The Best Shades Of Yellow To Brighten Your Home
Yellow paint colors are often seen as a challenge in interior design. Do you go bold and bright, or stay safe with a traditional cream color? A cheery, happy yellow can brighten up a dull room with it’s friendly, sunny disposition. Why settle for boring beige when you can embrace the zesty, energetic optimism of a soft, elegant yellow palette?
Whether you choose a light butter cream, or a golden wheat, there are beautiful yellow paint colors that’s perfect for your space. We’re going to take a look at the top yellow paint colors that designers and color experts love to use to brighten up rooms, and how to incorporate this happy primary color into your home.
Learn how to find the perfect color for any room in your house with our expert guide on how lighting affects your wall paint color and how to read a paint swatch like a pro.
How The Color Yellow Affects Us
Yellow is a powerful primary color that makes us feel optimistic and happy. Yellow lifts up our mood and self-esteem while helping us build confidence, and stimulate our creativity.
Besides being a generally joyful color, yellow has some serious intellectual chops. The color yellow affects the logical part of our brain, is mentally stimulating, and enhances our logical thinking. Having the color yellow in your home or workspace sparks our intellectual engagement, improves our memory, and promotes problem-solving and cognitive performance.
Yellow is also a social color. Wearing or seeing yellow has been shown to encourage networking, social interaction, and mutual collaboration. Some can find this bright color to spark anxiety, nervousness, and critical thinking. But most see yellow as warm, happy, and optimistic.
How To Pick The Best Yellow Paint Color For Your Space
So how do we harness this dynamic color in our living spaces? Different shades of yellow can spark different moods. A light, buttery yellow can make a small room feel larger. A bold yellow can add an energetic accent to a dull space and bring it to life. Soft, pale yellows work best on walls, while more intense shades are best as secondary accent colors used in moderation.
Yellows can have hidden undertones that can change the way your perfect, sunny shade reads when painted on all four walls. When choosing a yellow, make sure to look at the lowest color on your swatch strip. The bottom color will tell you if your color has warm or cool undertones.
How Natural Light Affects Yellow Paint Colors
The direction of your natural light can also enhance or modify your color. If you have North or East facing rooms, your natural light will have a cooler, blue cast to it. This will bring out gray, purple or blue undertones in your yellow, making it read more dull or even green. Counterbalance this blue light with a warmer based yellow so it reads more even once painted on all of your walls.
If you have a South or West facing room, your natural light will have a more yellow or orange cast to the light. This warmer light will enhance your yellow and can make it look more bold, or more pink or orange depending on the undertones in your yellow. Counterbalance a warm light with a slightly cooler undertone to your paint so your yellow doesn’t read overly intense.
Best Yellow Paint Colors Of 2024
Lighthouse 2017-60 by Benjamin Moore
This gentle yellow paint color has a warm orange undertone for a sunbaked glow that acts like a real life beauty filter in your room. Use this beautifully balanced color in bathrooms for a light enhancing effect.
Calming Cream OC-105 by Benjamin Moore
Calming Cream bridges the gap between a delicate white and a sunny yellow. This traditional yellow has a historical feel with a translucent neutral undertone. This color is best suited for hallways and large open areas for an expansive visual effect.
Lemon Ice OC-114 by Benjamin Moore
Almost as tasty as a limoncello, Lemon Ice packs a color-forward punch without taking over. Light citrus notes are paired back by a crisp white base that gives a barely-there hint of yellow. Try this soft, creamy yellow in a dining room for a timeless look.
Concord Ivory HC-12 by Benjamin Moore
Timeless and trusted by designers all over the world, Concord Ivory is from Benjamin Moore’s Historical Collection (HC-12) that embodies colors inspired by American tradition and architecture. Golden wheat hues with a radiant warm undertone makes Concord Ivory a refined and elegant color for an understated neutral base.
Vanilla Ice Cream OC-90 by Benjamin Moore
This sweet yellow is as delicious as its name. Delicate and light, this gentle yellow reads like a bright white with a whisper of yellow undertones. This buttery yellow would be a great guest bedroom color.
Hawthorne Yellow HC-4 by Benjamin Moore
Get your daily dose of sunshine without the sunburn with the bold and balanced brightness of Hawthorne Yellow. This sunny yellow is an excellent option for a fun, eye-catching front door color, or a beautiful accent or wall color.
Stuart Gold HC-10 by Benjamin Moore
A rich and luxurious gold, Benjamin Moore’s Stuart Gold is a gorgeous yellow paint color that packs a punch but also plays well as an accent color with black, white, and deep reds. This color works best above wainscoting, as an accent wall, or on furniture.
Morning Sun SW 6672 By Sherwin williams
Just like the soft light of sunrise, Sherwin Williams Morning Sun casts a gentle yellow beam around a room. Morning Sun has a tonal feel with a slight gray undertone to keep it from looking too bold once painted on walls.
Goldenrod SW 6677 By Sherwin williams
Feisty and fearless, Sherwin Williams Goldenrod is a daringly color-forward yellow paint color. This color is best in small doses, but does wonders to activate a boring room. Use as a bright pop of color on trim to accentuate a laundry room, or add to a headboard or pair of nightstands for a decadent glow in your bedroom.
Babouche No. 223 by Farrow & Ball
Bold, cheerful and dignified, Farrow & Ball Babouche yellow paint color has an exotic, bohemian feel with a modern edge. This distinctive color is a show stopping option for your front door color, as an accent on furniture, or a wall wash in kitchens and laundry rooms.
Dayroom Yellow No. 233 by Farrow & Ball
A soft gold undertone adds a subtle summer glow to brighten your room without the sunburn. Gentle warmth with a refined elegance, this barely there yellow is a beautiful hint of color that can act as a neutral or an accent color.
Conclusion
When your room needs a lift, these beautiful shades of yellow paint colors are the cheery, sun-filled cure to drab spaces. Designer-tested so you know they are balanced and trustworthy, each yellow paint color has it’s own unique purpose.
Whether highlighting a piece of furniture, a front door, an accent wall, or painting your entire room, happy, charming yellows will bring a little joy to wherever you add them to your space.
About The Author
Nicole Cullum is an interior designer and fine artist. Her passion for color, pattern, and balance are expressed through her hand-painted line of wallpapers and textiles available at ColorCaravan.com.
Contact Nicole at hello@ColorCaravan.com for help with your next design project, e-design services, or a custom wallpaper or textile design.
