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Craving a fresh, new color of paint on your walls? If you’re in the market for a new paint color, you’ve come to the right place. Paint is one of the most versatile decorating tools at your fingertips. With endless options for you to choose from, the right color palette for your home is out there, but choosing the color can be the hardest part for many homeowners. In this article, we’ve answered homeowners’ most frequently asked questions about choosing the right interior paint color.
- How Do I Choose Paint Colors For My Home?
- How Do I Choose A Coordinating Paint Color?
- Should I Paint All Walls The Same Color?
- What Is The Best Paint Finish To Use?
How do I choose paint colors for my house?
Several studies have been conducted on the psychology of color, showing how different colors can influence our moods or emotions. When it comes to choosing paint colors, it’s important to understand how different colors resonate with you and your family. So, before heading straight to the paint store to grab paint swatches and samples, think about what type of atmosphere you want to create in the rooms you are painting.
For bedrooms, light blues, warm neutrals, or colors with gray undertones are popular because they evoke feelings of calmness and relaxation. On the other hand, warm brown and deep oranges are great for family rooms or living spaces, because they are seen as more welcoming and social colors.
There are no rules when it comes to choosing a paint color for your home – it’s yours to decorate the way you like! What adjectives come to mind when you’re imagining your dream home? Cozy and inviting for your family to gather in during the holidays? Sleek and modern dining room to show off at dinner parties? Possibilities are endless. Here are a few examples of colors to consider:
How do I choose a coordinating paint color?
Using colors from different elements in your home that you already love is a great way to create a color scheme that is unique to you. Look at the furniture, artwork, and textiles in the room around your home. Is there a patterned rug, piece of furniture, throw pillow, or piece of art that you love? Use those things as inspiration to pick a few colors that you could see as potential wall colors. If you have a beige couch in the living room, you might consider using a similar color wall color in an adjoining room to continue the flow of color throughout your home.
When you’re trying to incorporate multiple colors in your home’s color palette while trying to maintain consistency throughout, muted colors are a great option. The undertones of muted, dustier colors help create a visual connection between the various rooms in your house. By simply muddying the colors, they become less bold and bright, making it easier on the eyes.
Should I paint all walls the same color?
There is no right or wrong answer to this question– painting all of your walls the same color will create a cohesive and clean aesthetic throughout, which is why many homeowners opt for this look!
If you’re not ready to commit to a full room of color, there are still plenty of ways to incorporate color into your home – like creating an accent wall. If you’ve never heard of an accent wall, it is a single wall in a room that is painted a different color from the other walls. Accent walls serve as a focal point where they can shift attention to a specific area or to certain details in a room. This is a great design element for anybody who wants to incorporate a dark or bold color into their interior design without painting an entire room.
Color is a great way to highlight and enhance any unique architectural details you have in your home. From molding and doors to built-in bookshelves and wainscotting, architectural details provide the opportunity to add layers of color and depth. White and off-white have traditionally been the go-to color choices for interior molding, window trim, and doors, but now more than ever, we are seeing homeowners choose bold paint colors in these areas.
One way you can experiment with color in your home is to paint the moldings or doorways one shade lighter or darker than the color of the walls. If you have wainscotting in your home, you could also split the room by painting below the wainscotting a darker, bolder color, and above the wainscotting a lighter, more neutral color, which will create a beautiful two-tone room that emphasizes your wainscotting and incorporates more color.
What is the Best Paint Finish To Use?
When it comes to painting, there are also different finishes for you to consider– flat, satin, and semi-gloss. Traditionally, satin, also known as “eggshell”, has been painters’ and homeowners’ choice of interior wall finish because it is “scrubbable” while also managing not to draw attention to any imperfections. Walls are scratched, bumped, and nicked all the time, and the satin finish prevents this damage from being visible, whereas a flat finish would expose this damage. Modern flat finishes have more stain resistance, which makes them desirable for kitchen spaces, but due to the lack of luster, it’s easy to see any imperfection, which makes them less desirable.
There are also semi-gloss and high gloss finishes. These finishes are more ‘shiny’ than the other paints because they reflect more light. Typically, we do not have many clients requesting a semi-gloss or high gloss finish for their walls. However, instead of leaving the semi-gloss and high gloss finishes to the trim, you can experiment and create interesting visual effects with the different finishes. For example, if you were to paint your walls in Benjamin Moore’s October Mist 1495 with a flat finish, and your ceiling that same color with a semi-gloss finish, then you would create a visual contrast between the matte and sheen that not only creates a color-drenched effect, but it also makes your ceiling appear higher because of the more reflective properties of semi-gloss.
Work With A Professional Interior Painting Company
At Tom Curren Companies, we understand it’s hard to decide on a paint color when the options are literally endless. That’s why we created our Color-Safe Selection Guide to make it easier for you to get started. Our Color-Safe Selection Guide has pre-curated color samples from some of the most popular paint colors in New England, and a few of our personal favorites. Be sure to ask our team for more details!
Whether you’re a maximalist who loves color or a minimalist who prefers neutrals, there is a color scheme out there for you. The painting professionals at Tom Curren Companies are here to help you with your next interior painting project. Give us a call to schedule a free consultation – 617-969-4900.
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