Many clients call me an interior designer, asking me what color to paint their walls. The appearance of your home’s interior is greatly affected by the paint color you choose. Some people are so worried about making a mistake with a wall color that they keep their entire house white. I constantly tell my customers that no matter how many expensive drapes or fancy new pieces of furniture they install in a room, the walls will always seem bland because they are white.
The walls should go with the furniture, or the room would look awkward. Not that I haven’t painted some white walls and created some stunning rooms. The critical difference is that we are not limited to a single shade of white; instead, we can mix and match shades of white with other colors in the space, such as beige, black, and even red. Let’s move on to the proper method of selecting a color for your home now that we can all agree that white is a color.
This is where we begin:
There are multiple determinants of hue. I always recommend that my clients in the market for a new home spend as much time as possible in the space before settling on a paint color. Wall color might look very different depending on the lighting. The exact hue will look different in the daytime depending on the lighting conditions, even though the two rooms are identical.
Reading magazines is a terrific method to obtain a sense of your style and taste, the next step in the process. This is an excellent tool for communicating your ideas to a designer you’re working with. Magazines are a great resource, and I always have heaps of them in my workspace. An image often speaks volumes when words fail to describe a desired quality.
Get a feel for the sofa, rug, flooring, and window treatments you could install by gathering samples of each. It is far simpler to match paint to fabrics than it is to match fabrics to paint if you are starting from scratch. Thus, it is recommended that you select the materials first.
Now that you have all the necessary components, you can begin working. Your home’s color scheme must be consistent and harmonious. They can be contrasting hues so long as they go well together. You can use green, red, and yellow tones throughout the house, but they must all be in the same hue, as suggested by the lists of complementary colors offered by many paint retailers today. For the avocado green accent to stand out, the surrounding walls should be a more muted shade of yellow, such as a golden beige, and the red should be closer to tomato red.
Monochromatic color schemes are another possibility in which many tones of the same color are used. This is a brilliant solution in large rooms that open up into a dim corridor. The hall would be a lighter version of the same color, while the main room would be darker.
A hallway that separates from a large family room painted a beige/gold color can blend in with the adjoining den by having the paint shop tone down the color by one shade. Bedrooms can also benefit from a monochromatic design scheme, with walls painted a darker hue and softer tones of the same color utilized for the bedding and cushions.
Finally, remember if you want to create a warm, cold, or neutral atmosphere in the room. A dining room, for instance, could benefit from a cozy paint job in a deep red. Painting the walls a brick hue and accessorizing with warm yellows and browns might do the trick. A soothing, cold color can make a room appear larger and more tranquil. Oceanic tones may include shades of blue, silver, green, and mist. Neutral hues, however, can help create harmony in a house by linking spaces together and functioning more as a backdrop for bolder elements like statement drapery or a mosaic backsplash in the kitchen. These hues might range from a pale beige to deep cream.
Knowing the type of paint you are using on your walls is the last sound advice I can give after working with paint for many years. You should always use high-quality paint, but it’s essential when painting with dark colors. Spending more on high-quality paint initially will save you time and money in the long run. While one or two coats of high-quality paint should cover a room, cheaper paint, especially in darker colors, may require four coats, which is a lot of money and time wasted. Tints and color bases are other major factor to consider. You can pick from several finishes, including flat, mat, eggshell, pearl, satin, semi-gloss, and high-gloss.
Doors, moldings, fireplace mantels, and other architectural details benefit from semi- and high-gloss finishes. They were once widely used in bathrooms and kitchens because of their ease of cleaning, but with the improvement in paint quality, they are now unnecessary. The pearl, eggshell, and satin finishes will not show fingerprints or smudges and will clean just as well.
Eggshell is versatile neutral that pairs well with many hues, hides fingerprints well, and can be cleaned easily. Mat works well in kid’s rooms and other spaces where painting is a regular necessity. Touching up paint that isn’t a matte finish is challenging because it shows up quickly.
The rewards for persevering through the difficulties of painting are substantial. A well-painted home increases in value. A home should be a safe haven from the stresses of the outside world, a place to relax, spend time with loved ones, and enjoy life. The effect of a well-designed room on one’s mood can be dramatic. Well-chosen decorations can remain beautiful for years. My standard advice to clients is to save up until they can afford to do a room or house properly the first time.
Dawn can be reached at dawn@dawnmichael.com if you have any more inquiries. Dawn Michael Interior Design is the name of the company she runs out of her house in the Ventura County region of California; to schedule an in-person consultation, call (805) 987-1802 or check out her online portfolio at [http://www.dawnmichael.com]. For over 15 years, Dawn Michael has been assisting homeowners in the design of their dwellings. She is an expert at designing unique interiors for each customer by selecting the perfect wall color and furniture pieces. Dawn has the expertise and equipment to make the decorating process stress-free and enjoyable for her customers.
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