What colors are used in Art Deco? Deep jewel tones like emerald, sapphire, ruby, plum and teal, set against black and lifted with gold, brass or chrome. Lighter Deco rooms swap the jewel tone for cream, blush or soft gray and let black geometry and metal carry the drama. Contrast plus shine is the whole formula.
The most common mistake with an Art Deco color palette is using every glamorous color at once: emerald walls, a ruby sofa, sapphire curtains, gold on everything. It sounds like the Great Gatsby and ends up looking like a casino carpet. The style got its name from the 1925 Paris exhibition of decorative arts (the term “Art Deco” itself only caught on in the 1960s), and the rooms from that era were actually quite disciplined, one or two deep colors, a lot of black and a careful amount of shine.
So each palette below comes with hex codes and a short note on where the color goes and what keeps it from getting heavy. They sit in the same bold family as a richly layered maximalist bedroom and a moody, atmospheric home, with Art Deco’s love of geometry and gleam on top.
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Which Jewel Tones Pair Best With Black?
Emerald, sapphire, ruby, plum and teal all pair well with black, as long as there is a metal for shine and a light tone for relief. Pick the one that suits the room’s light and how dramatic you want it.
1. Emerald Green, Black, and Gold
Emerald, black and gold is the palette most people picture when they hear Art Deco, and it is a safe first choice because green is easy to live with. Use deep emerald (#1F6F54) on a velvet sofa or a set of chairs, black (#1A1A1A) on trim and a lacquered coffee table, and gold (#C9A24B) in a mirror and wall sconces. In the first photo the walls stay cream (#F2EBD8) with thin black molding, so the emerald sofa stands out like a jewel. The second goes all in with dark green walls, green velvet chairs and a brass globe lamp.
Both work. If your room gets little daylight, start like the first one, because cream walls bounce light around while the green velvet still gives you that 1920s hotel lobby feeling.
2. Sapphire Blue, Black, and Brass
Want depth without excitement right before bed? Sapphire, black and brass runs cooler and quieter than emerald, which makes it great for bedrooms and studies. Paint the walls or the paneling in sapphire (#1B3A6B), use black (#1A1A1A) for furniture and frames, and warm the whole thing up with brass (#B08D57) lamps, since brass is softer and less yellow than bright gold and keeps blue from going cold. The bedroom photo pairs navy-blue paneled walls with cream bedding, and the study next to it has a black desk with a brass lamp. Ivory (#F4EEDC) bedding or a cream rug is the relief tone here, and without it a blue room can feel like a cave by November.
3. Ruby Red, Black, and Gold
Of all the palettes here, ruby, black and gold needs the most restraint, because it’s the most theatrical.
Deep ruby (#7B1E2B) is strong enough that one feature, a set of velvet dining chairs or one wall, is plenty. Pair it with a black (#1A1A1A) table, a gold (#C9A24B) mirror and lots of cream (#F2EBD8), like this dining room with red velvet chairs around a black table. The second photo pushes further with deep red walls and a single red chair at a marble table.
That darker version is lovely in a small room you don’t spend all day in, like a dining nook or a powder room. In a living room you sit in every evening, I would keep ruby on furniture and let the walls stay light, because a fully red room gets tiring faster than you’d think.
4. Plum, Black, and Chrome
Plum with black and chrome shows the cooler, more modern side of Art Deco, closer to streamlined trains and skyscrapers than to gilded ballrooms. Use a deep plum (#4A2B45) on walls or bookshelves, black (#1A1A1A) for furniture, and chrome (#C5C7CA) instead of gold, like the chrome mushroom lamp on a black desk in the study photo, or the shiny lamps in the plum bedroom next to a plum velvet chair.
Plum changes a lot with light. In a north-facing room it can look almost brown, and in warm evening light it turns rich and purple. Test a big sample on two walls for a few days before you commit, and add a soft white or pale gray relief so it doesn’t swallow the room.
5. Teal, Black, and Gold
Teal sits between sapphire and emerald, and it has a slightly peacock, jewel-box feel that suits bathrooms and living rooms. To use the teal, black and gold palette:
- paint walls or cabinetry deep teal (#1C5A5E)
- add black (#1A1A1A) in a bold geometric rug, like the black and white key pattern in the living room photo
- use gold (#C9A24B) for mirrors, sconces and faucets
- keep one big light piece, like the white boucle chair, as relief
The bathroom version shows teal walls with a walnut vanity, brass faucets and an arched gold mirror, and the wood is a nice touch because it warms the teal without adding another color. Teal is also more forgiving than emerald next to wood floors.
Can an Art Deco Room Be Light Instead of Dark?
Yes. Use cream, blush, gray, ivory or white as the main color and let black lines and gold, brass or chrome bring the Deco drama.
6. Cream, Black, and Gold
Cream walls with black and gold make the brightest classic Deco palette, and they prove you don’t need dark walls to get the look. Use warm cream (#F2EBD8) on walls and big pieces, black (#1A1A1A) in a bold floor or rug pattern and a lacquered console, and gold (#C9A24B) in the mirror and sconces. The entryway photo is a perfect example, with a black and white geometric floor under a black console with brass handles, while the second shows the same palette with a walnut sideboard. This is the one I would pick for anyone nervous about color, renters especially, because cream walls are usually allowed and all the drama comes from furniture, mirrors and rugs that move house with you.
7. Blush Pink, Black, and Gold
Blush pink with black and gold is the romantic version of Art Deco, but the black is what keeps it from being just pretty. Use warm blush (#E3C4BE) on walls or upholstery, black (#1A1A1A) in furniture and floor patterns, and gold (#C9A24B) in mirrors and lamps, like the blush dressing corner with a black vanity, an arched gold mirror and a pink velvet stool.
Next to it, a second vanity has fluted blush paneling and a black pattern on the floor, and it looks like an old Hollywood dressing room. Keep the pink soft and slightly dusty rather than bright, since a candy pink with black and gold can tip into a party look. It works well in a bedroom, a powder room or a closet corner.
8. Soft Grey, Black, and Chrome
Soft gray, black and chrome is Art Deco at its most modern and quiet, and it is the easiest to mix with furniture you already have.
Use a warm soft gray (#C4C2BD) on walls, black (#1A1A1A) in thin lines, frames and a border on the floor, and chrome (#C5C7CA) for lights and hardware. The bathroom photo has a glass shower with chrome fixtures and a black border on the tile, and the office has a black desk and a chrome lamp in front of gray walls.
Warm gray matters here, because a cold blue-gray with chrome feels like an office. Look for a gray with a bit of beige in it, and add one black-framed print with a geometric shape so the room still reads as Deco instead of merely tidy.
9. Ivory, Emerald, and Gold
Ivory, emerald and gold flips the classic emerald palette around, so ivory (#F4EEDC) becomes the main color and emerald (#1F6F54) is the accent. That’s a lot easier to live with every day than dark green walls. The living room photos show exactly this, ivory walls and a curved ivory sofa with one emerald velvet chair beside them. The emerald chair looks like the most important thing in the room because everything around it is pale. Add gold (#C9A24B) in a lamp or mirror and a little black in frames or a rug border. This is a good palette for a bright living room or a bedroom, and you can change the accent color later by swapping one chair.
10. White, Black, and Brass
For pure pattern and contrast, go with white, black and brass, the most graphic Deco palette. Use soft warm white (#F6F3EC) on walls, black (#1A1A1A) in a strong floor pattern, door frames and a console, and brass (#B08D57) for lights and handles. The hallway photo has a black and white striped runner on a checkered floor, brass sconces and a black console, and the second shows a black-framed doorway with a stepped black and cream pattern on the floor.
Hallways and entries are the best place for this one, since you pass through them instead of sitting in them, and bold pattern is fun in small doses. Pick pure white carefully, though. A slightly warm white looks softer next to black and brass than a cold, bright one.
How Do You Combine Two Bold Art Deco Colors?
Give each color its own territory, ground both with black and tie them together with one metal. Two jewel tones that mix everywhere look busy, two that each own a piece look rich.
11. Emerald and Sapphire With Gold
Emerald and sapphire together look like a grand hotel lounge, and the way to make it work at home is giving each color its own job. Here is how the photos split it:
- Emerald (#1F6F54) goes on the walls or on one large sofa.
- Sapphire (#1B3A6B) goes on chairs, like the blue velvet armchair facing the green sofa.
- Gold (#C9A24B) ties them together in a mirror, lamps and a brass coffee table.
- Black (#1A1A1A) and cream handle the rest, in the rug, the frames and the curtains.
One photo has emerald walls with a sapphire sofa, the other navy walls with an emerald sofa, and both work because neither color is everywhere. Use this in a living room or study with decent light.
12. Ruby and Emerald With Black
Ruby and emerald together is the boldest pairing in the whole list, and black has to work hard to hold it together. Ruby velvet dining chairs sit around a black table with emerald curtains and a stepped gold mirror, and in the other photo the walls go dark, with red chairs, red roses and a tiered gold pendant over a round black table. Keep ruby (#7B1E2B) and emerald (#1F6F54) to one or two pieces each, and let black (#1A1A1A) take the walls, floors or big furniture, since the jewels need a dark background to look like jewels. Red and green also lean Christmas very quickly, so skip the gold-and-red holiday accents for the rest of the year. A dining room is the right place for this one, it’s a room for evenings and candles anyway.
13. Black, Gold, and a Single Jewel Accent
Small room? Try black and gold with a single jewel tone, the most disciplined Deco palette. Let black (#1A1A1A) and gold (#C9A24B) do almost everything, walls, a vanity, a stepped mirror, and choose one jewel tone for one or two pieces only, like the emerald velvet stool in this black powder room.
A living room uses the same idea in the other photo, black walls with one emerald swivel chair.
Black walls in a small room sound scary, but they make the corners disappear, so the space feels deeper than it is. The catch is lighting. A black room needs several warm lights at different heights, not one ceiling light, or it looks like a hole in the evening.
14. Navy, Cream, and Gold
Navy, cream and gold soften the sapphire palette into something easier, and it’s the one I would put in a bedroom you use every single day.
Navy (#22304A) is a bit gentler than true sapphire, so it works on all four walls without feeling heavy. Use cream (#F2EBD8) for bedding and a tall channel-tufted headboard, and gold (#C9A24B) in a lamp, mirror or frames.
Another shot adds a navy velvet chair and a gold mirror over a walnut dresser, and navy and walnut are a lovely pair. Here in Finland, where the winter dark lasts for months, a navy bedroom with warm lamps feels cozy instead of gloomy. Add a little black in picture frames or a lamp base to sharpen it up.
15. Charcoal, Blush, and Gold
Charcoal, blush and gold look the most current of all, because charcoal (#3A3A3C) is softer than pure black and blush (#E3C4BE) keeps the room from feeling severe. In the sitting room photo, charcoal walls frame a blush velvet sofa, an octagonal gold mirror and a black and white key-pattern rug. Let charcoal take the walls, blush take one big soft piece, and gold (#C9A24B) appear in a mirror and a lamp or two. If you rent, a charcoal accent wall behind the sofa plus a blush velvet throw gets you most of the look without painting the whole room.
Is Art Deco From the 1920s or the 1930s?
Both. Art Deco took off in the early 1920s, peaked after the 1925 Paris exhibition and carried on through the 1930s, fading out around the Second World War. The 1920s side was richer and more ornamental, with lots of gold and jewel tones, while the 1930s brought Streamline Moderne, smoother curves and more chrome and pale colors.
That’s why this list has both warm, gilded palettes and cool chrome ones. Neither is more correct, they just belong to slightly different decades. If you need the furniture shapes to go with them, the Art Deco furniture guide covers the stepped, curved and symmetrical pieces of both.
How Do You Keep an Art Deco Palette From Feeling Heavy?
Give the dark colors a light partner and limit the shine to one metal. Here is a short do and don’t list:
- do keep at least a third of the room in a light relief color like cream, ivory or soft white
- do pick one metal (gold, brass or chrome) and repeat it
- do add several warm lamps, especially with dark walls
- don’t use more than two jewel tones in one room
- don’t put pattern on the walls and the floor and the fabric all at once
The same jewel tones show up in a Hollywood Regency living room, which is a bit more theatrical, so look there if you want even more glamour.
Frequently Asked Questions
What colors are used in Art Deco?
Art Deco uses deep jewel tones like emerald, sapphire, ruby, plum and teal, paired with black and finished with gold, brass or chrome. Lighter Deco rooms use cream, blush, soft gray or white with the same black and metal accents.
What is a good Art Deco color palette for a living room?
Emerald, black and gold or ivory, emerald and gold are the easiest living room palettes. Keep the walls light or the jewel tone on the sofa, add black in a rug or table and repeat gold in a mirror and lamps.
Is Art Deco coming back in 2026?
Art Deco has been popular for several years and still is, helped by the 2025 centenary of the 1925 Paris exhibition. Today it shows up as curved furniture, fluted wood, arched mirrors and jewel-toned velvet more than full period rooms.
Should you mix gold and chrome in an Art Deco room?
It’s better to pick one. Gold and brass give the warm 1920s feel, chrome gives the cooler 1930s streamlined look, and repeating one metal keeps the palette calm.
What is the difference between Art Deco and Hollywood Regency colors?
Both love jewel tones, black and gold. Hollywood Regency adds more pink, lacquer and over-the-top glamour, while Art Deco is more geometric and disciplined, with stronger black lines.
Key Takeaways
- Art Deco equals contrast plus shine: one deep color, black and a metal.
- Light versions use cream, blush, gray or white with black lines.
- Choose gold or brass for 1920s warmth, chrome for 1930s cool.
- Give each jewel tone its own piece instead of mixing them everywhere.
- Keep a third of the room light and add plenty of warm lamps.
Pick One Jewel Tone and One Metal This Week
If you want to try an Art Deco palette without repainting the whole house, choose one jewel tone and one metal and buy a single piece in each, say an emerald velvet pillow and a brass lamp, then add one black geometric thing like a frame or a rug. Live with it for a week. If you love it, move on to paint, and for a deeper version, a maximalist living room shows how far the same colors can go, while a moody lighting scheme keeps dark walls warm after sunset.
