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Choosing colours
The perfect palette

Lise Marie Ekre / Colour consultant Flügger Norway

How do you choose the right colour palette?

Finding the perfect colour palette is not always easy as there are several elements involved in finding the right colour. Which colours are the interior and furniture and what about the lighting? Should the room be harmonious with nearby rooms? These are typical questions I’m asked to answer as a colour consultant because these things have more meaning for the choice of colour than you might think.
Try visualizing what you would like your new colour palette to do for your space. Regardless of whether you are adding colour to one or more walls, you should consider whether you want soft or strong contrasts and light or dark colours. We usually see people choosing the same colour for all walls and white colour on panels, windows and ceiling. Contrasts can be played around with by matching the colour of the ceiling with painting panels, windows and doors in a darker or lighter colour. When I’m looking for matching colour(s) I start by looking at those I think would be a good match by placing them next to each other. That way I can see if the underlying tones match well.


Finding a palette with harmonious and matching colours is not always about them being tone-in-tone where the colours float into one another. The colours can match just as well whether they are a lighter or a completely different colour. If you would like to explore contrasts I recommend not mixing warm and cold colours. Doing this disturbs the eye and you will immediately see that something doesn’t add up. Shine, structure and additional interior can be part of playing with contrasts and DETALE’s beautiful structures are very good at that.
"We all look at colours differently so don’t panic if you think a palette is perfect for you but someone else thinks differently. We see and perceive colours uniquely and the most important thing is what you think is the right palette for you, in your taste.."
In the picture with DETALE’s KABRIC colours, you can see a good example of how the tones in the colour can take you in the wrong direction. The two colours at the top KABRIC Cava and KABRIC Sand are too yellow compared to the Flügger colour scale called 4364-4368. On the other hand, the Flügger colour scale matches very well with KABRIC Flax as it contains the same colour tones. The other colour scale (4354-4358) is a better match for KABRIC Cava and KABRIC Sand as the underlying tones play together positively.


We all look at colours differently so don’t panic if you think a palette is perfect for you but someone else thinks differently. We see and perceive colours uniquely and the most important thing is what you think is the right palette for you, in your taste.


As a colour consultant, I help customers with these challenges and with finding the colours following their wishes every day. All elements are more or less different from customer to customer, considering the colour vision and colour wishes. My advice for you find out what you feel is right for you and use that as a starting point. Think about the elements I mentioned in the beginning and see how they affect the colour (s) you choose. Sometimes you might even choose something a little different than what you had first thought you would, for the entity to harmonize and create the atmosphere you are looking for.
DETALE KABRIC farger

Lise-Marie Ekre
Colour Consultant, Flügger Norway