Finding Pleasing Colors The process of picking paint colors for your home may seem to be totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you like. That is only partly true. Although it makes sense to get started on with the colors you prefer, other elements enter into play. For example, do the colors you've picked work well alongside one another? Do they compliment furnishing, carpeting, and draperies already in place? Picking paint colors is actually part art and part science. Let's focus on 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 created 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 combined to make a tertiary color--in this case, turquoise.
Now that you've got a color wheel before you, make use of it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous scheme involves neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie complete opposite each other on the color wheel and often work well in concert. Say for example 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. Similar complements in varying intensities can make attractive, relaxing combinations. A dual complementary color scheme involves yet another set of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you may choose a monochromatic scheme that involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color design. When developing a monochromatic plan, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This can make your scheme look uneven.
If you need a more complex 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 complete opposite side of the wheel. For example, instead of teaming purple with yellow, switch the mix to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Last but not least, four colors evenly spaced about the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations seem a bit like Technicolor, understand that colors intended for interiors are seldom undiluted. Thus yellow 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 these two basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; plans, derived from nearby colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; techniques, 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 plan. Review your furniture, curtains, draperies, and floor coverings, and take note which colors might complement them.
Next, make note of how many colors you think you may be using. Will the baseboards be a different color than the walls? They usually are unless the trim is in bad shape and you don't want to call attention to it. Similarly it will additionally apply to other trim, such as window casings and chair 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 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 vary with paint producers, but they are essential because the sheen of paint impacts the color. A guideline states that walls usually get flat or eggshell surface finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably coated with a flat finish. Trim is normally painted with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These finishes are more durable and easier to clean than duller coatings.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Color Chips for Interior Walls 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 will look like once applied. You 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. Actually, a seasoned sales person at your local paint store can help you select color chips in a scheme. If you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales rep can suggest color chips that are usually associated with a design that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color.
When you yourself have whittled down your color alternatives, look at the color chips or swatches in various types of light including day light at differing times of the day and in varying levels of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is just to get an idea of paints that you will sample in greater swaths of color. Hardly any professional designers pick from chips, even though they may start their color selection from chips. If they do examine chips, they examine them one at a time over a white background.
Changes in Color Take into account that large surface areas make any paint color look darker than the color chip. The degree of variant is usually up to two shades. In the event that 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 appears darker once it dries. So, when you finally apply the paint, don't stress if the color doesn't look right initially. Wait until it dries.
If you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 foot poster board or fabric material with the anchor color and stick it throughout the house so as to see it in various light and near different colored floor coverings and furniture.
Room Size and Color Colors make a difference 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 offer a cozy feeling to the area. The so called cool colors like blues and greens appear to recede from you, making an area appear bigger than it truly is. If you actually want to make an area seem large go with a vintage standby like a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Sizing the Room As you get nearer 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 of the measurements together to get a total square footage of the area you must paint. If you are applying two coats which is normal for some paint jobs, you'll be painting the area twice.
Sound Quality Painting
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