DesignWorks: Picking the Perfect Paint Color

Painting a room or piece of furniture can be the easiest, most inexpensive way to transform a space. Yet oddly, picking the right paint color can be somewhat of a challenge. Here are a couple tips, and options on schemes that may help you get your color right the first time.

Exterior Paint Colors

The thing you want to look for when dealing with outdoor paint colors are tones. Tones are colors mixed with grey. These colors are more earthy and will blend in with your landscaping better. Below are some good examples....

Ok let's move inside the house, and start with a "field color". This is a common term meaning your color everywhere with the exception of accent walls. Most every beige will lean pink or green. It's a good idea to hold the swatch against something stark white, this will give you a true read. The pink and green tinge can work to your advantage. Say you live against a very green mountain, and everything in your home has a green tint, this is when you'd want to pull in its compliment and go for the pink tinge. Ok so you've found the perfect color, now you need to decide on the finish. The cleanest look is eggshell on the walls, and the same color, but in flat, on the ceiling. White ceilings are outdated. Here are some one tone rooms....

Field color? Check. Time for an accent wall. This will all depend on what is happening in the rest of the space. A couple of tips though will come from basic color theory. Warmer tones, reds especially, will make the space feel smaller. Warm tones feel closer to you than cool ones. Therefore, if you have a small powder bath, opt for a pale, cool color. When painting furniture, don't underestimate visual weight! Two identical pieces can look very different. A black or dark piece will look so much bigger and clunkier than the same piece painted white.