Interior Designers  ·  5 min read

How an Artist Works to a Colour Palette - And Why It Matters for Your Interior Design Project

By Leah Justyce  ·  19 June 2026

Palette work is a skill, not a given

Not every fine artist can work effectively to a colour palette. Creating work from your own instincts is a different skill to reading a designed space and making work that belongs in it. When interior designers ask me whether I can match a palette, the honest answer is yes - but it takes more information than a hex code.

What a palette brief actually needs to include

Colour looks different depending on the light it sits in, the textures around it, and the proportions it shares the room with. A deep teal wall paint reads entirely differently under warm hospitality lighting than it does in a bright residential kitchen. When I am working to a palette brief, I need:

Photos of the actual space, ideally in the light conditions it will normally be used in. Samples or swatches of the key materials - upholstery, flooring, joinery. The colour palette itself, whether that is a mood board, paint codes, or fabric samples. And a description of how the space should feel, not just look.

How I interpret a palette in paint

I do not replicate your palette literally onto canvas. That produces decoration, not art. What I do is take the emotional logic of the palette - its warmth or coolness, its tension or harmony, its weight - and express that through paint in a way that makes the artwork feel native to the space.

This is the difference between an artist who can technically mix a matching colour and one who understands how to make a painting feel like it belongs.

Palette cohesion across multiple works

For hotel fitouts and large commercial projects requiring multiple pieces, palette consistency across the full collection is critical. I manage this by mixing and recording base colours at the start of a project and working across the full collection in parallel - so every piece shares the same chromatic foundation even when the compositions differ.

Start with the space, not the artwork

Send me what you have - mood board, photos, palette references - and I will tell you exactly how I would approach it. Use the commission enquiry form below to start the conversation.

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Looking for multiple artists for a large project? Visit Solene Haus Trade -- a brief desk built for interior designers and commercial buyers.

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