5 Easy Steps To Selecting The Right Paint Colors For Your Home
My goal is to help you overcome the obstacles that often times takes over when selecting paint colors. I’ve created the Authentic Home COLOR Paint™ line which is a minimal color palette consisting of 75 colors and arranged my colors into 5 “mood” palettes for easy selection and arranging. My approach is a “less is more” one and experience has shown me that there are simply too many color choices available on the market today. From the novice or “DYI” homeowner to the busy mom who is passionate about home decor, everyone wants to find a paint color they love and that “works” in their space. Since color evokes moods and feelings I thought it makes sense to have a starting paint of the 5 mood palettes each consisting of just 15 colors per palette. Viewing 15 compatible paint colors is not as overwhelming as looking through a fan deck of 3,000 paint chips as your eye can experience each of the 15 colors since they all are of similar color tones.
1. Feel First
Determine how you want to feel in your space first. This will help you stay focused on your overall look of the space you are about to paint. Review the Authentic Home COLOR Paint™ mood palettes, Elegant, Serene, Playful, Fresh, Regal and select your desired mood.
2. Review your home’s existing elements
It is really important to understand your homes natural flow, or lack thereof, when trying to create a cohesive look and feel. Being aware of the architectural elements that you want emphasize or detract from is important and needs to be taken into consideration.
Unless you are remodeling and selecting new cabinetry, flooring and countertops, you more than likely need to work with these existing elements and consider the undertone colors of all your hard surfaces. Closely look at the colors of the cabinetry, flooring, and countertops materials. The trick is to select a paint color that will enhance all of these elements and not detract from them. A considerable part of any home remodeling budget is taken up with purchases of cabinetry, flooring and countertop materials so it is important to bring these elements to life and a cost effective way to do this is with the right paint color. For example if you have light colored oak cabinets in your kitchen it would not work to have a light yellow paint color on the wall. The wall color needs to emphasize the cabinet color. So in the light oak cabinets example imagine the paint color being a warm rust or brown color that would emphasize the oak knots in the wood grain and highlight the yellow cabinet color. And the same thing holds true for your flooring whether it is carpeting or hardwoods and for your countertops whether it is granite or Corian.
Another important consideration is the type of natural light your home gets throughout the daytime. Does your home face east and gets the morning sun in the living room? Do you have skylights in specific rooms and if so how does that affect the color on the walls? Review where the natural light is throughout the day and notice how it affects the paint color that you currently have on the walls. Having this information will help you determine the tone or shade of the specific color you will select.
Most people can not replace all of their furnishings when doing a remodel or painting project. So it is important to understand the colors in your furnishings fabrics as well as colors of your accessories. Is your sofa a neutral grey color that can be highlighted with a cool blue paint color on the walls? Can you pull out a Persimmon color in an antique art piece and paint the wall the Persimmon color so the entire wall is “a work of art”? Closely evaluate all of your fabrics and accessories colors that will remain in the room your are about to paint.
3. Select a foundation color
I like to use the analogy of selecting paint colors with women selecting a foundation makeup for their skin type. You need to find the right color that works with your skin type and it’s the same thing with selecting the right foundation paint color for your home.
I consider the foundation paint color the color that is going to move us from room to room so to create a nice flow throughout your home. A trick I like to use with clients is to have them stand at the front door and pretend they are a guest in their own home. Close your eyes for 10 seconds and then open your eyes. What do you see? This little trick with help you get in touch with what your guests see as they enter you home. Do you see a closet door and should we bring attention to that closet door with a paint color? Or does your eye go directly from the front door, through the living room, through the kitchen and straight out the kitchen window? If so how can paint color help us detract this energy to stay in each space? It is best to select a neutral foundation color that will move you from space to space which often times are the hallways and that work with your existing floor color. And neutrals don’t just have to be taupe. A warm soft green or blue with yellow or umber undertones can be a neutrals to build upon in your home. Think of a neutral color as colors you find in nature. That way you are not just also selecting the beiges and taupes.
4. Select paint colors of similar tones
Once you have the foundation paint color decided, you can then select each room paint color that is of similar undertone. The undertone of the color is the underneath colorant color that is predominate. For example the color green can have both a blue undertone, which would give a cooler effect to the room, or a yellow undertone, which would give a warmer effect to the room. Having the same undertone of colors throughout your home creates an even flow to each space and is very appealing to the eye.
I also feel that it is important to have paint colors of similar shades or tones throughout a home. We have all been in people’s homes where the paint colors didn’t make any sense and the bold bright colors are right next to softer tones or bright whites, Yikes! Choose colors of similar shades or tones for a consistent pleasing flow.
5. Sample the paint colors in your own home
Often times when you are ready to select paint colors, you are looking at small paint chips or a fan deck at a paint or big box store. Looking at paint colors in the stores is the first mistake since the lighting is often fluorescent and not the same type of lighting you live with in your own home. So make sure you review and sample the paint in your own home, on several different walls & ceiling locations over a period of a number of days. The natural light will shift the paint colors and the experience will be different throughout the day and evening.
Make sure to put the wall color next to the ceiling color and apply two coats of paint on a 3x3 area in order to achieve the full effect of the colors. So many times I would walk into peoples homes and see small spots of 4-5 different colors on the wall all with 1 coat of paint on them. In order to experience the full effect, a larger sample of 1 color should be placed on different areas of the room and adjacent to the ceiling paint color. And always apply 2 coats and let it dry for over an hour before making any quick decisions.
My goal is to create a paint color palette you love, to represent your true authentic self and to be able build upon for all future home décor and remodeling projects. I hope these steps help you in your paint selecting process. Relax and take your time selecting the paint colors that reflect you and your own Authentic Home. Enjoy the process and watch the transformation unfold!
