White walls may be the first choice for most when picking colours for their home, but there is always room to experiment with eclectic colour combination ideas. From soothing shades of blue and green to bolder combinations of complementary colours, and even some of the classics, here are some of the preferred colour palettes of the top designers in India.

Keep It Cool

Francesco Dolfo

Shonan Purie Trehan’s home in Florence is awash in the soothing, cool tones of green and blue. The home was designed to be a harmonious blend of both Italian and Indian design, and that comes through especially in the colours and decor of the living room. The walls of this room (and many others) are a pastel shade of green, complimented by a velvet blue sofa, a green Udaipur marble table by Case Design, and other elements. The space is grounded by a seven-metre carpet designed by architect Luigi Fragola and handmade by Raj Group in Panipat, that contains almost all the shades of blue and green featured in the home, acting as a colour palette reference for the room itself.

Brown On Brown

Ishita Sitwala

It is important to find common ground with clients when designing a home for them, and when designing this apartment in Gurgaon, Iram Sultan discovered a shared love for books with the residents. The home features a variety of colour combinations in different rooms, but the star of the space is the living room, where the family’s impressive book collection is masterfully displayed. Wood is, of course, the classic go-to material for a library, and this space is no different. Here a lighter wood is selected for the frame of the bookshelves, underscored by rich brown rug that adds depth to the space.

Split Complementary

Suryan & Dang

For this art collector’s home in Delhi designed by Studio Pomegranate, colour was of utmost importance, with the clients explicitly expressing the desire to have no white walls. With the help of Dutch artist Malene Bach they were able to create colours that were “both visually appealing and emotionally evocative.” In the entrance gallery, an interesting spilt complementary colour scheme is on display. This particular colour scheme consists of a main hue and two colours that lie on either side of its complementary hue on the colour wheel. In this space, blue is the main hue—whose complementary is orange—that is accompanied by striking red walls and accented by yellow-ochre upholstery on the armchairs.

Pastel Dreams

Pankaj Anand

Fashion designer Aisha Rao’s home—created in collaboration with Studio Lotus—reflects the eclecticism and vibrance of the clothes she designs. Her home is a commitment to maximalism where textures, patterns, and colours run wild. The living room of her home features pastel pink walls, that are framed by dusky purple accents that run up the walls and along the floor. The orange-pink chips of the terrazzo floor, and the deeper, almost magenta colour of the ceiling also add to the palette of the room.

Black, White, And Everything In Between

Ishita Sitwala

Ishita Sitwala

This Mumbai apartment designed by Tejal Mathur is a study in utilising more than 50 shades of grey. Here she adds visual interest to the colour combination of black and white with the use of texture and by introducing the intermediary shade of grey. In the space pictured above, a black marble wall with white veining is used, while the floor is grey. The complimenting furniture varies between shades of white and light grey, adding a lighter element to the space to counteract the overwhelming nature of black. The room was also designed around the concept of motion and curves, which helps guide the eye of the viewer.

Compelling Contrasts

Studio Charuau

Akash Bhatt of the firm Architecture Discipline is committed to sustainability, and that is expressed very clearly in the structure of this sustainable villa in Goa. This home proves that sustainability can also look sleek and contemporary with its use of black furnishings. The place where this is most evident is in the kitchen, which stands apart from the linear geometry and organic appearance of the home’s exterior. Clad in zinc, the space is dominated by darker black tones, yet the large floor-to-ceiling windows bring in large amounts of natural light and bask in the glory of the surrounding trees. The reflective surface of the kitchen platform brings the green of the trees into the home, creating an interesting juxtaposition of green and black that is even more evident when looking out from the home.

A Good Old Classic

This Ahmedabad home designed by Kunal Shah embodies a certain sense of nostalgia, an ode to quintessential Indian modernism. One of the elements that adds to the old-world charm of this space is the use of brown wooden furniture in conjunction with pristine white walls. It is a classic colour combination for many homes and is almost a visual shorthand that can be used to evoke the feeling of nostalgia. However, the charm of this colour scheme is dictated by the materials used, with wood and brick being the most effective.