubelli velvet are laden with vibrant pillows, and shelves showcase Murano glass vessels; a Vik Muniz painting is displayed against the mirrored fireplace wall.
Photo: Luke White4/25For the drawing room of an English country estate, designer Mark Gillette designed the Claremont fabric window treatments to match the dusky pink he used on the ceiling. The sofas are also by Gillette. The one at left, upholstered in a Brunschwig & Fils damask, is placed next to a Vaughan floor lamp, whereas the other is flanked by Vaughan lamps on Soane Britain side tables.
Photo: Simon Upton5/25A 19th-century Persian light hangs in the green bedroom of a Marrakech riad designed by Chilean artist Claudio Bravo; the bedspread is Gujarati mirrorwork embroidery, the chest is 19th-century Moroccan, and the desk and chair are embellished with bone inlay.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn6/25In the library of a Brooklyn townhouse, designed by Nick Olsen, picture lights from Circa Lighting top the bookcases; the sofa is by Dune.
Photo: Roger Davies7/25In a home designed by architect Marc Whipple, located in Beverly Hills, California, wenge wood panels enrich the primary bedroom, which is furnished with a chair by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia, a custom-made bed and sofa upholstered in a Maharam fabric, and a headboard in a Sandra Jordan Collection alpaca; the bedding is by Deborah Sharpe Linens, and the painting is by Charles Arnoldi.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn8/25The getaway designed by architect Peter Pennoyer and decorator Katie Ridder, in Hudson Valley, New York, has a pendant light with a shade by Shades from the Midnight Sun, installed above the primary bedroom’s Charles H. Beckley bed, which is upholstered in a Manuel Canovas wool and dressed with Leontine Linens bedding.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn9/25In the study of Katie Ridder’s Hudson Valley getaway, the decorator used a Jobs Handtryck linen for the curtains and the club chair at right; the antique armchair opposite is clad in a Christopher Hyland tartan.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn10/25A Larrea Studio cocktail table centers the living room of a Brooklyn family home that was renovated by Baxt Ingui Architects and decorated by Nick Olsen; the room’s walls were custom finished by Chris Pearson. The sofa is upholstered in a Fabricut velvet and accented with pillows made of Clarence House fabrics; the deer artwork is by Harrison Haynes, and a floor lamp from Circa Lighting stands in front of a George III bookcase-on-cabinet.
Photo: Björn Wallander11/25In the home of banking-heir-turned-top-decorator Pedro Espírito Santo, located in Lisbon, Portugal, a sitting room that also serves as a guest room features a circa-1890 Italian painting of a Native American and a pair of Scottish landscapes; Espírito Santo designed the chair.
Photo: Tim Street-Porter12/25Upholstered in velvet with Scalamandré tiger stripes, the Mérida study’s antique Jacob-Desmalter sofa is surmounted by a 1917 Henri Ottevaere portrait. The chandelier is 19th-century Italian, Serrano devised the tête-à-tête, and Démiurge New York made the wire chairs.
Photo: Björn Wallander13/25The stairway of a Manhattan penthouse was renovated by Rafael de Cárdenas.
Photo: Thomas Loof14/25In a family room in Houston designed by Miles Redd, a Louis XV–style sofa is upholstered in a Larsen linen, and an Art Deco club chair acquired at Doyle New York is cushioned with the same Turkish velvet used for the throw pillows. The walls are dressed in a Holland & Sherry wool felt, and the sisal is by Patterson Flynn Martin.
Photo: Thomas Loof15/25A vintage Warhol-style Marilyn Monroe lithograph from Todd Alexander Romano overlooks the primary bedroom of the house; the wool curtains, are by Oscar de la Renta for Lee Jofa, the wallpaper is by Iksel Decorative Arts, and the sisal is by Patterson Flynn Martin.
Photo: Scott Frances16/25In a home located in Louisville, Kentucky, which was renovated by architect Joel Barkley and designed by Todd Klein, the powder room’s sconces are by Chameleon Fine Lighting, and the washstand has brass sink fittings by Waterworks; the walls and ceiling are painted in a high-gloss Sherwin-Williams turquoise.
Photo: Scott Frances17/25The blue striations on the living room’s handmade silk wall covering by Gracie inspired the rest of the space’s palette. Arranged near the fireplace are a sofa in a custom-colored TylerGraphic linen, a Regency armchair in a Pierre Frey solid, and a club chair in a TylerGraphic floral linen; at far right is a pair of green 1960s resin lamps by Silvano Pantani, from Swank Lighting.
Photo: Roger Davies18/25Red-lacquered walls and a leopard spot Stark carpet make a glorious statement in the living room of Elizabeth and W. Clarke Swanson’s San Francisco apartment, which was designed by Thomas Britt; John James Audubon swan prints are displayed above a sofa.
Photo: William Abranowicz19/25Kate Rheinstein Brodsky, owner of KRB, a New York store that sells quirky homewares, turned to Borries & Shearron Architecture to transform her Hamptons beach house. In the living room, exemplified by an uplifting palette of yellows and greens, the sofa and armchairs enveloped in Lee Jofa chintz surround a capsule-shaped ottoman.
Photo: Laure Joliet20/25Outside Los Angeles, Reath Design infused the midcentury home of Katie Jordan, a cofounder of the youth aid organization Foster a Dream, with color at every turn. The kitchen, for example, mixes cabinetry painted in Benjamin Moore Lafayette Green with a banquette wrapped in soft purple Knoll plaid and shaker chairs invigorated by red and black.
Photo: Trevor Tondro21/25The madcap former home of British model and actress sisters Poppy and Cara Delevingne, designed by Line Architecture, was filled with color. Pink and green played well together in the sunny living room showcasing a velvet sofa and armchairs by Bakarian Studio gathered around a vintage cocktail table.
Photo: Douglas Friedman22/25Inside Michelle Nussbaumer’s centuries-old hacienda, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, the AD100 designer covered a wall of her daughter’s pink-dominated bedroom with a mural referencing a 1940s Mexican plate pattern. The motif is juxtaposed with the bed’s canopy, spawned from striped Rajasthani hangings.
Photo: Jason Schmidt23/25Cuban-born artist Jorge Pardo enlivened the lounge of his Mexican retreat in Mérida by painting a mural inspired by one of Willem de Kooning’s works. The swirl of yellows, blues, and reds is complemented by Pardo’s bright furniture selections, including the sofa and table of his own design.
Photo: Douglas Friedman24/25An entertaining-loving family tapped architect Víctor Legorreta and designer Ken Fulk to create their 30,000-square-foot fantasy compound in Mexico’s Baja Desert. It’s packed with vibrant details like the two-story courtyard, painted hot pink, where breezy dining takes place on a Sutherland table and chairs by Rooms and Christian Astuguevieille.
Photo: Simon Upton25/25A once-abandoned 16th-century palace in Malta’s capital of Valletta has found new life as London-based AD100 designer Francis Sultana’s Mediterranean getaway. Sultana, a native of Malta, was reminded of the nearby St. John’s Co-Cathedral when he spotted the dining room’s carved limestone architrave, formerly the entrance to a knight’s bedroom. So, he buoyed the dark blue walls with tactile Maltese crosses and towers, a fitting backdrop to the Garouste & Bonetti table and Mattia Bonetti chairs.
