One of the perks of offering architecture and integrated interior design services is brainstorming a color palette for both exterior and interior finishes and furnishings. The images above all pertain to a proposed interior palette at a KHS renovation/addition to a Shaker house. That's a hickory floorboard from Carlisle Wide Plank Floors in the upper-right corner, a partial shot from the cover of a Garnet Hill catalog in the lower-right corner, samples from Oliveira Textiles for a banquette cushion and pillows in the lower-left corner, and C2 Paint swatches overlapping area rug options from Restoration Hardware and Dash & Albert in the upper left. When working out a palette, one choice leads to the next, and to the next, and so on. Here we started with the Hickory flooring selection and the inspiration photo of butter-, putty-, and gray-colored ceramics. I love how these muted neutrals softly intermingle.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast