How to Choose Paint Color

“Truth is, every period of American architecture has welcomed colorful rooms from the blue-painted hearth of a Colonial Revival to the deep red parlor walls of a Queen Anne to the teal accents of a Craftsman bungalow, there has always been a place for color inside the house. Even in today’s open-plan homes, where kitchens, living rooms, and dining rooms are often one large space, color is used to help define interiors and create focal points in relatively featureless rooms. The trick, of course, is figuring out which colors to use and where to put them. Choosing Color Architecturally”  -Designer Susan Sargent

One of the most effective ways to use color to transform a room is to play up its architectural features. Molding, mantels, built-in bookcases, arched doorways, wainscot, windows, and doors all offer an opportunity to add another layer of interest to colored walls. For subtle emphasis painting molding or doorways just one step lighter or darker than the primary wall. It’s a subtle shift in color but it really brings your eye to the detail For a bolder approach, try using two different colors in the same room.

A dark large trim piece or wainscot below or above a bright wall will obviously draw your eye to the upper walls, while a bright white large trim such as crown molding or wainscot next to a colored wall will focus the attention on the crown molding, trim or wainscot. Paint can also be used to create the effect of where it doesn’t exist by covering the bottom third of the wall in one color and the upper walls in another; then place a piece of flat molding along the intersection and paint it the color of the lower wall to reinforce the wainscot look. Painting an accent wall in a vivid color or hue where the others are neutral can add a dramatic, contemporary edge. Give your room some punch! Paint the primary walls a lighter softer color such as beige and the accent wall three shades darker.

Painting you ceilings bright white generally makes a space feel open and airy, a similar effect can be acquired if you paint the ceiling a lighter shade of the wall color. Just take the paint sample card that has your wall color as the middle choice, then go one or two choices lighter for the ceiling color. The result will be a room that appears larger, because the contrast between wall color and ceiling color has been softened. In a small room, such as a bathroom, the ceiling can even be painted the same color as the walls to make it look bigger.

Get ready! to Take a pillow or your favorite tie or scarf, or a painting—anything that conveys comfort or has an emotional connection for you—to the paint store Find a couple sample strips with those same colors, and you instantly have 15 to 18 colors you can use, since each sample strip typically contains six paint colors. Then choose one of the paint colors as your wall color and you keep other colors to be used around the room in fabric or furnishings.

Today’s flat paints have increased stain resistance, conventional wisdom has long held that a eggshell finish is best for walls because it’s scrubbable. Semi-gloss and high-gloss finishes are best for the trim. Different finishes are also being used to create visual effects on the entire wall. Choose paint sheen strategically, color and gloss together can emphasize your interior’s best assets.

 

Color Choice Mistakes

• Color courageous? or color cowardly?

If you already live in a colorful interior then you have probaly have gotten over the fear of making a color mistake. The best way to get over that fear is to always start with a color you love ( as explained above) from a rug, a painting, a fabric etc…. Buy a sample of color and then test it on your wall.

• Applying too much color to your walls.

Be aware of the intensity of the colors in a room. If you have a big rug with five or six strong or bold colors don’t paint the walls in equally strong color or hue. Let the rug be the focal point and the walls a lighter color Danbury painting always recommends choosing a lighter color than your first color decision because color all over the wall will be a great change.

• Rushing the color process- Bad, Living with a swatch- Good.

The best way to find a color you can live with is to paint a 4-by-4-foot swatch on the wall and live with it for at least 24 to 48 hours or hell live with it for a week if you can so you can see it in all sorts of light natural and artificial light all different moods all different circumstances. Take the extra time to do the swatch test it will be worth it to find a color you’ll love in the long run

When changing the color of a wall, primer (white or tinted) is vital to getting the actual color you picked out. Priming ensures full coverage appropriate build and that there will be no interference or “bleed through” from the previous wall color.