Gold will turn your house into something straight from a rococo set. Gold is a color you can never say no to regardless of the nature of your project or the color of the interior that needs detailing. Gold has proven itself over and over on its versatility as the base color or the detailing accent. Gold is the best color to work with because it is accepting of other colors. However, there are some colors that go with gold better and leave a more memorable visual experience.
Before we get to the colors that go with gold, we need to answer a question we get from most of our clients.
Do Gold Colors Have to be Shiny?
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If gold accents were not shiny, they would simply be yellow. Gold color gets its character from the shiny nature and this informs how then it is used in the different scenarios. There are many times where the golden accessories will fade. When it comes to this, the color changes to yellow. There is a strong need for the golden color to remain shiny.
The fact that a golden color is shiny means that you have to be tactical in how you combine it with other colors. Therefore, your color choice has to be on point when matching with gold.
There are two main instances where you can use gold accents properly; as details/accessories, or as the base color while combining it with other colors. Let us look at both.
Gold as a Base Color
Some people prefer having gold paint on the wall or as the dominant color and luckily, there are ways to make this work out. Here are some colors that go with gold accents that you can consider for your new look.
1) Gold and Black
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Of all the colors that go with black, gold is my favorite. This is because black allows gold to shine without fighting it. Most of the time, gold accents create the room tone while bringing attention to other parts of the room. This might be difficult to picture because gold is shiny. However, the gold colored accessory will lead you to other fittings and furniture in the room.
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Black and gold accents give me elegance as the feeling I experience. I am picturing characters with long black dresses, tuxedos and trays of bites in a setting like this. This combination works like that of black and white. Order and neatness has to always prevail.
In this color palette, both gold accents and black can be shiny. Having a gold color alongside a shiny black tile will bring out the depth that black possesses and the royalty that gold has.
2) Gold and White
This is a color I love to see whenever I walk into a room with brilliant white walls and floors. Gold hardware come in handy to make these spaces royal and worth every gaze. White and gold are both bright colors and one might imagine that they will compete. The beauty of this combination is that they bring out the elegance in each other.
If you have large windows and straight lines, this is one of the best color combinations you should go for. Of all color combinations there is a lot more you can do with gold accents on white. You can add abstractions such as a vase of flowers on a white and gold cabinet and watch the magic unfold right in front of you.
3) Blue and Gold
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Blue is a color that matches perfectly with yellow. Therefore, blue and gold work naturally without getting in each others way. There is a thing about royal colors and gold that looks so unforgettable. Royal blue is one color that will readily go with gold or its other royal colors. Keep this in mind when matching other royal colors.
4) Emerald Green and Rose Gold
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This is one color I seem not to get over. Emerald green is a beautiful color that represents nature if it was magical, and you can pair rose gold which occurs naturally. There is something about rose gold that makes the room fresh and cozy. You can have velvety furniture with rose gold accents and match them against an emerald green wall or vice versa and what you will end up with is comparable to none.
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5) Gold and Peach
Peach and gold are rich cousins. Peach looks like a color that only lacks golden glitter to be complete. Adding gold hardware to peach is perfection, which is hard to achieve in most cases during color combination.
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When choosing colors that go with gold, you can only rely on the color wheel to an extent. Most of the time, your gut will guide you and you will hardly be wrong because you will know when the combination feels just right. Peach and gold is one such color combination.
This combination is mostly the case with pink too.
6) Champagne Gold and Brown
Gold color palettes are colors I consider as bold and generous simultaneously. This is because the color gold is graceful and will most of the time not outshine its backdrop, not even earth tones. Rather, gold will only shine to bring awareness to its wearer. This is the outcome you are achieving whenever you match gold with brown.
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Champagne gold is what you would get if gold appeared as fruits or on farms as seeds because of how connected it feels to the earth. All accents of brown including chocolate brown will work with this color. Whether it is a gold trim on a shelf or a whole wall of gold with brown tiles, you are getting a walkway for the gods themselves.
7) Gold and Teal
Teal is a shade of blue, but one that deserves a mention. Nothing feels closer to standing on a beautiful beach than looking at teal. Of all colors that go with gold, teal and gold are the colors they will paint on the gates of heaven. This color scheme is open and optimistic. There is so much joy to find in this combination.
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Teal has a tendency to take the centerstage but rarely does it work alone. This is why gold will be the best choice to match it with.
8) Gold and Powder Blue
Blue is one of the most beautiful and rarest colors in nature. Its abundance in the sky is to be cherished because you will hardly find it anywhere else. You have to go into the deep seas to see powder blue on some fish or deep in the forest to see it on birds. This color is as rare as gold and combining the two might just give you the rarest color combination you can have.
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Gold has a tendency of bringing attention past itself to other colors. However in this case, powder blue focuses your attention to gold and you can see what metallic gold looks in its true form. This is like looking at the sun in the blue sky right through its brightness.
9) Jewel Tones
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Colors like ruby or diamond blue have a jewel tone that will fit right in with gold. Red goes with gold but ruby just hits differently. There is so much to incorporate in your design style while using jewel tones and gold. Here, you can never go wrong with any design styles at all costs.
10) Analogous Colors and Gold
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While gold works with any design style, it does a tremendous job with analogous colors. Gold makes the reconciliation between any two analogous colors apparent. Whether you are dealing with dark shades or a warm hue, this trick will work most of the time. An otherwise warm room will instantly turn into a vibrant space.
11) Gold and Neutral Colors
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While you might imagine neutral colors as the stage for gold hardware shine and blind the eye, this is hardly the case. Gold creates awareness of the neutral colors around and calls them forward gracefully. Neutral colors that go with gold include beige, grey, brown, or any earth tones you can find.
12) White Gold
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A white room is one that often eludes interior design professionals. However you can have the classic combination of white gold where there is all the intention to make the gold hardware visible. This is where you let the metallic color pop and there is no too much gold in a case such as this.
Gold Accents as Details
We have known gold for a long time as the royal addition to a whole part. For instance, one wears gold jewelry as the detail that makes a difference in the whole dress code. In interior design, we use gold accents in different ways that will add to the style and uniqueness of the space.
The best thing about using gold as a detailing color is that gold elevates all colors. This means that you can use it with almost all colors in mind. Here are some places where you can use gold.
a) Gold Picture Frames
Golden frames are particularly my favorite. You can never go wrong with a golden frame hanging against any wall. Whether the wall is white or black, the frame will find a way of unifying the picture and the wall. I am particularly fond of landscapes or still-life as a form of art and I find that the golden frame holds a landscape painting together nicely. I prefer black frames to be on portrait art because it points all the attention to the center of the frame.
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Having a gold frame over a landscape art allows it to feel like it is endless while a black frame would feel like the landscape has an end. Gold frames work even better on abstract art.
b) Lampshade
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Lampshades bring out the potential of any room. Lampshades create tension points within the room where you can have a starting point or an ending point. Lampshades give you the reference point when looking at the beauty of a wall. What better way to start and end with a golden lampshade? A golden lampshade creates a mood of relaxation and ease. Lampshades are welcoming and help people know where they should sit. A golden lampshade will be the first thing the eye will catch.
c) Chandelier
I have a golden chandelier and every time I turn on the lights in the evening, my guests always comment on how nicely it complements my ceiling. A cascading golden chandelier is one of the most unifying element you can have in your house. A golden chandelier will make everyone feel the presence of the roof above their heads.
d) Drawer Pulls
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Drawer pulls need a lot of attention because they are the first things you will notice when you walk into a kitchen or bathroom. There is no color combination that will not work with a golden drawer pull. The independence that this accessory commands is unmatched and gold can safely exist on it without seeming out of place.
e) Door Knob
Door knobs are becoming rare by the day because of technology. However, wherever you will find a door knob, your expectation for the house will automatically go up. This is because there is so much character that a door knob adds to the house and their presence is felt whenever one comes across the knob.
f) Mirror Frames
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The mirror is one of the most important accessory in the house. There is so much that the mirror brings in any space including adding the illusion of space. There are very few color palettes that will work on a mirror. However, the gold accents will be your best choice because they enhance your mood around the mirrors.
g) Centerpieces
Centerpieces are also tension points in any room. This is why where you place a centerpiece matters a lot because it will play a major role of attracting the eye and keeping it engaged. The best way to achieve this purpose is to have a centerpiece with golden accents.
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The piece can be a bowl with gold pieces or a piece of pottery with gold accents. The reception benefits greatly from this use of gold.
h) Light Fixtures
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Try to infuse gold in the things used daily such as door knobs, window handles, mirror frames and more. When I was young, our house had British light fixtures while most of the things we used when I was growing up was either from China or local manufacturers. The only reason I remember this is because we interact with light fixtures on a daily basis. Having gold accents on the accent pieces will remain in the core part of your memory. I miss those switches in particular.
i) Furniture
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Having furniture with golden parts like the legs is taking the interior design game to the next level. You can imagine how elegant these look and how eye catching they are in any space. You can have such furniture in an unfinished room or out in the parking lot and suddenly the space will somehow look good. This is the power of gold.
Here you can add throws with golden details and your room will look magnificent.
Final Thoughts
Gold paint or gold accessories pair beautifully with complementary colors, cool colors, warm shades, dark colors, warm undertones an other wall colors to create a vintage feel or a strong and modern outcome. You can feel luxurious with warm colors or wall art accompanied by gold accent pieces. Many colors go with gold, and knowing how to arrange the colors to add dimension is all that matters.
Indoor spaces such as the dining room will never lack the old fashioned strength of character with gold accessories in it. Almost any design style and different shades work well with gold and having a language is where the secret lies.
