5 Rooms That Nail Tone-on-Tone Decorating

Is it just us, or are pops of color officially played out? Make no mistake, we love a good use of color as much as the next design lover. But when every single room has a pop of color, the styling tactic feels, well, dull.

If you’re looking for an alternative, you may want to consider tone-on-tone decorating. Turns out, using one color throughout your space is unexpected, impactful, and totally Instagrammable.

Let’s make one thing clear: This trend isn’t for design amateurs—or wallflowers, for that matter. It requires guts, commitment, and, of course, a good eye for design. The seven rooms below serve up a masterclass in tonal design:

Nervous your room will look too matchy-matchy? Take a page out of Hôtel Bienvenue‘s book and play around with symmetry. The off-balanced lights look quirky, but not sloppy.

Forget looking at life through rose-colored glasses. After seeing Jack Milenkovic’s ‘gram, we’re craving la vie en purple.

Warning: This design move isn’t for novices. A patterned rug—like this option from The Rug Company and Paul Smith—can give your tone-on-tone room an extra jolt of energy.

An easy way to achieve tonal greatness is by painting your walls and door. This navy room, courtesy of Farrow & Ball, looks sophisticated, not gothic.

Welcome to the dark side—of the color wheel, that is.

As Carmen Deklerk proves, white-on-white rooms aren’t boring. In fact, they’re pretty chic and serene.