Skip to main content

Create a stellar backdrop for your home design: The 4 best neutral paint colors

Neutral paint colors are the basis of many home designs. Their soft, gentle touch helps fill empty space, creates a sense of cohesion, and allows you to curate stunning designs with a stellar backdrop. If you’re embarking on a new home project and need some inspiration for paint colors, then you’ve come to the right place. Here’s everything you need to know about neutral paint colors.

brown neutral colored home office setup
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What are the four basic neutral colors?

Before you begin choosing your neutral tones to spruce up your home, you need to know the four basic neutral colors.

Black

Black is one of the first neutrals that many people forget qualifies as a neutral. Black tends to get shoved aside when people look for neutral tones, but it’s one of the best shades for adding depth and sophistication to your design. It’s classic, simple, and perfect for inviting modernity to a space.

White

White is one of the most common neutrals that homeowners reach for. It’s clean, light, and great for brightening nearly any room. White can help you enhance the look of your room, creating a more expansive feel. Additionally, it’s a great color for creating a sense of separation in your design.

Brown

In all of its varying shades, brown is another beloved neutral color. From richly toned wood pieces to luxe paint colors, this hue inspires a sense of warmth and earthiness that increases the coziness of your home.

Grey

Last, grey is one of the best neutral paint colors. While it’s sometimes associated with drab and lackluster appearances, grey is a fantastic color to create an elegant and gentle touch to your spaces. Additionally, grey metallic tones are perfect for enhancing the luxury of your room without detracting from your color palette by being too bold or abrasive.

What to know about the various types of neutrals

If you’ve ever been to the paint section of your local home improvement store, you may have seen phrases like “pure neutral” or “near neutral.” Maybe you’ve even wondered, “What are warm neutral paint colors?” Because it can be challenging to know the difference, we’ve compiled a small guide to understanding the various types of neutrals.

Pure neutrals

Pure neutrals are all the colors we mentioned above. Black, white, brown, and grey hues that are fully saturated, meaning they don’t have any tints or underlying tones, are considered pure neutrals. Black and white are some of the most popular pure neutrals, often used as accents or in places where empty space is necessary for a fluid, uncluttered design. Brown and grey are most often used on furniture or in addition to color palettes needing either a warm or cool tone to help ground the overall look of a space.

Near neutrals

Near neutrals are created by mixing pure neutral colors with a primary color. For example, mixing red with brown will give you a canyon or maroon tone that feels more vibrant, warm, and intense than traditional brown. Or blending yellow with white creates a cream tone, perfect for warming up a space. Near neutrals are great for softening the look of a room while also taking advantage of what neutrals have to offer.

Warm vs. cool neutrals

Warm colors like yellow, orange, and red can be blended with pure neutrals to create a more intense, grounding, and vibrant shade. Warm neutrals with cream, brown, and reddish undertones can make a space feel more radiant and soulful. Alternatively, cool neutrals are pure neutrals with an undertone of a cool color such as blue, green, or purple. These shades evoke a sense of tranquility and calm. If you’re looking to create a bright and relaxing space, cool neutrals are the way to go.

grey neutral bedroom color palette and design
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What are the benefits of using neutral colors in your palette?

While there are several benefits to using neutrals throughout your home and color palette, here are a couple of our favorites.

Fill the empty space

One reason neutrals of all kinds benefit your home design is that they can fill empty space. Empty space is essential for creating a look that feels seamless and uncluttered. While maximalists may find a variety of colors and patterns appealing in the home, not every style shares the same philosophy. Modern, traditional, and rustic styles, for example, might include browns and whites to create empty spaces that help divide up a room.

Create a sense of warmth or coolness

In some homes, adding more warmth or coolness to a space is essential for creating a relaxing environment. For example, bathrooms may favor neutrals with cool undertones to create a tranquil setting. On the other hand, a warm neutral may benefit a bedroom where coziness is preferred. Different design styles also complement warm or cool neutrals. Modern and minimal styles might find warmer neutrals perfect for offsetting a stark white base color, while rustic and Scandinavian styles might use cooler neutrals to balance out the presence of raw wood and brick in their designs.

Neutrals are great backdrops for designs that need a gentle and soft element to ground the interior. Whether warm, cold, pure, or near, neutrals offer you the ability to create a cohesive space and allow other aspects of your design to take center stage. If you’ve been neglecting neutrals in your space, now is the time to consider how you can best transform your home design with these amazing colors.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Amelia Wilson
Amelia Wilson (author pen name Amelia J. Wilson) is a content writer in Greenwood, IN. She often enjoys topics on…
Time for a new bedroom accent color? These are our 4 favorites for fall
You will love these bedroom accent wall colors that are perfect for fall moods
Couple posing with paint rollers in front of painted white wall

Fall is well on its way, and if you're anything like us, you're already planning all your home remodeling projects for the season. Many remodeling projects focus on the public-facing areas of your house — updating appliances, decor, and furnishings to better cater care to your guests. But it's always a great idea to use a fraction of your renovation budget on yourself. If you're looking to redecorate one or many rooms, consider transforming the bedrooms with a new coat of paint. Your bedroom is meant to be an escape from the day — a place to rest, recharge, and get some much-needed peace from the outside world. Make it your own with one of our favorite bedroom accent wall colors.

There are some inviting and fun colors that are on-trend for the cozy, cool season, and these hues are sure to revamp the space, whether you paint the whole room or just a single accent wall. These accent colors for your bedroom are bold but versatile, so they can work with most decor as long as you know what you're doing.

Read more
Embrace rustic design with these fall-inspired home decor ideas from Pinterest
We love these seasonal rustic decor ideas
fall mantel decor with sign and candles

Fall decor and rustic design were practically made for each other. The rich, authentic feel of natural woods, exposed brick, raw materials, and neutral color palettes are the backbone of rustic design, making for a cozy style that's perfect for the autumn scene. If you’re ready to refresh your home this season, we have the perfect tips for you. Below, check out some of the best fall home decor ideas from Pinterest that will fit right in with your rustic theme.

Dress up the fireplace with organic materials
Whether your fireplace showcases raw wood, exposed stone, or a sleek white frame, you can always enhance its beauty with natural elements.

Read more
What colors go with gray? How to make a neutral hue pop in your home
Make gray walls work for your home decor with complementary colors
Modern living room with gray walls and yellow furniture

Neutral colors like gray and taupe are always popular options for your home's interior design. Both are versatile shades that can go with a plethora of other hues, which means you can easily change up the look of your decor with gray walls and a rotating rainbow of accessories like colorful throw pillows. With all the different shades of gray paint available, from matte to glossy, warm to cool, and brownish to blueish, it's certainly possible to find the one that's perfect for you and your home.

Of course, you can always have too much of a good thing. While gray can be a sophisticated and elegant shade, too much gray can wash out a room or make it feel dull and dingy or cold and unwelcoming. Think of gray as the neutral backdrop on a canvas that lets your color palette shine, and you can't go wrong. So, it’s important to incorporate other colors into the decor, whether it be with pieces of furniture, art, or throw blankets -- but what colors go with gray? If you're looking for the best options to brighten up your current decor, keep reading to find out how to accent this elegant tone.

Read more