Choosing Paint Color

Choosing paint color: How to make sure you get it right the first time.   Step-by-step test method for choosing interior paint colors.

Before you start ...

• If you're looking for colors to paint a room and haven't decided on a basic color scheme yet, here are step-by-step instructions for narrowing down your decorating color choices.

• If you're stumped for paint color ideas, here's how to find good paint color ideas for a decorating color scheme.

• And if you already have some ideas for colors to paint a room, but aren't sure how to "translate" them into a room color scheme, here's how to turn paint color ideas into real decorating color schemes (illustrated guide!)

For this page, let's assume you already have a particular color scheme in mind. Your next steps are:

• Get paint color samples/swatches
• Test the sample colors
• Fine-tune your wall color ideas
• Fine-tune your testing method.
• If necessary, consider alternative wall color ideas, until you're ready to make your final color choice.

Choosing Paint Color
For A Living-Room

Let's pretend you've just moved into this apartment with a sensational view (and you've inherited the wall color).

You've brought your berry-colored sofas, a coffee table and a rug from your old place. Now, let's nail the perfect paint color for your walls.

It's a south-facing room, and the summer sun will turn it into an oven.   You'll want cool colors to paint this room, preferably a shade of blue that goes with the sofas and all the cushions.

The red arrow is pointing at some color swatches you're considering, but it's really hard to tell how these paint colors would look on an entire wall.

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Choosing Paint Color, Step 1:
Samples

a) Collect paint color swatches in your chosen wall colors (here: color matches for the duck-egg blue bolsters from the sofa, as well as shades and tints of this color.

b) Buy a few tester pots of the most promising paint colors, a cheap brush , and large (2x3ft approx.) sheets of paper.

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Choosing Paint Color, Step 2:
Testing I

Cover a sheet of paper completely with tester paint, and tape it to the wall.

Picture #2 shows the color sample surrounded by the old wall color. That means you're not getting a realistic impression of the sample - the green wall paint is still too dominant.

Choosing paint color gets much easier when you view interior paint color samples against a neutral background. You can achieve this by either

• painting the wall(s) with white primer, or
• covering the wall behind the color tester with white paper.

If you're going to use a white undercoat (advisable if you're painting over a dark color like this one), you might as well bite the bullet and do it now, before making your final paint color decision.

A neutral background will make choosing paint color that much easier.

Picture #3: Job done - now it's easy to see that the original duck egg blue is actually quite dark, looks a bit murky, and is at odds with the blue sky outside.

This color, on all walls, would turn the room into an aquarium!   (Probably not what you had in mind when you were choosing paint color for a "fresh and cool" living-room.

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Choosing Paint Color, Step 3:
Adjusting Your Wall Color Ideas

• Try out darker shades and lighter tints of the same color, until you find a version that works with all the other room colors (and the sky ;-)

Or,

• Test alternative wall color ideas (as in Picture #5 below).  Again, paint one, two or even three large sheets of paper in the new color and hang them next to each other, or in different parts of the room.

You may have to go through this process several time, but that means you'll end up choosing a paint color that really works. And the time you spend deliberating wall color ideas will sharpen your understanding of what's best for your room.

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Choosing Paint Color, Step 4:
Testing II

Most people will be tempted to skip this step because they're impatient to slap the paint on the wall and be done (or because they're afraid to look stupid if choosing paint color takes them too long). I know this because I'm one of these people! But it really pays to be slow and deliberate at this stage.

So study the room with the color samples in all kinds of light:

• early morning
• midday sun
• a rainy day
• evening light
• mist (if you can get some made ;-)
• the light of a reading lamp
• any other lighting you're going to use in the room

Also, make sure you place the color sheets in different parts of the room:

• in the shadows
• right next to each sofa & every cushion
• next to the floor
• next to the window
• on a sunny stretch of the wall
• on both sides of a corner
• near the ceiling.

If, after a while, you're convinced that the color suits the room, then go for it.

If you end up thinking "uh, I'm not sure ...", just return to Step 3. You're choosing a paint color from thousands of candidates, and the right one is definitely out there, waiting for you!

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Choosing Paint Color, Step 5:
Alternative Wall Color Ideas

Picture #4 shows one possible solution to the 'duck egg dilemma': reducing the area where the color will go, and choosing a tint of blue that is light and subtle enough for the job.

This has several advantages:

• the color is only visible near the sofas/cushions, and ties them together into a visual unit
• the hue does not contrast too much with the color of the sky
• you've still got a "cool room".

If this is too cool for you, consider warming it up with added color, for example the potted tree that brings more green into the space and ties in with the green cushion color. Or, you could replace the blue wall color with a warmer manila brown, as in Picture #5.

By dividing the wall as I have done here, you achieve two results:

1. The lighter, neutral color above the chair rail, as well as the curtains in the same hue, create a transition and soften the contrast between the dark floor/sofas and the bright white ceiling.

2. Should you ever want to substantially change the appearance of the room, all you need to do is paint a new wall color beneath the chair rail and replace a picture or two. Maybe the rug as well.

Picture #5 shows that in order to warm up the room color, you needn't sacrifice its lightness - you just play up the warm colors that are already in the room by adding a few warm neutrals to them (the rug & the brown wall paint).

There. Choosing paint color made simple. Give it a go, and do let me know how you get on!

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