Decorating with silver – 5 beautiful ways to add a glimmer of glamor to your home

Decorating with silver might not seem like an obvious choice when choosing a new room color scheme, but used cleverly, and in small doses, silver can really bring a room into the light. 

The beautiful silver is the answer when white is too white. Deeply pigmented, it's surprisingly warm and welcoming and changes subtly with the direction of light. For a nuanced scheme, team it with other muted hues. The decorating potential of silver as a room color idea should never be underestimated. 

How to decorate with silver

A silver that stradles the boundaries between blue, green and gray can be many things: front and center or a background to show off art and objects. Easy to live with, it looks beautiful in west- or south-facing rooms while being suitably moody in spaces with less light. Here's how five of our favorite interior designers and decorators use silver to great effect. 

1. Pair silver with other neutrals

‘Silver gray creates a sleek and contemporary look,' says Flora Hogg, interior design consultant and color specialist at Craig & Rose. 'It evokes a sense of elegance while providing a neutral backdrop for other design elements. Traditionally, it pairs harmoniously with whites, blacks and metallics. We love pairing it with warmer neutrals like beige and taupe, or with muted greens and purples, as well as soft textures in furnishings for an organic aesthetic.’

2. Go for gray on walls

‘The hand-applied Clayworks plaster gives the walls a textural depth that fluctuates with light throughout the day,' says Grant Straghan, director, deDraft. 'The penthouse receives beautiful light even in winter, so using gray and dark-fumed oak finishes throughout wasn’t an issue.’ 

3. Highlight a kitchen wall with silver

Silver is a wonderful way to add interest to what is otherwise a dark or dreary room or corner.

‘We wanted to breathe life into this functional modern kitchen,' says Paul Welburn, senior design consultant at Roundhouse. 'The polished plaster feature wall is a textured silvery gray, which pairs beautifully with the natural Atlantic Stone and the Down Pipe and Pitch Black shades on the kitchen cabinets.’ 

4. Use silver in spaces for entertaining

‘In this home bar, we wanted to create a sophisticated space for entertaining,' says Emma Deterding, founder and creative director, of Kelling Designs. 'We kept the cabinetry neutral as it was a compact area, but opted for a statement tile-effect wallpaper in silver tones to draw the eye in.’ 

Along with its quiet luxury color qualities, stunning silver is a highly versatile color that can be paired with many other shades to make a home look expensive and rich.

5. Add subtle glimmer with accents of silver

The bedroom is the perfect space for silver thanks to its calming qualities and subtle shimmer.

‘The soft tones of gray create a calming atmosphere in this bedroom,' says Charu Gandhi, founder and director of Elicyon. 'We opted for a beautiful floral wallpaper resembling hand-painted chinoiserie. The metallic accents add a subtle glimmer, creating a captivating play of light and shadow.’