Picking Colors The process of picking paint colors for your home may seem totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you prefer. That is only partly true. Although 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 alongside one another? Do they compliment furnishing, carpeting, and draperies already in use? Picking paint colors is really part artwork and part science. Let's start with the science part first.
Features of the Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It really 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 there is a color wheel in front of you, use it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous scheme consists of neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie complete opposite each other on the color wheel and often work well together. For instance a red and green living room in full strength might be hard to stomach, but look at a rosy pink room with sage green accents. The same complements in varying intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A dual complementary color design involves yet another set of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you might select a monochromatic scheme that involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color scheme. When creating a monochromatic design, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This can make your plan look uneven.
If you want a more technical palette of three or more colors, go through 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 opposite side of the wheel. For example, rather than teaming purple with yellow, transfer the mixture to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Last but not least, four colors similarly spaced about the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations sound a bit like Technicolor, understand 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 fall into both of these basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; techniques, derived from close by colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; strategies, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.
Interior Complementary Colors Don't just choose one color; think in terms of deciding on a color scheme. Survey your furniture, curtains, window treatments, and rugs, and take note which colors might match them.
Next, make note of how many colors you think you might be using. Will the baseboards be considered a different color than the walls? They usually are unless the trim is in bad shape and you do not want to call attention to it. Similarly it will additionally apply to other trim, such as window casings and couch rail.
How about the area where the walls meet up with the ceiling? Do you want to install crown molding or some other type 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 surface 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 differ with paint suppliers, but they are important because the sheen of paint affects the color. A guideline claims that walls usually receive flat or eggshell surface finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably coated with a flat finish. Trim is typically painted with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These coatings are stronger and simpler to clean than duller coatings.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Painting Interior Walls All paint stores provide color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will give you a small scale idea of what the actual colors will look like once applied. You will need to do more than check out color chips to obtain a true sense of your colors... nonetheless they are a good place to start. In fact, a seasoned sales person at your neighborhood 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, go through the color chips or swatches in different types of light including day light at differing times of your day and in varying levels of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is merely to get a concept of paints that you'll sample in larger swaths of color. Hardly any professional designers pick from chips, even though they could start their color selection from chips. If indeed they do examine chips, they examine them individually on a white background.
Changing Color Keep in mind that large surface areas make any paint color show up darker than the color chip. The amount of variation is usually up to two shades. If you select the color chip you desire, step "back" two shades darker for a true representation of what the color can look like when dry. Also, paint always looks darker once it dries. So, when you finally apply the paint, don't panic if the color doesn't look right at first. Hold out until it dries.
When you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 foot poster board or cloth with the anchor color and stick it around the house so as to view it in various light and near different colored floor coverings and furniture.
Color and Space Colors can affect the way you perceive the size of an area. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges will make a space seem to be smaller because they can offer a cozy feeling to the area. The so called cool colors like blues and greens appear to recede from you, making a room appear larger than it truly is. If you actually 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.
Estimating Room Size As you get closer to buying paint, determine the square footage of the area you will paint. Multiply the length of each wall by the width. Subtract the space occupied by the entrance doors, house windows, and other openings. Add all the measurements together to get a total square footage of the area you must paint. If you're applying two layers which is normal for some paint jobs, you will be painting the area twice.
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