Written by Palmetto Bluff
Jan 12, 2026
Story by Barry Kaufman / Photographs by Kelli Boyd and Nicole Cohen
Interior design has always served as a zeitgeist time capsule. The space-age hues of 1960s midcentury modernism manifested in kitchens awash in blazing avocado and pumpkin tones, softening to a more bohemian mix of chocolate and tangerine in the decades that followed. Then the 1990s brought the saturation down on everything, kicking off a trend toward beige and taupe. Onward we’ve gone, eventually landing on a soothing, neutral palette that has given birth to colors like “millennial gray.”
This achromatic wash evokes sophistication and minimalism, but recently, a revolution in design has been bubbling to the surface, revealing itself in what designers call “pops” of color—like a sea glass green accent wall or a cornflower blue window treatment. Slowly, the neutrality of our living rooms is ebbing under the banner of “dopamine décor,” vivid colors of cobalt blue, emerald green, and sunshine yellow flowing in. Design has regained a sense of personality with the emergence of moody tones, like plum and navy.
The Lowcountry is famous for its signature architectural style and flair. We didn’t invent shiplap. We perfected it. And we paired it with a subtle palette of tones inspired by the nature all around us, adding in the texture of tabby and Savannah brick to create a true sense of a space in tune with its surroundings.
But make no mistake, the revolution has arrived on our front porch. Color is back in a big way, and the homes you see here are perfect examples of how it can be executed beautifully, in a way that still reveres the Lowcountry aesthetic.
“Color was big at market this year. We’re seeing a lot more vendors including more color in their lines, and that’s exciting,” says Shell Neely, designer with Kelly Caron Designs. “I think everybody’s getting a little tired of the all-white look.”
Neely worked her magic on the Palmetto Bluff home you see here, introducing a palette that weaves itself through the main spaces with layered subtlety before revealing itself in dramatic fashion in bedrooms, bathrooms, and smaller spaces.
“This is a young family’s second home. They have a big, extended family, and they wanted a fun place where everyone could meet up to vacation together,” she explains. “The client loves color, and she loves wallpaper. She came to me with a few options that she wanted to use from an artist named Kerri Rosenthal. We ended up building entire rooms around them.”
And she used those Rosenthal designs in inspired ways. In the bunk room, the artist’s “Seventeen” pattern stretches across the ceiling, its blues spilling onto linens, and its yellows drenching light fixtures and accessories.
“We knew so much of the wall would be taken up by bunk beds, so we put it on the ceiling. Besides, I like putting shiplap in bunk rooms because it holds up so well,” says Neely. “The colors allowed us the opportunity to do some fun lighting, and we carried that into the ensuite bath.”
These vibrant wallpapers gave Neely a jumping-off point to define every space. In the pool bath, they pulled the pinks and blues of Rosenthal’s “Splat KR” wallpaper into accessories and the custom-matched vanity. In the carriage house, Neely found a wallpaper that would add just the right tone. “I’ve always loved that fish wallpaper, and we were using a lot of those same darker teal and raspberry pink colors,” she says. “It’s a little moodier, a little more masculine.”
In the main living spaces, Neely reserved bold colors for more subtle pops, lending a reserved tone to the space. “We wanted the living room and the kitchen to have color, but be a little more restful,” she explains. “They still have plenty of color, they’re just not as bright.”
The orientation of the kitchen allowed Neely to make it the brightest star in the show, layering in a dramatic cascade of blues that flows from the royal blue of the CornuFé range into the cornflower sconces and sky blue seats. Because it’s not immediately visible upon entry, these tones are revealed as a crescendo to the more subdued tones in the great room.
“I think the one reason why all the bright colors work so well in this house is all the natural light we have,” says Neely, crediting H2 Builders and Court Atkins Group for their artistry. “It helps brighten everything up, so it doesn’t seem oversaturated.”
For this next Palmetto Bluff home, New York-based designer Nicole Cohen took a similarly balanced approach to infusing color into the design.
“The client had created a Pinterest board with a mood and a vibe that used a lot of old photos and fashion imagery. She’s a fashion-forward person, and she’s very feminine, so I took the feeling of some of her images and made a color palette that was pastel and soft but still saturated,” she says. “And then we worked on allocating all the different colors to different areas.”
That choice created a distinct atmosphere in each of the guest rooms, manifesting in a specific Pierre Frey wallpaper in each room. In one, the arboreal greens of the “Espalier” pattern inform tones of pear and thyme. In another, the Absinthe colorway of the iconic “Toile de Nantes” design creates a golden hue that radiates outward into shades of brown and saffron. In the daughter’s room, pinks and greens flow from the “Tarantelle” wallpaper, while the primary suite swaps Pierre Frey for Nina Campbell for a subdued orange tone drawn from the “Foret” pattern.
“We carried each of those palettes into the attached baths with powdered sconces and marble,” says Cohen. “Each suite has its own palette. It was a lot of fun.”
The great room, open to the kitchen and screened patio, includes more traditional neutrals, but Cohen found an ingenious way to sneak hints of these colors into the main living spaces.
“We wanted the kitchen to be bright and poppy, so when you stand looking at it, there are two doorways and each has its own color,” she said. “We have a light blue in the laundry room and owner’s entry, and in the back kitchen, it’s more melon. It’s a fascinating color because sometimes it’s yellow, sometimes it’s leaf green, and sometimes it looks more citron. It looks different in different light. I think it’s fun to be playful in small, back-of-house places.”
The overall effect is a home that embraces its colors and displays them with confidence, a home that radiates warmth while giving off just enough flair to enchant.
“Every single room of that house is so beautiful to stand in. Photos can’t even show how amazing it is to be there,” she says. “I just really like how the whole house feels together. Even though each room is surprising, nothing feels out of place. And when you walk from room to room, it feels soft and soothing.”
