Picking Colors The procedure of picking paint colors for your home may seem to be totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you prefer. That is only partly true. While it makes sense to start out with the colors you prefer, other elements enter into play. For instance, do the colors you've selected work well collectively? Do they work with furnishing, carpeting, and window treatments already in place? Picking paint colors is actually part artwork and part science. Let's focus on the science part first.
Using the Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It is a sensible way to see which colors work very well together. It includes primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (green, orange, violet), and tertiary colors (red-blue, blue-red, and so on). Secondary colors are made by mixing two primaries together, such as blue and yellow to make green. A primary color such as blue and a secondary color such as green can be mixed to produce a tertiary color--in this circumstance, turquoise.
Now that you've got a color wheel before you, use it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous design will involve neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie opposite one another on the color wheel and often work well together. Say for example a red and green living room in full intensity might be hard to stomach, but consider a rosy pink room with sage green accents. Similar complements in differing intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A dual complementary color design involves an additional set of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you can go with a monochromatic scheme which involves using one color in a variety of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color scheme. When developing a monochromatic scheme, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid way too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This may make your plan look uneven.
If you want a more technical palette of three or more colors, look at the triads formed by three equidistant colors, such as red/yellow/blue or green/purple/orange. A split complement is composed of three colors- one primary or intermediate and two colors on either part of its opposing side of the wheel. For example, instead of teaming purple with yellow, shift the mixture to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Last but not least, four colors equally spaced around the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations seem a bit like Technicolor, remember that colors designed for interiors are hardly ever undiluted. Thus yellowish might be cream; blue-purple, a dark eggplant; and orange-red, a muted terra-cotta or whisper-pale peach. With less jargon, the color combinations fall into both of these basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; schemes, derived from close by colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; schemes, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.
Interior Paint Schemes Don't just choose one color; think in terms of deciding on a color plan. Study your furniture, curtains, window treatments, and floor coverings, and word which colors might complement them.
Next, take note of just how many colors you think you may be using. Will the baseboards be considered a different color than the walls? They usually are unless the trim is in bad condition and you don't want to call attention to it. Similarly it will additionally apply to other trim, such as window casings and seat rail.
How about the area where the walls meet up with the ceiling? Will you install crown molding or some other kind of cornice treatment there? Or will you be painting the walls and demarcating the ceiling and wall junction with a color change?
In addition to paint colors, you will also need to look for the level of surface finish or sheen the paint will have. The options range from the most shiny (high gloss and semi-gloss) to the dullest (eggshell and flat). These designations differ with paint suppliers, but they are important because the sheen of paint impacts the color. A guideline states that walls usually receive flat or eggshell finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably painted with a flat finish. Trim is typically coated with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These coatings are more durable and easier to clean than duller surface finishes.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Interior Wall Colors All paint stores can offer color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will provide you with a small scale idea of what the specific colors can look like once applied. You will need to do more than take a look at color chips to obtain a true sense of your colors... but they are a good place to start. Actually, a seasoned sales person at your neighborhood paint store can help you decide on color chips in a scheme. In the event that you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales person can suggest color chips that are usually associated with a scheme that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color.
When you yourself have whittled down your color alternatives, look at the color chips or swatches in several types of light including day light at differing times of the day and in varying degrees of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is merely to get a concept of paints that you will sample in larger swaths of color. Very few professional designers pick from chips, even though they may start their color selection from chips. If indeed they do examine chips, they examine them individually on a white background.
Color Changing Take into account that large surface areas make any paint color show up darker than the color chip. The degree of deviation is usually equal to two shades. If you pick the color chip you want, step "back" two shades darker for a genuine representation of what the color will look like when dry. Also, paint always appears darker once it dries. So, when you finally apply the paint, don't stress if the color doesn't look right initially. Wait until it dries.
When you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 foot poster board or fabric material with the anchor color and stick it throughout the house to enable you to visualize it in various light and near different colored carpeting and rugs and furniture.
Color and Size Colors can affect the way you perceive the size of an area. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges will make a space seem smaller because they provide a cozy feeling to the space. The so called cool colors like blues and greens appear to recede from you, making an area appear larger than it really is. If you really want to make a room seem large go with a vintage standby such as a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Sizing the Area When you get nearer to buying paint, determine the square footage of the room you will paint. Multiply the length of each wall by the width. Subtract the space occupied by the entrances, home windows, and other openings. Add all the measurements together to get a total square footage of the surface you must paint. If you are applying two layers which is normal for most paint jobs, you'll be painting the surface twice.
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