How To Choose Paint Colors and What’s Right For You
Choosing the perfect paint color for your home or business can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Following simple guidelines regarding how to choose paint colors will help you select a great color that enhances your home or commercial building’s overall interior and exterior appearance.
So, how to choose paint colors? Here we cover some key factors to consider when choosing paint colors, including the desired mood, the room’s decor and style, natural light sources, sheen and finish, and testing the color before painting. In addition, we will discuss hiring a professional painter who can offer expert color consultation.
Desired Mood: Calming or Energizing
The first thing to consider when choosing a paint color is the mood you want to evoke in the room. Do you want the space to feel calm, relaxing, or energizing and invigorating? The color you choose can have a significant impact on the overall mood of the room.
Consider using cool colors like blues, greens, or purples to create a calming atmosphere. These colors are soothing and can help promote relaxation and restfulness. On the other hand, if you want to create an energizing atmosphere, consider using warm colors like yellows, oranges, or reds. These colors are known to be invigorating and can help to promote energy and activity.
Color Scheme: What Best Suits the Room’s Decor and Style
Another essential factor to consider when choosing a paint color is the room’s decor and style. You want to choose a color that complements the existing design elements in the room, such as furniture, artwork, and accessories.
In addition, is the architectural style of your home or business modern, contemporary, rustic, traditional, colonial or other? You may want to keep the style similar throughout the interior and exterior; however, that does not mean keeping the same paint color throughout.
Using a color wheel is one way to determine which color scheme best suits the room’s decor. A color wheel can help you identify complementary colors opposite each other on the wheel and create a harmonious balance. For example, if your room has a lot of blue and green elements, consider using a warm, complementary color like yellow or orange to add some contrast and balance.
Natural Light Sources: How They Affect Color
The amount and type of natural light in a room can also affect a paint color’s appearance. Different light sources can alter the appearance of color, making it appear brighter or darker, warmer or cooler.
Before choosing a paint color, consider the natural light sources in the room, such as windows or skylights. If the room receives a lot of natural light, choose warmer shades to prevent the room from feeling too bright or washed out. Conversely, cooler shades are best if the room gets little natural light.
Create a Flowing Effect
Though changing colors in each room are great, continuity with a seamless flow from room to room is recommended unless you want big and bold and for each room to have its own mood and style.
Keeping things somewhat the same does not mean you must stick to a single color or the same colors in different hues or use all warm colors vs. all cool colors.
Change is not wrong; it must be done right for the result to be beautiful. So, try muting the colors a bit, add a few softened tones of gray and beige and inject in small doses either on the walls or in furnishings, accessories and rugs to achieve a seamless, beautiful flow from room to room.
If the rooms are adjoining, paint using colors with the same undertones to create a harmonious effect.
When painting trim, consider keeping the color consistent throughout to avoid jarring transitions.
Go Big – Go Cozy
As mentioned, warm colors like red and orange can create a cozy atmosphere in bedrooms, studies and libraries. On the other hand, if you want to make the room look more spacious, undoubtedly, crisp white will do the job, but not all of us what stark white throughout.
As a larger room can handle more color than a smaller one, sticking to colors with lighter hues will open up a small space vs. darker shades.
Sheen and Finish: The Final Touch
The sheen and finish of the paint can also impact the overall look and feel of the room. Several types of sheens and finishes are available, ranging from flat to high-gloss.
Flat and matte finishes have a low sheen and are great for hiding wall imperfections. They also provide a more muted look, ideal for creating a calming atmosphere in a room.
On the other hand, high-gloss finishes have a reflective quality and are great for adding depth and drama to a space. They can be ideal for creating an energizing atmosphere. High gloss is also excellent for trims and doorways, where exposure to fingerprints is high since high gloss is more effortless to wipe down than flat finishes.
Testing the Color: Before you Paint
Before committing to the paint color, testing it in the room is essential. Small sample containers can be purchased at your local hardware store or supplied by your professional painter.
Paint a small wall section with the color you’re considering and observe how it looks throughout the day under natural light and at night with artificial lighting. Different lighting conditions can affect a color’s appearance.
In contrast to painting directly on the wall, you can use poster boards to test various colors and shades. In addition, using poster boards enables you to move the board around the room to see how the color or colors look on all sides under natural and artificial lighting and during the day and night.
Have We Helped You Regarding How To Choose Paint Colors?
We hope you have gained a bit of knowledge reading our article, “7 Top Tips: How To Choose Paint Colors.” If you need additional help choosing paint colors and painting for your interior, exterior or both, do not hesitate and contact our professional painting company at Carolina Blue Painting. We would love to discuss with you our complete line of painting services.