Selecting the Right Paint Color for a Space is a Challenge. Below are our Top 10 Tips for Getting it Right the First Time Around.
Selecting the right paint color for a space in your home, or for your entire home, can be quite a challenge. Often homeowners will choose a paint color based on a color they admired at a friend’s house or a color they’ve seen somewhere else. This is mistake #1, paint colors can look completely different based on the environment they are in. Therefore, that color that looked wonderful in your neighbors’ bathroom could look very disappointing in your living room. This is because light, natural and artificial, can change the appearance of any given color.
- Always test your color choices in the space! Colors can look very different in different lighting situations, orientation to the sun and location (natural light), and fluorescent, incandescent, LEDs, CFLs and halogen bulbs (artificial light). Natural light shows the truest colors. Fluorescent light enhances blues and greens, and diminishes warmer hues while incandescent light enhances warmer tones and yellows. LEDs are more flexible than other bulbs and tend to look good with most paint colors. With CFLs it depends on the bulb, so check the Kelvin rating. The lower the number, the warmer the bulb. Full spectrum and halogen bulbs both closely resemble daylight and make colors stand out more.
| Direction of Light | Visible Temperature of Light | Color of Light | Duration of Light |
|---|---|---|---|
| North | Cool | Bluish | All day |
| East | Warm | Yellow | Before noon |
| West | Warm | Orange-Red | After noon |
| South | Warm | Orange-yellow | All day |
- Never select paint colors from a 1”x 2” swatch from the paint store. To determine the best color choice paint large samples on the wall, at least 18”x24”.
- If your wall currently has paint color on it, paint your large sample on a white poster board and tape it to the wall rather than painting your sample over the existing color. The existing color on the wall will most likely influence the sample color in a bad way.
- Leave the samples up until you are comfortable with the way the color looks at different times of the day and in different weather conditions.
- All beiges have an undertone. The four undertones of beige are: yellow, green, orange and pink. It is very important to pay attention to these undertones when pairing neutral colors.
- Gray is the trendy neutral right now, gray can have blue, green or purple undertones.
- You will easily achieve a successful color palette if you keep the undertones of all of your neutrals the same.
- Determine the undertones of your fixed finishes, such as carpeting, countertops, flooring and tile. Then select paint colors with the same undertone for a pleasing effect.
- Be bold! Mix warm and cool tones for a more interesting and customized palette. If your matte blue room has become dull and boring, bring in some pops of yellow to liven up the room.
- Get inspired! Check out these Paint Colors on Pinterest. You’ll be sure to find a color you love that truly is an expression of you!
That’s it! Now you should feel more confident when choosing paint colors for your home. Remember, this is supposed to be fun! Don’t get overwhelmed; just take a deep breath and paint!
My favorite tip was to paint the sheet of paper then put it on the wall. That will definitely give it a better contrast. We are getting ready to paint our home next month. After we pick the color we should be ready to call the guy to come paint. https://www.glendeningpainting.com.au
A friend of mine is getting ready to paint her house, and we were curious about how you would choose the right color. It’s interesting that you say to never select paint colors from swatches alone. Since she is thinking about hiring someone, we will definitely have to get the color samples.
Hi, definitely test out the paint colors directly onto the wall at least 18×24″ size and take a look at the sample in all times of day with different lighting. To help decide on a paint color family we would recommend looking to inspirational photos of room designs that you like on Pinterest or Instagram. Those are great avenues to seeing what you like!
Hope this helps 🙂
About a week ago, we moved into our new home! My husband and I are so excited, but now we are ready to get a few of the projects done. Most importantly, we need to make a spare key because right now I do not have one. But, more than that we want to paint the living rooms and bedrooms. The problem is, we want to find the perfect color palette to match all the tones. I really love the color swatch photo on your sight with the 3 blues, the brown, and the nice yellow! I think similar colors could be nice, but we will have to look for paint mixing services that could help too!
That’s great! I’m glad you were able to find something to get you on the right track, good luck with your new home & projects!
Thank you for advising that it is important to consider the temperature when choosing interior paint. I find it interesting that hues of blue work better in a colder climate. I will share this information with my friend, who is planning to have his house repainted.
Isn’t it interesting? The temperature is so important when it comes to finding the right color, hope this will help out your friend! Good luck with everything!
Thank you so much for informing me that there are 4 different colors of undertones for beige colors and these undertones can severely change how colors look together. About a week ago, I decided that my new home needs some updating. The colors are a little dated, and I want to bring this place into our decade. I will have to follow your tips to find the right colors, and then look into painting contractors that can help it look fantastic.
Thank you for reminding me that colors might change their appearance in different lighting situations so I really need to test that one out. I’m thinking of painting our house with yellow but I’m not sure how it would look like while the sun’s at its peak at noon. It might be better to just consult exterior painters who can suggest good choices for our home.
Yes, that is an option. It may be easier to go outside with your paint samples and hold them up throughout the day to see how the light would change the color. Hope this helps!
Thanks for explaining that we should use large samples of at least 18 x 24 inches instead of trying to pick a color based only on small swatches. My sister and her husband are planning on finding a paint supplier so they can change the exterior color of their home, hopefully before the end of summer. I’ll pass along these tips to help them feel confident about whatever color they end up choosing for the house!
Thanks for bringing up how paint colors look completely different depending on the environment it is in. I wanted to paint my living room red because I like the look fo my brother’s. I’ll ask a professional what color they think will look best in my living room.
It was really helpful when you said to test the colors in the space! My husband and I are planning on finding a professional painting contractor that can paint our living room in a couple of weeks, and we want to make sure that we choose the right color for it. We’ll make sure to keep these tips in mind once we find a painting contractor to help us with our home!