Here's How to Coordinate Paint Colors Throughout Your Home, so That It Looks Cohesive, Curated, but Still Creative

Image of a white open concept room. The ceiling is painted in an ochre yellow with a red and white stripe trim.

Unless you're an interior designer, even the thought of taking a home from a blank slate to something beautiful can be intimidating. Where do you begin? How can you transform a Pinterest board into a cohesive plan? I asked the professionals, and they all said the same thing: it starts with knowing how to coordinate paint colors throughout a house.

While your choice of colors doesn't have to (and really shouldn't) follow a rigid scheme, creating a color palette will help ensure everything feels cohesive. "Paint colors throughout a house should almost never match exactly, but they should complement each other," says color expert Jane Boddy, a forecaster at the Pantone Color Institute.