The Essential Hamptons Colour Palette by Amity Dry

This article was written by Amity Dry, owner of her dream Hamptons home and winner of the Block All Stars.

I am in love with the Hamptons look and have been lusting over Pinterest pictures of East Coast American homes for years. I love their effortless elegance, their coastal colour palette and the way they feature natural textures like timber, stone and marble that offset the exterior cladding. And after designing, building and living in our Hamptons inspired home I am more in love with the look than ever.

Amity Dry’s dream Hamptons home in South Australia. The combination of Linea WeatherBoard and a tin roof gives this Hamptons home a distinctly Australian look.

THE LIFESTYLE

The Hamptons look has been increasing in popularity in Australia and it’s easy to see why. It’s the perfect look for our relaxed lifestyle because it’s coastal but cool and all about light filled spaces and a relaxed lifestyle—except that in the Hamptons it will cost you upwards of 30 million dollars to get that ‘relaxed’ lifestyle!

THE ESSENTIALS

The Hamptons look is defined by a few key things. The colour palette is always neutral, with whites, creams, linen tones, greys and blues the main colours used to achieve the look. Putting blue and white together always gives a coastal feel, but with the Hamptons its more likely to be a rich navy with a warm cream, with duck egg and grey blue tones a close runner up.

THE COASTAL LOOK

Dulux Pacific Line

Dulux Indigo

The other quintessential Hamptons look is marble. There is nothing more Hamptons than a kitchen with white shaker cabinets, subway tiles and a Carrera marble bench-top. Marble tiles also feature in their bathrooms, with herringbone patterns another traditionally Hamptons look.

Marble

Finally, no Hamptons home is complete without a clad exterior. Giving Hamptons homes their hallmark look, weatherboards create strong lines provide a classic, coastal charm. While traditional timber weatherboards are prone to splintering and cracking in the Australian climate, fibre cement weatherboards like Scyon Linea allow you to get the Hamptons look minus the maintenance of timber weatherboards.

TEXTURES EXPLAINED

When it comes to exteriors it is all about texture, with weatherboard cladding, stone features and a tiled roof. Although in Australia we can also get away with a tin roof, which works just as well. Again, the colour palette for Hamptons exteriors follows the same theme as indoors with neutral colours, predominantly white and greys and the occasional striking navy and white combo.

When it comes to choosing the right shade of white or grey there are a plethora of choices, which if you’re like me can cause sleepless nights when trying to choose the right one! My tip is to narrow down your top 10 shades and then get them in A4 cards from the paint store. Then hold those cards up in the light of day and see which undertone colours they throw more of.

Personally I like warm whites like Wattyl Wicker White, Dulux Natural White or whites with a little bit of beige in them like Dulux Hog Bristle or Wattyl Igloo.

Wattyl Wicker White

Dulux Natural White

Wattyl Igloo

With greys go for soft tones like Dulux Tranquil Retreat, Vanilla Quake or Wattyl Snowdonia. There is nothing more calming and elegant that grey and white together and to achieve the Hamptons look.

Just make sure all your exterior trims are a crisp white, no matter what colour you choose for your cladding.

Dulux Tranquil Retreat Wattly Snowdonia

EXTERIOR THINKING

Finally, if you want your house to stand out from the pack a striking combination of navy weatherboard cladding with white trim is the perfect cross between Hamptons chic and Australian coastal cool. And if I ever build a beach house that’s what I would choose!

Linea weatherboard Dulux Absolute White

The Hamptons theme has definitely caught on in Australia and I can’t see the trend going anywhere. With new products that are adapting the Hamptons look for an Australian setting, it’s the perfect look for our lifestyle—and we don’t even need to fork out 30 million dollars to achieve it!