3 palettes, one room
Brutalist color palettes
Brutalist color is concrete first: grays from pale to charcoal, black and off-white, with one warm accent like rust or oxblood to keep the room human. Texture does the work color does elsewhere.
Every color, and where it goes
Hex codes to match against paint and fabric samples. Colors on screens and in daylight never quite agree, so hold a sample up in the room before you commit.
Concrete and Rust
The textbook one: raw gray and black, with a rust sofa as the only warmth.
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Concrete gray
Concrete walls, left bare
#9D9B96 -
Rust
Sofa
#9E4C2C -
Charcoal
Furniture
#3A3A38 -
Off-white
Rug and curtains
#E8E5DE -
Black
Lamps and frames
#1D1D1C
Oxblood
The moody one: oxblood leather and dark wood against the concrete.
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Concrete gray
Concrete walls, left bare
#A3A19B -
Oxblood
Sofa
#5C2427 -
Smoked oak
Wood furniture
#5A4636 -
Ash gray
Rug
#C9C6BF -
Black
Lamps and frames
#1E1D1C
Pale Stone
The lighter one: off-white and pale stone with a moss green, brutalism by day.
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Pale concrete
Concrete walls, left bare
#C8C5BE -
Off-white
Sofa (the walls stay bare concrete)
#ECE9E2 -
Stone
Furniture
#8E8A82 -
Moss green
Cushions and curtains
#5E6648 -
Charcoal
Lamps and frames
#383836
How to use a palette
Every palette here is listed from the most of the room to the least. Keep roughly to that order and the colors hold together.
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1
Most of the room: the first color
The walls, and often the ceiling. A light, quiet color that everything else sits against.
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2
A third: the next two
The big pieces: the sofa, the rug, the wood. They set the mood of the room.
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3
A tenth: the last two
Cushions, a lamp, frames, a vase. Small, so a bold accent stays an accent.
More on Brutalist
Raw concrete, heavy forms, nothing hidden. What makes the style, what to try first, what spoils it, and ordinary rooms before and after.
More palettes
See these colors on your own room.
Upload a photo, pick a palette, and change any color you're not sure about. Free to try, no card needed.
