How
to choose colors without having a nervous breakdown!
by Jan Riley
Perhaps your thoughts turn to sprucing up the old homestead. I get a lot
of questions
about choosing the right paint color. In fact I have noticed that color
matters to virtually everyone!
For many folks this is a stressful and disappointing process of elimination.
You can easily end up with a basement full of quarts or walls that are not
quite the right color. The scars of a color malfunction can follow you around
for years!
Don't give up! Help
is on the way.
Let me start by stating "There is NO perfect
Paint color for every room" what
works in your best friend's living room may not look great in your den.
Color is relative, which means it is affected
by everything around it: light or lack of it and the colors surrounding
it (fabrics, flooring, trim, furniture etc.) and perhaps most importantly
- how you feel about it.
We also may want color to do different things for us. That's why if you
want a color that feels like soothing warm butter but you end up with scary
lemon drop, The problem may be not in the color-but how you respond to it
in your space with your light.
What effect are you trying to create?
Answer theses 3 questions before you look at colors- trust me it will help.
(The answers will sound like you are describing feelings)
What effect are you trying to achieve in this space?
How do you want this room to feel when you walk in?
What do you want the color to say to you?
Walk towards the light!
This is probably the hardest aspect in choosing the right shade or color.
What type of light, how much and the time of day all play a large part in
how we see the color.
Try this exercise:
Get a manila envelop and tape it to a wall that gets direct sunlight - notice
how it appears golden and yellow. Now tape it up in a dark corner, walk
around the room and view it from different angles, all of the sudden it
looks tan, dirty and rather lifeless.
This is because shadows tend to absorb color -especially in a flat paint.
In a low light room, choose a brighter version of the color you are initially
drawn to. To add life to a neutral color, use an eggshell sheen - it reveals
the color and reflects the light.
Always test your paint colors in all types of light - bright, corner, filtered,
day & evening.
Give yourself a few days to live with the samples and see how you respond
to them before you make the final decision.
Use these six
easy steps to navigate the choppy waters of choosing colors. Try
to take them in order and don't skip any steps. That is the main reason
most people end up with a color to kill themselves over rather than a color
to die for. Don't worry if you can't choose the perfect color the first
time either - that is completely natural.
Give yourself a break and allow yourself the emotional freedom to experiment
and evaluate what works for you in your space. That is how the professionals
make it look so easy, they know the value of trying something different
and seeing if they like it. All artistic people experiment - but we call
it being creative. Take a lesson from this make a mistake or two - and call
it decorating…
Create an environment that feels right to you, because after all you have
to live with it. Nothing is more important than how you feel about the color
when you see it in the room, so be sure and spend adequate time letting
yourself get used to it and looking the color in different lights and times
of day. It is perfectly fine to get feedback from friends and neighbors
but if you find yourself polling the mailman or the UPS driver - pull back!
It'll be ok - trust yourself - give it time. Do the 6 steps and never -
under any circumstances - choose a paint color without first getting (and
putting up) a sample!
1. Give your self time
Don't rush your decision! Seriously, if you have trouble choosing colors
give yourself time to see how you feel about the colors you think you like.
Allow time to get samples, many if necessary, and live with them a few days,
so you have an idea of what they look like in differing lights, weather
conditions and naturally with your stuff. Rushing this part of the process
is where most folks get the worst results.
Remember: It only takes a minute to choose a bad paint color! (that you
get to look at for years)
2. Have a plan -creating a flow with
colors
Having a plan means thinking about your whole house as one unit. I get a
lot of questions about creating a flow or a unified look without every room
being painted the same color. There are several components to creating a
unified look in your home.
Use the same trim color throughout the house.
Choose colors in the same family
Limit the number of different color groups.
I want to clarify what I mean when I say use the term COLOR FAMILY. I am
not referring to using all the colors on a color chip - I am speaking more
of using colors that "go" together. However a COLOR GROUP refers
to shades of a particular color. Some examples would be:
COLOR FAMILY
Autumn tones (rusty red, muddy gold, browns, oranges, deep burgundy)
Easter tones or pastels (lilac, spring green, robin's egg blue, bright orange,
raspberry)
Jewel tones, (sapphire blue, ruby red, emerald green, topaz gold)
Beach colors (deep blue, grey green, sandy tan, light aqua, silver blue)
Earth tones (sage green, dusty gold, chocolate, red clay, olive, sandstone)
Classic (black and white, burgundy, tan, forest green, ivory)
COLOR GROUP
An example of a COLOR GROUP would be: In the Earth tone family - (sage green,
deep olive, a very light sage green, a greenish tan)