With a few simple steps, choosing your next paint color will be very easy:
1. First, take inventory of the room you wish to paint. Look at the items you want to include in the room. Is grandma’s antique rug staying under the dining table? Are the accent pillows on the sofa something that you want to get rid of? If there are any items you don’t wish to leave in the room, get rid of them now.
2. Next, make sure you have good light. Selecting paint can be challenging, and it is even more difficult in poor light! Even seasoned interior designers need good light to make a paint recommendation. Select during the day, if you can.
3. Look at the dominant color in your room. Is most of your furniture brown? Do you have terra cotta floor tile? These elements make up a good portion of the room already, and probably don’t need to be added to your walls, as well.
4. Now, look at the secondary colors in your room’s palette. Is there a rich red in the painting over your mantle? What about that olive green stripe in your drapery? These secondary colors can give you clues about what your wall color could be! These colors already exist in your room, and will blend nicely with your existing decor, so they are a good place to start when determining a paint color.
5. Take a look at the paint swatches you have brought home, and compare them to the secondary colors you determined in Step 4. See something you like? Use the fabrics, accessories, artwork and furniture in your room to narrow your choices.
6. When you have your colors narrowed down to just a few, pick up a sample of each paint. Many manufacturers now offer small jars of paint, just for this reason. Paint color swatches, large ones, on several walls in your room. Look at the swatches during the day, at night, on cloudy days, and with your interior lighting on. This will help you determine if the colors you are considering are too dark or too light.
7. Make sure your chosen color is the right shade. Compare it to the other elements of the room. Will the sofa blend in when placed against the newly painted wall? Perhaps you need to tweak your paint color. Once you have found your paint color, it’s time to paint!
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