Finding Pleasing Colors The process of picking paint colors for your home may seem to be totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you prefer. That is merely partly true. While it makes sense to get started on with the colors you like, other elements enter into play. For example, do the colors you've decided on work well together? Do they work with furnishing, carpeting, and window treatments already in use? Picking paint colors is actually part art and part science. Let's focus on the science part first.
Features of the Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It is a sensible way to see which colors work very well together. It includes primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (green, orange, violet), and tertiary colors (red-blue, blue-red, and so on). Secondary colors are made by mixing two primaries together, such as blue and yellow to make green. A primary color such as blue and a secondary color such as green can be combined to make a tertiary color--in this circumstance, turquoise.
Now that you've got a color wheel before you, utilize it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous scheme includes neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie complete opposite each other on the color wheel and frequently work well together. For instance a red and green living room in full intensity might be hard to stomach, but consider a rosy pink room with sage green accents. The same complements in varying intensities can make attractive, comforting combinations. A double complementary color design involves an additional group of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you might choose a monochromatic scheme which involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color plan. When developing a monochromatic scheme, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid way too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This can make your design look uneven.
If you need a more complex palette of three or more colors, go through the triads formed by three equidistant colors, such as red/yellow/blue or green/purple/orange. A split complement comprises three colors- one primary or intermediate and two colors on either part of its opposing side of the wheel. For example, instead of teaming purple with yellow, switch the mixture to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Finally, four colors similarly spaced round the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations seem a little bit like Technicolor, understand that colors intended for interiors are seldom undiluted. Thus yellow might be cream; blue-purple, a dark eggplant; and orange-red, a muted terra-cotta or whisper-pale peach. With less jargon, the color combinations fall into these two basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; techniques, derived from neighboring colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; strategies, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.
Color Schemes for the Interior Don't just choose one color; think in terms of picking a color plan. Survey your furniture, curtains, draperies, and carpets, and note which colors might supplement them.
Next, take notice of just how many colors you think you might be using. Will the baseboards be a different color than the walls? They usually are unless the trim is in bad shape and you do not want to call attention to it. Similarly it is true of other trim, such as window casings and couch rail.
How about the area where the walls meet up with the ceiling? Do you want to install crown molding or some other kind of cornice treatment there? Or will you be painting the walls and demarcating the ceiling and wall junction with a color change?
In addition to paint colors, you will also need to determine the level of finish or sheen the paint will have. The options range from the most shiny (high gloss and semi-gloss) to the dullest (eggshell and flat). These designations differ with paint companies, but they are important because the sheen of paint affects the color. A guideline states that walls usually get flat or eggshell surface finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably painted with a flat finish. Trim is typically coated with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These finishes are stronger and simpler to clean than duller surface finishes.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Painting Interior Walls All paint stores can offer color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will give you a small scale idea of what the specific colors will look like once applied. You will need to do more than look at color chips to get a true sense of your colors... however they are a good place to start. Actually, a seasoned sales rep at your neighborhood paint store can help you select color chips in a scheme. If you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales person can suggest color chips that are usually associated with a design that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color.
When you yourself have whittled down your color selections, go through the color chips or swatches in various types of light including natural light at different times of your day and in varying levels of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is merely to get an idea of paints that you will sample in much larger swaths of color. Very few professional designers select from chips, even though they could start their color selection from chips. If indeed they do examine chips, they examine them one at a time over a white background.
Changing Color Keep in mind that large surface areas make any paint color show up darker than the color chip. The degree of variant is usually up to two shades. If you pick the color chip you desire, step "back" two shades darker for a true representation of what the color will look like when dried out. Also, paint always looks darker once it dries. So, when you finally apply the paint, don't panic if the color doesn't look right initially. Wait until it dries.
When you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 ft. poster board or cloth with the anchor color and place it around the house so that you can see it in different light and near different colored rugs and furniture.
Color and Room Size Colors make a difference the way you perceive the size of a room. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges can make a space appear smaller because they can offer a cozy feeling to the area. The so called cool colors like blues and greens may actually recede from you, making a room appear bigger than it really is. If you really want to make an area seem large opt for a vintage standby such as a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Estimating Room Size While you get closer to buying paint, determine the square footage of the area you will paint. Multiply the length of each wall by the width. Subtract the space occupied by the doors, glass windows, and other openings. Add every one of the measurements together to get a total square footage of the surface you must paint. If you're applying two coats which is normal for some paint jobs, you'll be painting the surface twice.
Sound Quality Painting
824 90th Dr SE suite B
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(425) 512-7400
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