Color Guide: How to Work With Plum
Glam or grounding, this luscious, vibrant hue can bring richness to rooms from old-world traditional to minimalist modern
Houzz Contributor. I am a former magazine editor specializing in travel and design. I just completed my first remodel, turning my crumbling 1941 kitchen into a beauty of grays, whites and natural wood. If I could, I'd sleep on the countertop. That's how much I love it.
You can also read my parenting blog on Baby Center http://blogs.babycenter.com/author/sschoech/
Houzz Contributor. I am a former magazine editor specializing in travel... More »
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How is plum different from purple? Well, first of all, it is a purple, just a very red one. Think of plum skin and plum flesh. Plum is warm and vibrant, somewhere between purple and magenta. But deeper. It's regal and classic, and even though it has been all over the runways this year, it transcends trends (although if you care about such things, it is very au courant).
It can be very dark or quite bright, earthy or superglam. Plum looks luscious with olive green, chartreuse, marigold yellow, dark beige and gray. Yellow ocher and metallic gold too.
It can have an old-world feel — perfect for a traditional dining room with period trim — or a bright, modern feel, depending on how it is used and what shade you go for. And, as you will see, it is fabulous as a fabric, especially a heavy one like velvet.
It can be very dark or quite bright, earthy or superglam. Plum looks luscious with olive green, chartreuse, marigold yellow, dark beige and gray. Yellow ocher and metallic gold too.
It can have an old-world feel — perfect for a traditional dining room with period trim — or a bright, modern feel, depending on how it is used and what shade you go for. And, as you will see, it is fabulous as a fabric, especially a heavy one like velvet.
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| Plum on the Walls Plum is a rich color that adds a lot of depth and weight to walls. In modern rooms like this one it is most often used as an accent color. |
Another plum accent wall in a modern white room.
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In a room with more architectural details, plum can be used on all the walls. The bright white trim makes it pop and keeps the whole thing from being too dark.
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| This is a beautiful combination that is both modern and warm. I love the mantel that blends in with the wall and all the creamy white against the dark plum. |
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Plum and chartreuse. It's weird, but it works.
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by YOGESH WADHWANA
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| This vibrant shade is almost magenta and works well with other pops of very bright colors. It looks great in this modern room, but imagine it also in a formal dining room with white wainscoting and trim. It could be gorgeous. |
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| This architecturally basic room is cocooned in plum. It really adds a feeling of depth and coziness that would be lost if the walls were white. It works well for a bedroom or a small, intimate room like a library. It probably wouldn't work as well in a living room lacking architectural details and flourishes. |
by LUX Design Inc.
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The wallpaper is a subtle way to add a hit of plum to the room. It's a grayer version but still red as purples go.
by Amoroso Design
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Decorating With Plum
Plum and velvet were just made for each other: rich, soft, luxurious.
Plum and velvet were just made for each other: rich, soft, luxurious.
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| Tufted plum velvet will always work. It's like the little black dress and red lipstick: classic. |
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| This lavish plum headboard adds a lot of glam to an already glammed-up room. Notice how well the plum works with the bluer purples in the room. |
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| All these colors work great with plum: beige, navy, turquoise and chartreuse. This room happens to combine them all. |
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This one, too.
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by Vendome Press
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| Yet more plum with chartreuse, blues and pinks. Be still, my heart. |
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A spare and modern dining room is made richer by just a touch of plum on the seats of the chairs.
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| Plum with navy and warm wood. Very cozy. |
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Plum with pink keeps everything from getting too girly.
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by Niche Interiors
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| Here, plum with pink adds pop and personality to an elegant but staid room. |
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by sporadicSPACE
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| This rich plum headboard seems to glow in this big, white room. Very dramatic, dahlink. |
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| This rug, which gets lighter toward the middle, seems to glow. It would look heavenly against golden wood floors. |
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This ruffled shower curtain brings a bit of Carmen Miranda into the house without feeling too kitschy.
by Niche Modern
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A warm plummy glow never did anyone any harm.
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Tufted plum velvet can be yours. Gorgeous.
by Benjamin Moore
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A dark, rich plum.
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by Benjamin Moore
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| Also dark, but with a tad more gray. |
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You'd have to get samples to detect the differences between this shade and the one above. Maybe this one is just a sliver lighter?
by YOLO Colorhouse
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A plum with a lot of red. Almost a magenta but still a plum.
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Just a little bit pinker than the previous shade.
Ideabook updated on Nov. 7, 2012.
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Plum has always been one of my favourite colours! Years ago painted my son's livingroom in it which was a rental apartment. Ended up when he was moving out; the new tenants liked it so much they requested the Landlord to leave it. Win, win situation for them and for us as we didn't have to repaint. ºÜº
Tip for Acrylic/Latex/Water Base Paint: To improve application for deep colours like 'plum'; creat your own primer (base coat) first by using the same paint. Formula: Separate the required amount of paint and mix two parts paint with one part water. Apply, let dry and top off with your finishing 'undiluted' paint. This method will give you a perfectly matched tinted primer that will prevent shadows resulting in a perfect paint job.
On the bright side, there is a bedroom upstairs that is also bright that has painted wood.... Maybe it will be plum. :-)