Complimentary Colors The process of picking paint colors for your home may appear totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you like. That is only partly true. Although it makes sense to start with the colors you like, other elements enter into play. For instance, do the colors you've chosen work well collectively? Do they work with furnishing, carpeting, and window treatments already in use? Picking paint colors is really part art and part science. Let's focus on the science part first.
Employing the Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It really is a sensible way to see which colors work well together. It includes primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (green, orange, violet), and tertiary colors (red-blue, blue-red, etc). 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 produce a tertiary color--in this case, turquoise.
Now that there is a color wheel before you, make use of it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous design will involve neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie opposite each other on the color wheel and often work well together. Say for example a red and green living room in full intensity might be hard to stomach, but consider a rosy pink room with sage green accents. Similar complements in differing intensities can make attractive, relaxing combinations. A double complementary color plan involves an additional group of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you might choose a monochromatic scheme which involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color design. When creating a monochromatic design, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid way too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This may make your scheme look uneven.
If you want a more technical palette of three or even more colors, look at 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 part of its opposing 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 equally spaced round the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations sound somewhat like Technicolor, remember that colors intended for interiors are hardly ever 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 both of these basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; schemes, 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 Color Schemes Don't just choose one color; think in terms of deciding on a color plan. Review your furniture, curtains, window treatments, and floor coverings, and take note of which colors might supplement them.
Next, make note of just 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. The same will additionally apply to other trim, such as window casings and chair rail.
How about where the walls meet up with the ceiling? Will you install crown molding or various other type of cornice treatment there? Or will you be 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 influences the color. A guideline states that walls usually receive flat or eggshell finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably decorated with a flat finish. Trim is typically decorated with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These surface finishes are stronger and much easier to clean than duller finishes.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Interior Color Chips 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 check out color chips to get a true sense of your colors... but they are a good place to start. Actually, a seasoned sales rep 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 have whittled down your color choices, go through the color chips or swatches in different types of light including day light at differing times of your day and in varying degrees of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is merely to get an idea of paints that you will sample in larger swaths of color. Very few professional designers pick from chips, even though they could start their color selection from chips. If indeed they do examine chips, they examine them one at a time on a white background.
Changing Color Keep in mind that large surface areas make any paint color seem darker than the color chip. The amount of variance is usually equal 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 will look like when dried out. 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. 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 place it throughout the house so as to see it in different light and near different colored carpets and furniture.
Color and Size Colors make a difference the way you perceive the size of an area. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges will make a space seem smaller because they 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 truly is. If you actually want to make a room seem large opt for a vintage standby like a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Sizing the Room 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 area occupied by the entrance doors, house windows, and other openings. Add every one of the measurements together to obtain a total square footage of the surface you must paint. If you're applying two coats which is normal for some paint jobs, you will be painting the area twice.
Sound Quality Painting
824 90th Dr SE suite B
Lake Stevens WA 98258
(425) 512-7400
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