Clean neutrals paired with confident jewel-tone accents are a common contemporary pairing.
Filtered for neutral colours and vivid jewel-tone accents.
Modern interiors lean on large uninterrupted surfaces, strong daylight and materials such as concrete, glass and pale timber. Colours that suit them are usually clean — low in the muddy undertones that flatter period joinery — and are used in controlled blocks rather than broken up by trim. Because there is less ornament to carry interest, contrast in lightness and texture does more of the work than contrast in hue.
What the filter selected: 94 of the catalogue’s colours pass this test. Their relative luminance — roughly the share of light a surface in that colour would reflect — runs from 0% to 100%, with a median of 20%. 30 lean warm and 29 lean cool.
Red
red · medium
Crimson
red · medium
Scarlet
red · medium
Burgundy
red · deep
Maroon
red · deep
Brick Red
red · deep
Cherry Red
red · medium
Vermilion
red · medium
Fuchsia
pink · medium
Magenta
pink · medium
Orange
orange · medium
Burnt Orange
orange · medium
Undertone caution: two colours in the same family can still read very differently once on a large surface, depending on their undertone — check against your existing flooring, furniture and fittings, not the swatch alone.
Lighting caveat: a colour can look noticeably warmer or cooler depending on natural and artificial light through the day — see the lighting guide for what specifically changes and why.
Finish caveat: matt, eggshell and gloss finishes reflect light differently, which can make the same colour read lighter, darker or more saturated depending on the finish chosen.
Always view a physical sample in the actual room, at different times of day, before committing to a large surface.