One of the hardest selections to make when decorating a home is paint color. There are a myriad of hues from which to pick and narrowing it down to a set of colors can be intimidating. Thankfully, there are many helpful tips to make the process less stressful and more enjoyable.
The first is to begin with what your love. If you have, a scarf or a favorite piece of artwork, pull a color from it and build the color scheme around it. Let’s say you have a beautiful Monet print, full of gorgeous pastels. Pull out the shade that speaks to you most and build the room around that hue. You can use darker or lighter shade of the color for the walls, and bring in other colors from the painting too.
Another great tip is to consider a room’s intended purpose. Dark paint colors won’t work well in bedrooms, and can make kitchens feel cluttered. A small powder room will benefit from a strong hue and make a grand statement. Keep the lighter colors to the kitchen and bedrooms.
Discover a fabulous color palette right outside your window. Nature offers a wide and vibrant choice of colors, from neutral browns to soft greens and muted yellows to bright blues. Creating your color scheme from shades found outside lets you bring the outdoors in and blurs the lines a bit.
Draw inspiration from your favorite places to decide your color scheme. If you enjoy time spent at the lake or the beach, choose a palette of creamy whites, soft blues and sandy beiges. Use browns, greens and taupe if your favorite place is the mountains.
A trick I have used and love is to find a color in a treasured item and color match it at the paint shop. You can draw inspiration from a piece of your grandmother’s custom jewelry or maybe an old jacket of your grandfathers. A semi-precious gemstone could inspire your color choice. Only the imagination limits your options.
Frequently, when one can’t decide on a color white becomes the popular choice. Funny thing is that white comes in hundreds of tones. It can look a little grey, a little blue, or super bright. While trying to find the right white can be a challenge, it lets you play with colors. Accessories can be any myriad of tones and shades. Keeping your walls white also lets you change out your colored accents seasonally, giving you the feeling of an ever changing décor.
Another suggestion would be to look at the color palettes Pantone issues. Each palette is a series of coordinated colors. Select the palette that you are drawn to the most and let it inspire the palette for the entire home. Paint each room a shade from that palette and create the feeling of flow throughout the home.
If you find you do not like the colors you choose, you can always paint again. Paint is one of the least expensive tools in the decorating arsenal.
