6 Tips for Choosing Paint Colors for your Home

A fresh coat of paint can completely transform your living space, and choosing the right color scheme is just as important as the application. Here are 6 tips to give you a jumping off point.

1) Don?t use too many colors! Having too wide of a spectrum will look too busy and gaudy and take away attention from your furniture and home decor.

?2) When using color, try to avoid anything too bright. You can achieve vibrancy and style, just steer clear from a neon color palette.

3) Reflect your personality! Pick colors that embody who you are and complement your style.

4) Create your color scheme BEFORE making purchases. Make sure the colors you choose for your walls, flooring, and furniture all work cohesively together before going out and buying them individually.

5) Choose the correct sheen. While flat and matte finishes can hide wall imperfections, a glossier finish will reflect more light which you may want to brighten a smaller space

6) Buy only a small amount at first to test out your choices. Paint a decent size square of each color on the wall and let the swatch dry. Take notice of how it looks over the next few days, during the daylight and at night.

 

For more specific color choice suggestions, here are some placement insights from Sherwin Williams:

RED
Ceilings: weighty and annoying.
Walls: advancing and energetic.
Floors: confident.

PINK
Ceilings: soft hues delicate and comfortable.
Walls: complimentary to skin tones when soft or pale. Dramatic when highly saturated and vivid tones are used.
Floors: for select and special spaces.

ORANGE
Ceilings: energizing and advancing.
Walls: soft peachy tones are warm and glowing. Bright tones are energetic, burnt orange shades are rich and warm.
Floors: creates movement.

BROWN
Ceiling: dark hues are heavy but work in high, open ceilings, especially to conceal exposed duct-work.
Walls: mid-tone and dark hues can evoke richness, warmth, and comfort. Soft hues are natural and create a neutral backdrop for furnishings.
Floors: implies durability, stability, and reliability.

YELLOW
Ceiling: light hue, luminous, reflective, and glowing.
Walls: warm if a golden hue.
Floors: bright hues are distracting and agitating.

GREEN
Ceiling: protective (reflection on skin tone can be unattractive).
Walls: safe, calm, reliable, neutral, yellow-based hues create warmth, blue-based hues tend to be cool.
Floors: natural up to a certain saturation point (light to dark), soft, relaxing (if closer to blue-green).

BLUE
Ceiling: soft shades are cool and heavenly, dark hues give the illusion of the ceiling advancing.
Walls: pale to mid-tone shades are soothing, darker hues provide a dramatic backdrop.
Floors: movement (darker hues) to effortless movement (lighter hues).

GRAY
Ceiling: shaded, creates shadows.
Walls: bland to neutral, cool and neutral.
Floors: neutral. Blends into a space.

WHITE
Ceiling: blank – creates lightness, reflects light, and reduces shadows.
Walls: neutral to empty, clean.
Floors: intimidating.

BLACK
Ceiling: heavy but works well for an exposed ceiling with open duct-work.
Walls: threatening or dramatic.
Floors: unusual and absorbing. Dark furnishings would get lost placed directly on this floor color.