The best way to choose a colour is to try it out first. You can never make a good decision based on looking at the colour swatch in the store. Take it home and tape it to the wall to see how it works within the space and with your room's lighting. The swatches don't always reveal the actual colour when it dries... here are
8 Tips for Choosing the Right Paint Colour
- Don’t pick your paint colour first
It seems natural to get the biggest things done first, but it is much easier to choose a paint colour that goes with your furniture and decor than it is to choose decor to go with a paint colour.
- Start with an inspiration
Pinterest is a great place to start when deciding on paint colours. Make a board for each room and start pinning rooms that catch your eye. Once you have about 10 you’ll get a feel for what you are drawn to colour and style wise.
- Stick with neutrals
Colour is good, but you have to first decide where you want the attention in a room to go. If your answer is the walls, then go bold. And if you go bold on the walls everything else in the room should be pretty neutral so that you don’t end up with too many things competing. This is why bold colour in a bathroom can work so well because most everything else in a bathroom is already neutral (white)
- Use testers
Buy testers in a few colours/ shades and paint a large enough area on a few different walls so that you can see how the light hits it at different times of the day. Try your best not to test your paint against white walls cause it will throw the colour off. If you have to, just do a larger test area to get a better feel.
- Test your paint colours against furniture and fabrics
Don’t only test your colours on the wall. Instead, paint a piece of poster board and hold it up against your sofa, table or other items that will be in the room to see if goes. You don’t necessarily want to match, but you do want the undertones to go nicely.
- Pick the right sheen
Any sheen in a paint will accent flaws, so if you are trying to mask flaws go with as little sheen as possible.
- Understand undertones
Use the darkest colour on the strip to discover the true colour. This will save you from ending up with paint that is too pink, too blue, too yellow, etc.
- Have a colour theme throughout your home
Model homes are a perfect example of having a colour theme throughout a home. They typically keep the main living space wall colour neutral and use fabrics and accessories to add colour. Then in the bedrooms they may have the accent colours from the living space on the walls and keep the bedding neutral. Of course kid bedrooms don’t always follow this rule.
