Many people may view interior wall painting as a crucial part of home design. Whether you’re painting your home for the first time or want to do a fresh coat of paint to reflect the current color trends, choosing the appropriate paint colors for your home is as important as fixing its structural flaws.
There is a lot to talk about when choosing the ideal paint color for your house. You need to plan it all, which is why it’s a hard task. This includes analyzing the available color possibilities and creating a strategy for your perfect design.
With so many different color options, it might be difficult to know where to begin, so here’s a guide to get you started.
How To Choose Interior Paint Colors
1. Make a color scheme that goes with the furniture in your house
Base your selections on an image or furniture you love for a simple method to design a color palette. This could be a piece of furniture, a rug, a picture you saw online, or a cloth with a design you like. To achieve a balanced interior color scheme, pay close attention to the ratios of each shade. Please keep in mind that you want to coordinate with the larger, more expensive pieces vs. the smaller inexpensive items. The cost to reupholster a chair or sofa is substantial. Unless, you are planning on replacing or recovering that item, the paint you choose should coordinate with it.
2. Decide on the finish to create an appealing visual effect
“The higher the sheen, the higher the shine.” – is a basic rule of thumb to follow when choosing paint finishes. High-gloss paint is all shine, flat paint has none. Eggshell, satin, and semi-gloss fill in the gaps between and serve different functional and aesthetic purposes. Step down at least one sheen level if your paint color is deep and rich yet you don’t want a highly polished appearance. This is because a paint color’s sheen is increased by the amount of colorant present the darker and richer the paint color is. The same applies if you’re painting a large, damaged, or uneven wall. Higher sheen paints make faults more visible, so go flat with a wall with imperfections. If painting a bathroom, you will want to avoid flat paint finishes as they will show water spots and they are not as easy to clean as a paint with a satin finish.
3. Match the color to the feeling you want in the room
Different colors and shades of colors can alter your mood and perception, which is a well-known truth. While brighter hues pull those things away or make them recede, darker and warmer hues give the impression that something is getting closer to you. The use of a uniform color scheme might hide architectural elements like numerous angles in your home. For a smaller house, consider painting every room the same bright hue to make it easier for your eyes to move from one to the next. This strategy simply tricks your brain into believing that your home is larger than it actually is.
4. Know your whites
One of the most popular paint shades on the color spectrum is white. It is fundamental to portraying a tidy and organized environment, and it is simple to layer many other components in a space, from artwork to carefully chosen furniture or to include bolder elements like fabric for sofas and drapes.
How To Use Interior Paint Colors
5. Create flow in open-plan spaces
Open-concept living is a favorite for many reasons. It can make any area feel bigger and brighter, even the smallest. A wall can be replaced with an island or table to create a light-filled space in a compact apartment with a tiny, windowless kitchen off the living room.
6. Make small spaces feel bigger and cozier
Warm hues foster coziness while clean whites tend to make rooms feel larger and more open. Depending on their undertones, neutral colors like white and gray can also lean warmer or cooler.
7. Exploring two different colors in the same room
The study of color pairings as visually complementary hues has been done in both the scientific and artistic fields.
8. Create contrast in rooms with wainscoting
This enduring feature will infuse your home with personality from top to bottom. Wainscoting doesn’t have to be boring when it comes to simplicity. It actually gives an opportunity for a contrast between light and dark hues.
9. Create an accent wall to add a focal point
By painting one wall a different color from the others and decorating it with a wall arrangement, artwork, or display shelves, you may make a focus point wall. Accent walls are a traditional favorite for a focal point. To capture attention, choose patterned wallpaper or a strong paint hue.
10. Explore bolder options with multiple colors
Although it is fun to play around with color schemes by picking colors at random depending on our personal preferences, there are some color combinations that are thought to be particularly attractive.
11. Treat your ceiling like a fifth wall
The area of a room with the least decoration is typically the ceiling. Consider the ceiling to be a fifth wall, and find creative ways to utilize it to infuse your home with inspiration and make you feel good every time you glance up.
Choosing a paint color that you will want to live with for years is one of the most difficult and complicated decisions. The ideal strategy is to thoroughly test out paint swatches before purchasing a full gallon in order to prevent painter’s remorse. Many paint companies produce smaller pint size samples that you can purchase for a minimal price. Paint a small area to see how the hue looks in your home before committing to an expensive gallon of paint. Use the inexpensive sample to paint a large patch on your wall and live with it for a few days and view it at different times of the day to make absolutely sure, it’s the color for you before you make the gallon purchase.
Choosing a paint color for the interior or exterior of your home can be daunting as the choices are endless with the combination of colors, hues and sheens. Take your time and do paint tests and you’re sure to have a project that you will enjoy living with in the years to come!