Dark Ground sets the weight of the palette in novelty and freshness, and Teak Wood is the swatch that breaks rank: a single brown that stops the set reading as one note. Dark Ground to Natural Linen spans 73 points of lightness, so the palette can carry its own hierarchy without reaching for a second one. Natural Linen is the loudest thing in the set and every swatch beside it is warm too, which gives the palette no way to cool a page down and no colour to rest an eye on.
Dark Ground a deep olive, chartreuse's edge dulled into camouflage and restraint.
Olive Green a soft moss-yellow, novelty settled into something more natural.
Teak Wood grounds a palette: stability, reliability, the color of wood, soil, and things built to last.
Warm Cream signals warmth, approachability, and creative energy, friendlier than red, louder than yellow.
Natural Linen a pale butter yellow, gentle brightness, comfort more than alarm.
Postwar optimism made domestic - Case Study Houses for a California that believed design could improve every life: Eames plywood and fiberglass, Neutra's steel-frame houses opening to the canyon, and Saarinen's organic plastic furniture for the jet-age family.
Explore the full Mid-Century Modern style guideIts decade on the timeline · 1940s