Picking Color Schemes The process of picking paint colors for your home may seem totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you like. That is merely partly true. Although it makes sense to start with the colors you prefer, other elements come into play. For example, do the colors you've picked work well collectively? Do they work with furnishing, carpeting, and window treatments already in use? Picking paint colors is really part artwork 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 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 there is a color wheel in front of you, utilize it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous scheme requires neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie complete opposite one another on the color wheel and frequently work well in concert. Say for example a red and green living room in full strength might be hard to stomach, but consider a rosy pink room with sage green accents. Similar complements in differing intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A double complementary color plan involves yet another group of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you could choose 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 too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This may make your design 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 comprises three colors- one primary or intermediate and two colors on either side of its complete opposite side of the wheel. For example, rather than teaming purple with yellow, shift the mixture to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Last but not least, four colors evenly spaced round the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations seem a little bit like Technicolor, remember that colors designed for interiors are almost never 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 close by colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; techniques, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.
Interior Colors Don't just choose one color; think in terms of deciding on a color structure. Review your furniture, curtains, window treatments, and carpets, and word which colors might supplement them.
Next, take note of just how many colors you think you may be using. Will the baseboards be considered 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 home window casings and chair rail.
How about the area 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 look for the level of surface finish or sheen the paint will have. The options range from the most shiny (high gloss and semi-gloss) to the dullest (eggshell and flat). These designations fluctuate with paint producers, but they are important because the sheen of paint affects the color. A guideline states that walls usually get flat or eggshell finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably painted with a flat finish. Trim is normally coated with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These surface finishes are more durable 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 can provide color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will provide you with a small scale idea of what the specific colors can look like once applied. You will need to do more than take a look at color chips to obtain a true sense of your colors... nonetheless they are a good place to start. In fact, a seasoned sales rep at your neighborhood paint store can help you select color chips in a scheme. If you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales person 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 choices, look at the color chips or swatches in different types of light including natural light at different times of your day and in varying levels of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is just to get an idea of paints that you'll sample in greater swaths of color. Hardly any professional designers pick from chips, even though they could start their color selection from chips. If they do examine chips, they examine them individually on a white background.
Color Changes Take into account that large surface areas make any paint color look darker than the color chip. The degree of variation is usually up to two shades. If you select the color chip you want, 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. Hang on until it dries.
If you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 ft. poster board or fabric material with the anchor color and place it around the house so that you can view it in various light and near different colored carpets 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 appear to recede from you, making an area appear bigger than it really is. If you actually want to make a room seem large select a vintage standby such as a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Estimating Area Size While 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 entrance doors, windows, and other openings. Add all the measurements together to obtain 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.
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