Choosing Colors The process of picking paint colors for your home may seem totally subjective--you simply select the colors you prefer. That is only partly true. Although it makes sense to start with the colors you like, other elements come into play. For instance, do the colors you've determined work well alongside one another? Do they compliment furnishing, carpeting, and draperies already in use? Picking paint colors is part artwork and part science. Let's focus on the science part first.
Employing the Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It really is a sensible way to see which colors work well together. It includes primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (green, orange, violet), and tertiary colors (red-blue, blue-red, etc). Secondary colors are created 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 merged to make a tertiary color--in this case, turquoise.
Now that you've got a color wheel in front of you, use it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous plan includes neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie opposing one another on the color wheel and often work well together. For instance a red and green living room in full intensity might be hard to stomach, but look at a rosy pink room with sage green accents. Exactly the same complements in varying intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A double complementary color plan involves yet another set of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you may choose a monochromatic scheme which involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color scheme. When creating a monochromatic scheme, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This may make your plan look uneven.
If you need a more complex 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 comprises three colors- one primary or intermediate and two colors on either part of its opposing side of the wheel. For example, rather than teaming purple with yellow, change the mixture to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Finally, four colors equally spaced about the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations seem a bit like Technicolor, remember that colors intended for interiors are rarely 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 get into both of these basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; strategies, derived from nearby colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; strategies, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.
Interior Colors Don't just choose one color; think in terms of deciding on a color scheme. Review your furniture, curtains, window treatments, and rugs, and take note which colors might supplement them.
Next, take notice of how many colors you think you might be using. Will the baseboards be 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 is true of other trim, such as windows casings and chair rail.
How about the area where the walls meet up with the ceiling? Will you install crown molding or various other kind of cornice treatment there? Or are you considering 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 fluctuate with paint manufacturers, but they are important because the sheen of paint influences the color. A guideline claims that walls usually get flat or eggshell surface finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably painted with a flat finish. Trim is typically coated with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These finishes are more durable and simpler to clean than duller finishes.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Interior Color Chips All paint stores can provide color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will give you a small scale idea of what the actual colors can look like once applied. You will need to do more than take a look at color chips to get a true sense of your colors... nonetheless they are a good place to start. In fact, a seasoned sales rep 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 typically associated with a design that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color.
When you have whittled down your color selections, go through the color chips or swatches in different types of light including natural light at different times of the day and in varying degrees of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is merely to get an idea of paints that you will sample in bigger swaths of color. Hardly any professional designers pick from chips, even though they could start their color selection from chips. If they do examine chips, they examine them one at a time over a white background.
Changing Color Take into account that large surface areas make any paint color look darker than the color chip. The amount of variation is usually equal to two shades. In the event that you pick the color chip you want, step "back" two shades darker for a true 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 panic if the color doesn't look right initially. Hold out until it dries.
If you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 ft. poster board or fabric with the anchor color and place it around the house to be able to visualize it in various light and near different colored carpets and rugs and furniture.
Color and Space Colors can affect how you perceive the size of a room. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges can make a space seem to be smaller because they provide a cozy feeling to the space. The so called cool colors like blues and greens may actually recede from you, making an area appear larger than it really is. If you actually want to make an area seem large choose a vintage standby such as a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Estimating Room Size While you get closer 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 doorways, windows, and other openings. Add every one of the measurements together to get a total square footage of the area you must paint. If you're applying two coats which is normal for most paint jobs, you'll be painting the area twice.
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