Color Palettes Made Easy

Dinnerware is a one-stop shop for pretty palettes. Plates come in all styles and colors, from casual to formal, so you can pick out a color story for every room in the house. And you needn't buy a service for eight. Often you can get a single salad plate or teacup to use as your mood board.

If you want to freshen up your kitchen, but you can't afford to change the counters and cabinets, you need to accessorize. Take your sample plate with you to pick out dishtowels, canisters and bowls. It may not seem like a big makeover to get bright new spatulas, but when you put them all together, colorful details make a splash!

Inspiration objects can show you how to marry colors in ways you might not have considered. Sure, tangy lime, orange and marigold go well with white (what doesn't?). But who would have thought that adding ecru, black and charcoal would make such a cool combo?

When it comes to color in the dining room, go beyond tablecloths and placemats. Vivid accessories like charger plates, napkin rings and finger bowls spice up the table with color. Feel free to mix the colors from your palette in unusual ways. A paprika charger plate next to a celadon runner is more exciting than going all one color.

The colors of the great outdoors go together naturally and can be a fertile source for palettes. But with a world of so many greens and blues out there, how can you possibly decide which hues to use? Instead of trying to match swatches to blades of grass, let a painted landscape be your guide. Leave it to the painter to select their vision of nature's aquamarines, indigos and golds.

A painting can inspire your accents as well as your colors. This glassy vase not only brings in the landscape's blues and greens, but also echoes the reflective pond surface. The leafy lotus candles float on the counter like the painting's flowering irises. The wooden soap dish and chestnut bird finish off the look with a nod to the whimsical flooded birdhouse.

You can find trendy color palettes on all kinds of things if you keep an eye out for them. This kooky, collapsible shopping basket features raspberry with yummy chocolate and touches of tangerine and turquoise. Delicious! Don't worry about trying to decorate with the inspiration object, though. Just steal its colors then use the item elsewhere.