There are few decorating blunders that can deflate a homeowner more than spending a day painting a room just to feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment because the Color just didn’t come out as expected. Nailing that perfect interior paint color will be easy when you use these 10 secret tips.
Having an understanding of how colors relate to each other and how they effect your mood can make your color selection easier. Your color choice can effect a person’s sense of room size and set the mood. Soft, cool colors lend the illusion of a larger room and dark, rich shades tend to make a large room feel comfortable and cozy. Color experts divide the color wheel into warm and cool colors. Warm colors (red through yellow) arouse a warm feeling, think “sunshine”. While cool colors (blue, green and purple) bring a feeling of coolness, think “water”.
Tip 1
How To Start The Process Of Interior Paint Color Selection.
Think beyond your walls. What are the colors of your furnishings? Is there a specific item, furnishing, rug or decorative item such as a vase that is a color that brings you joy? Maybe a rug or fabric item such as a pillow or sofa that has multiple colors. You can choose a nice neutral interior paint color for your walls by looking at the secondary color of these items. For example, maybe your favorite pillow has a background that is mostly ivory or a beautiful blue. That could be the perfect choice for that room. Another source for your perfect color could be in a piece of artwork that you plan to display on the wall, or even your favorite dishes. Simply sitting in the room, looking around at items that are going to be filling the space, can be your best source of inspiration.
Tip 2
Give Thought To The Purpose Of The Room.
While gazing through the vast array of paint chips, you come across a beautiful, vivid hot pink. WOW, you think, I’ve always liked that color… think twice, while that vivid hot pink might set a really cool vibe that would be perfect for certain areas or rooms, is your plan to use it in a bedroom? Is that going to encourage a peaceful night’s sleep? Don’t lose sight of the purpose of the room. Strive to find the right balance of mood setting and function.
Tip 3
Think beyond that one room.
Most interior designers and decorators will select a small grouping of complimenting interior colors and use them throughout the entire home. Does the room that you plan to paint open into another room? Make certain that you plan a smooth color transition into the adjoining room. It gives the home a cohesive, unified feeling and allows for a smooth transition from room to room. Keeping it simple is a great strategy.
Tip 4
Using Neutral Colors Can Be A Great Choice.
What do you want someone that enters the room to focus on? Is it the walls or something within the room, maybe the furnishings, maybe that spectacular vintage rug that you’ll be using. If you say “the wall color” then go for it. If you say something else within the room, then don’t make that item compete with the color of the walls. Maybe a nice neutral choice will work best. Neutral colors are not always the tan or ivory that you may immediately think of. There’s a large array of beautiful, yet neutral colors such as soft greys, charcoal greys, olive greens, cocoas and blues just to name a few.
Tip 5
Decide On The Right Finish.
Paint comes in a number of different finishes and you’ll need to give thought to which finish will work best for your project. Your options, in order of shininess, will most likely be flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss. Flat paint hides imperfections well and is generally the best choice for ceilings and low traffic areas like living rooms and dining rooms. Glossier finishes offer a nice, yet subtle distinction for trim and cabinets. They offer better durability and are easier to clean, but wall imperfections are more pronounced. Different finishes can definitely effect how the paint looks. Be sure when testing your paint that your doing so in the finish that you have chosen. Don’t take a small can of your chosen interior paint color home to test, in a flat sheen if your really planning to use a satin finish.
Tip 6
Don’t Select Your Paint Color At The Home Improvement Paint Display.
Your first instinct may be to visit your favorite home improvement store, select the paint, have it mixed and head home to start your weekend project. Don’t do it. Selecting your paint color from a rainbow of colors in the store’s lighting can lead to a big disappointment. It’s best to bring a few sample colors home, and apply them to a wall in the room that you plan to paint. This will enable you to see them in your space and lighting. The preferred option would be a few small cans of the different interior paint colors that your contemplating rather than small paint chips. Be sure to examine the colors at different times of the day too. This will give you the opportunity to see it in natural light as well as artificial light.
Tip 7
Thinking About Painting The Ceiling The Same Color As The Walls?
If your decorating strategy includes painting the ceiling the same color as the walls, don’t expect to use the same paint color to achieve your goal. Your ceilings are seen in somewhat of a shadow, and because of that, they will often appear darker if painted the exact same color. With that in mind, if your goal is for the walls and ceiling to appear to be the same color, then buy the ceiling paint one or two shades lighter than your wall paint color.
Tip 8
Trying To Make The Room Appear Larger?
Consider painting all of the elements of the wall, baseboards, crown molding and trim the exact same color. This encourages your eyes to move freely without stopping at visual breaks. It will also give the illusion of additional height. No matter what interior paint color you choose, you can help make any room look larger by painting your ceiling white.
Tip 9
Light Bulbs Really Matter.
The type of light bulb being used in a room can actually alter the appearance of colors in a room. Incandescent light bulbs tend to emit a nice warm, yellow-amber glow that makes reds, oranges and yellows more vivid, while calming down blues and greens. Florescent light bulbs will give your room a flat, cool glow and can bring blues and greens to life. Halogen bulbs will give you light that most resembles natural light and will help make all colors appear more vivid. Be sure to test your paint colors using the light bulb that you will be using in that room. If your not getting the results that you thought, sometimes simply changing the type of light bulb can help.
Tip 10
Use The “Rule Of 3” For A Great End Result.
The simple “rule of 3” is a decorating strategy that is used by decorators, professional designers, and even home stagers. It works amazingly well and you can utilize it throughout your home. Simply stated, you will find that decorating in 3’s will produce a result that is pleasing to the eye. It will make any room appear as though a professional pulled it all together.
Select Three Colors
The three colors that you will need to select for you room will be your field color, trim color and accent color. The field color is the interior paint color that you choose for your walls. It will be the background for everything in the room. Typically, but not always, a field color is a neutral color. Depending on what you prefer, your trim color can be a nice complimenting color such as a neutral or a highly contrasting color. The third color is your accent color and might not be a paint color, it could be window coverings, pillows, an area rug or accent piece. Often, this is the element that someone adds to give a bit of a “pop of color” to the room.
Are you ready to start that project? Check out our blog article “Paint Like A Pro With These Stunningly Easy Tips“. You’ll find some great tips on making the job easy and get the professional looking results that you want!
Here are a few other articles from our blog that you might find interesting…
- How To Choose The Right Tile – 10 Great Tips
- Paint Like A Pro With These Stunningly Easy Tips
- 10 Easy Steps To A Stunning Home Office
- How To Select The Right Size Area Rug
- Practical Stuff You Need To Know When Buying Bed Sheets‘
- What You Need To Know To Chose The Perfect Window Coverings For Your Home
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