Embrace Umber in Your Interior Design

Umber is a rich brownish color with a hint of red. It’s a timeless, natural color shade that can look absolutely amazing in any interior design... when it’s used the right way.

And when it’s not, you may think you hate the color umber. But with a few tricks and tips, you’ll soon be ready to embrace umber in your interior design schemes.

Using Umber in Your Interior Design

Umber looks great with vivid jewel tones, warm neutral tones, and even bright pastel tones. It can add some much-needed warmth to a black and white color palette or provide some much-needed softness in more colorful spaces.

It's a rich color that can be a strong anchor for any design. But how do you use umber in your design without using too much or too little?

Painting in Umber

Umber is a beautiful color that blends well with other colors and adds warmth to any area. But too much of any good thing is not great. So if you're going to use umber paint, consider doing it sparingly.

If you're going to paint every wall in umber, leave the ceiling white. Fill the space with lots of natural and light-color pieces to balance out the richness of the umber.

A little umber paint can be used to add a pop of richness. Consider painting the interior of a bookshelf in umber or painting just the faces of drawers. Umber works beautifully as a contrasting or complementary color in any two-color paint scheme.

And if you have furniture that needs a little pick-me-up, a coat of umber paint should do the trick. It's got a natural look that echoes wood shades.

You can also split the difference. Rather than painting the walls in umber, consider painting the trim in the room umber instead, or perhaps just the door. There are lots of different ways to play with paint, so have a little fun with it!

Adding Umber in Fabric

Umber looks great in fabric because the warmth of the color conveys a lush, luxurious look. A couple of umber throw pillows can add a great pop to any couch or chair. Or, add an entire chair or couch in umber and add a couple of white throw pillows to create stunning contrast.

An umber throw rug or rug runner adds a wonderful touch of luxurious good looks to any space. Window treatments in solid umber or with a pattern featuring umber are another great way to bring the color into any room.

Accessorizing in Umber

If you're looking for a way to add some smaller but significant little pops of umber to any space, there are plenty of ways to do it. Accessorize in umber to help bring any design together.

A little paint makes it easy for you to have umber picture frames to display art. Umber vases can be used for flowers and umber bottles make a lovely accent piece all by themselves. Instead of terra cotta pots, try the warmer, richer look of umber pots instead.

Unexpected Umber

You can always do something a little different with umber. Try a single contrasting wall, or a large umber colorblock on a painted wall. Play with color contrast by filling an umber bowl with bright glass pebbled, or pairing umber candles against shiny silver candlesticks.

A single soft umber throw adds a focal point to any chair, couch or bed.

Have a little fun experimenting with this classic color and finding ways to include it in your interior design, whether you’re using it as an accent color or the main color of the overall space.

You can hardly go wrong with the rich tones of umber, especially once you’ve gathered some tips and ideas for adding it into any room.