Finding Pleasing Colors The procedure of picking paint colors for your home may seem totally subjective--you simply select the colors you prefer. That is merely 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 compliment furnishing, carpeting, and draperies already in place? Picking paint colors is really part art and part science. Let's start with the science part first.
The Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It is a good 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, etc). 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 blended to make a tertiary color--in this circumstance, turquoise.
Now that there is a color wheel in front of you, put it to use to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous scheme requires neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie opposing one another on the color wheel and frequently work well together. Say for example 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 differing intensities can make attractive, relaxing combinations. A dual complementary color plan involves yet another group of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you can opt for a monochromatic scheme that involves using one color in a variety of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color plan. When developing a monochromatic plan, 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 even more colors, go through 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, instead of teaming purple with yellow, move 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 somewhat like Technicolor, understand 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 get into both of these basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; techniques, derived from neighboring colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; plans, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.
Interior Paint Schemes Don't just choose one color; think in terms of picking a color structure. Review your furniture, curtains, draperies, and carpets, and word which colors might complement them.
Next, take notice of just 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. Exactly the same is true of other trim, such as windows casings and seat rail.
How about where the walls meet up with the ceiling? Do you want to 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 determine the level of finish or sheen the paint will have. The choices range from the most shiny (high gloss and semi-gloss) to the dullest (eggshell and flat). These designations fluctuate with paint companies, 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 decorated with a flat finish. Trim is normally painted with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These surface finishes are more durable and better to clean than duller coatings.
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 give you a small scale idea of what the specific colors can look like once applied. You will need to do more than check out color chips to get a true sense of your colors... however they are a good place to start. Actually, a seasoned sales rep at your local paint store can help you select color chips in a scheme. In the event that you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales rep can suggest color chips that are typically associated with a scheme that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color.
When you yourself have whittled down your color selections, look at the color chips or swatches in several types of light including natural light at differing times of the day and in varying levels of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is just to get a concept of paints that you will sample in greater 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 over a white background.
Color Changes Keep in mind that large surface areas make any paint color appear darker than the color chip. The degree of variation is usually up to two shades. If you pick the color chip you want, step "back" two shades darker for a genuine representation of what the color can look like when dry. Also, paint always appears darker once it dries. So, when you finally apply the paint, don't worry if the color doesn't look right initially. Wait around until it dries.
If you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 ft. poster board or cloth with the anchor color and place it throughout the house so as to visualize it in various light and near different colored rugs and furniture.
Room Size and Color Colors can affect the way you perceive the size of an area. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges can make a space seem smaller because they can provide a cozy feeling to the area. The so called cool colors like blues and greens may actually recede from you, making a room appear larger than it really is. If you actually want to make an area seem large go with a vintage standby such as a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Sizing the Area As 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 doors, home windows, and other openings. Add every one of the measurements together to get a total square footage of the surface you must paint. If you are applying two coats which is normal for most paint jobs, you'll be painting the area twice.
Sound Quality Painting
824 90th Dr SE suite B
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(425) 512-7400
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