7 Easy Ways to Decorate With Lilac

Lilac has unseated Millennial Pink as the most exciting pastel for our homes, and we couldn’t be happier. While pastel pink can be a soothing addition to a contemporary color palette, lilac and lavender are more versatile and easy to use. Once thought of as nostalgic and sentimental, today’s lilac works wonderfully in contemporary spaces with clean lines and simple decor, and in rustic spaces with a simple color palette.  Painting is an easy and quick way to introduce a new color to your home when you’re ready to decorate with lilac. Here are six on-trend lilac paint colors we love:

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Six paint colors you’ll want to try

• Glidden Paint: Lilac Lattice
  This saturated lilac is perfect for an accent wall or ceiling.
• PPG Paints: Violet Verbena
  The 2017 Color of the Year.
• Sherwin-Williams HGTV Collection: Euphoric Lilac
  Bold and energetic, this lilac is a great choice for contemporary spaces.
• Benjamin Moore: French Lilac
  A classic lilac with soft elegance.
• Glidden Paint: Quaint Purple Rose
  Saturated and soft violet just right for a guest bedroom.
• Magnolia Home Paints: In Bloom 
  This is a soft and dusty lavender that’s perfect for modern farmhouse or rustic style spaces.

Here are the secrets to decorating with lilac:

Not sure how to incorporate lilac into your home’s color palette? The secret to incorporating this hue into your color palette is to play up its blue undertones. Pastel purple and violet can take the place of blue in most color schemes and in a variety of styles. Lilac is not just for bedrooms and bathrooms; using it as a pop of color in the back of cabinets and bookshelves can give you some of that lilac style without a big commitment. Here are some stylish ways to bring lilac into your space:

1. Style a bathroom

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Lilac is a natural for your bathroom. With soft white trim and fixtures, lilac can give any style bathroom a clean and fresh look. If you’ve chosen lilac paint for your bathroom walls, you have several options for accent colors. The most popular color palette for a lilac bathroom includes accessories in green, yellow or gray. Brushed nickel bath fixtures work best with lilac and lavender, but oil-rubbed bronze fixtures complement a traditional style bathroom.

2. Add color to rustic decor

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It’s easy to love the pastel colors that have found their way into rustic and modern farmhouse decorating. Lilac can join the muted pastels that offer rustic rooms options beyond white walls. The most-muted lilac and lavender works best with rustic decor. A pale pastel can highlight metal fixtures and wood architectural features without the stark contrast white creates.

3. Incorporate black and white

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Decorating with lilac is not just for soft color palettes. In a small room, lilac gives just the right touch of color with a black and white color palette without overwhelming it. You’ll want to choose one of the more saturated lilacs, or even a soft violet, to match the crispness of black and white to achieve visual balance.

4. Enhance your curb appeal

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There’s a good chance that you already have lilac and lavender in your front yard since they’re some of the most popular flowering plants. Lilac can improve your home’s curb appeal because of its relationship to your green foliage. In color theory, green and purple, along with orange, are part of a Triadic color scheme.  This means a scheme with three colors that are equally distanced on the color wheel. The Triadic scheme definitely has contrast, but you can soften it with one dominant color, like green, and use lilac and orange as accents.  Your curb appeal palette could be your green foliage, lilac front door and flowers, and an autumn orange bench.

5. Embrace contemporary décor

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The easiest way to add lilac to your contemporary rooms is with accessories. There’s no need to make major changes if you’d just like to freshen up your room with a pop of color. New throw pillows, a rug, and artwork may be all your space needs for a new look. Lilac and lavender can be used in place of blue in most color schemes, but also looks wonderful with royal and navy blue.

6. Dress up your guest room

Your guest room could be the perfect space for lilac if you’d like to give the color a test drive without a big commitment. Lilac is a soothing color, and suitable for guests of all ages. Lilac bedding and artwork may be all that’s needed to update your guest bedroom. If you have an adjacent guest bath, consider new wall color to coordinate with your guest bedroom accents for a ‘suite’ vibe.

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7. Paint an accent wall

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Accent walls can be painted in any room of your home, but we love the look of a lilac bedroom wall showing off a beautiful headboard. Lilac paired with wood tones is both sophisticated and romantic. Any wall in your room can be an accent wall, either to highlight an architectural feature or to fake one with a headboard or large piece of furniture.