Real EstateCharleston SC: Finding the Perfect Palette For Your New Home

By Terry Bell-Aby, Realtor, CNE, Luxury Simplified Real Estate

Whether you’ve just purchased your first home in Charleston SC, or are simply looking for inspiration and wonder what direction to go in, it really doesn’t matter, decorating can be a challenge for us all – even the professionals. One technique I have found during my nearly 20 years in real estate and construction and applied to my own home, is to find something you love and let it inspire you. I’m not sure if I learned it from a designer, an architect, or a combination of perspectives, but it helps me refine my thinking when it comes to every interior design choice.

Perhaps you have a shirt in your closet with colors or fabrics that speak to you. Maybe it’s a rug you found with a unique design that is the epitome of “your style.” In my current home, I took my inspiration from a silk batik banner adorned with comical fish. Years ago, I admired it in a small art gallery on Martha’s Vineyard where I once lived. I have always been drawn to textile art and I loved the colors and the humor in this particular piece. My husband remembered that I liked it and bought it for me for Christmas (pictured below).

When we moved to Charleston 11 years ago, I decided that banner had the right “tropical vibe ” for my new home in the south and that it would be the inspiration for transforming my “stuff” from my New England saltbox to suit my contemporary home on Johns Island.

Paint – My new living room was cavernous with 18-foot ceilings and not a ton of light. I chose a shade of yellow from the fish body somewhere between citrine and old gold for the living room, dining room, and hallways. It was warm and bright without adding “heat” as it is at the “cooler” end of the color wheel’s warmest tones.  All the “wet ” areas – kitchen and bathrooms are the same turquoise on the lightest shade of the fish gills.  Tropical and fun, the turquoise shade worked well with the cabinets in those rooms because they were all the same wood and they had an orange undertone. Bedrooms and my very bright “Four Seasons ” room are a dark stone gray with a lot of blue from the darkest part of the fish. It’s cool and restful in rooms with lots of light or bright white plantation shutters.  

Accents – My favorite fish have giant orange-red kissy lips and I generously sprinkle oranges and reds around the house in accents. I chose wooden fish decorated with red and gold mirror tiles for the mantle in the gold living room and added a turquoise throw on the sofa. There’s a small red cabinet for the dog’s leash and toys next to the front door with a turquoise shell plate for keys and such.  The area rugs are all in different patterns but in the same family of turquoise, orange-reds, and golds.  Because I loved the tropical theme, I have also collected artwork with palm trees and sea life. Over 11 years some things were retired and replaced, but having a concept helped me wade through the gazillions of choices, and gives the house a certain continuity.

Too many different colors and accents in different rooms that are not harmonious can make a house feel disjointed. That is in fact why, when showing certain homes, clients frequently comment that the decorating is “all over the place. ” One purple bedroom, one pink, one green and not in the same hue or intensity can make it hard to envision “your stuff” in the space. Having a single color inspiration helped me focus on the many choices, but I never let it prevent me from finding a treasure that deviates from the palette if it gives me joy.

Charleston after all, is a city filled with an array of colorful homes, painted hues of bright Caribbean-inspired colors – as if that wouldn’t be inspiration enough!  You can always think about using the paint colors that reflect historic Charleston and the lowcountry when choosing the right palette for your home.

Note: When searching for a new home in Charleston SC, imagine the small changes you can make to a house to make it truly yours. If you’ve already found your inspiration and you’re just searching for the perfect place to decorate, start with the best resources and guides for buying in Charleston SC …