Painting any room inside your home is a great investment. According to Open Door, this project typically offers a 107% ROI. Before you hire an interior painter, though, you’ll need to decide on what kind of color scheme you want. Here are some tips that you might want to consider as you make this important choice.
Avoid Choppy Looks
While picking a color is a matter of personal taste and different people might have different ideas of what looks best in a home, there are some looks you should avoid. You don’t want to have mismatched colors near each other, as this can create a jarring appearance. You don’t want you or your guests to have an unpleasant feeling when looking at your walls. Fortunately, a skilled interior painter can offer the insight you need to ensure you choose colors that complement each other well. After all these, professionals work with colors all the time, and they can tell what will work and what won’t.
Pick One Color and Go With It
One strategy to consider is choosing one color and having your interior painter use it throughout your entire home. This can give your living space a comfortable, cohesive feel. This technique is sometimes referred to as “flow-through paint” since it “flows” throughout the house. You can choose any color you like to set the mood, whether it’s a subdued neutral shade to establish peace and calm or something more eye-catching to create a sense of energy and vibrancy.
Consider the Sightlines
While painting multiple rooms the same color can be a great option for many homeowners, this isn’t the only way to make your home look great. You can absolutely choose different themes for different rooms, but if you do, be sure to consider how much division there is between different spaces. If you can follow the flow from one room to another and there’s a wild change between them, this can be jarring. You should only use vastly different colors from one room to the next if there are walls or doors separating these areas. Otherwise, things may start to feel too busy and overwhelming.
Think in Terms of Color Groups
There are many colors that work well together within the same temperature family. For example, say you’re fond of blue. You could have your interior painter use gray-blue for your living room, pure blue for the kitchen, and navy for the foyer. You could also ask your painter to make different tints of a color you like by adding white or a darker shade of that color to make it lighter or darker.
Keep Zany Colors in Enclosed Rooms
There’s no fixed rule that says you must use traditional colors in your home. If you’re an artsy type, you may want to use zanier colors in more private areas like a bedroom or hobby room. However, it’s best to only use less conventional hues in rooms that you can close the door on. This way, you can use safer, less overwhelming colors in rooms that guests will be spending a lot of time in.
Use Accessories
You might want your walls to be a more muted color, but you can still show off some personality with colorful rugs, furniture, or wall art. For a subtler bit of flair, you can use vibrant throw pillows or coasters. With neutral walls, brighter-colored accessories won’t take over the room and make it feel oversaturated. Instead, they can bring light and life to an otherwise understated space.
Use Accents
If you want to use different colors across rooms, incorporating accents that flow well together can make your home feel balanced and harmonious instead of busy. You can use these accents to tie different rooms together. For example, you might have your living room accented with blues and greens, and then have the adjoining room use blues and yellows. That will keep things consistent between the rooms without feeling too repetitious. Don’t hesitate to ask your interior painter what shades they’d recommend using as accents for different wall colors.
Use the 60-30-10 Formula
There’s a bit of math involved when it comes to creating a cohesive interior color scheme. A good rule of thumb is to use 60% of the base color, 30% of a secondary color, and 10% of a tertiary color. You can change things up from room to room by changing the order of the colors. A good interior painter can help you decide what color scheme would work best. Additionally, you can use accessories to make the entire room look more put-together.
Consider Using Color Planning Tools
It’s important to know what colors work well with each other, and thinking like an artist can help with this. Professional artists of all kinds use something called a color wheel to guide their decisions. This tool shows every color of the rainbow in a circle. Colors on opposite sides of this circle are considered to be complementary because they stand out against each other. These color schemes can be excellent for homeowners looking to create a bold, energetic look. Adjacent colors, on the other hand, can be used to create a more cohesive and cozy feel when used together. Don’t hesitate to use the color wheel as a guide to consider which colors will work well together, and then ask your interior painter for further insight.
Consider Lighting
When painting your home, it’s important to keep in mind that colors will look different depending on the lighting in a space. A shade that looks perfect during daylight hours might not be as attractive when the sun goes down and there isn’t as much light coming in through your windows. As you view color samples, be sure to experiment with different types of lighting. Look at them at different times of the day with the lights in the room on and off. If you like a color no matter how much light your room is getting, this is a good sign that you should move forward with it. If you only like it under ideal lighting conditions, you may want to consider a different option to ensure your home looks great all day long.
Interior painting is an upgrade that offers immense value to your home, and repainting a room can make it much more enjoyable to spend time in it. Of course, you’ll only enjoy the benefits of a painting project to the fullest if you choose the ideal color for any space you choose to paint. Keeping the tips above in mind will help ensure you make the best color choices for your home, and professional painters can offer even more guidance.
Are you ready to get started on an interior painting project? If so, you’ll need to choose an expert painting team with a great eye for color to ensure you get the best possible results. At Barbour Painting, we go out of our way to treat every room we paint as a unique work of art, and you can rely on us to give your home the stunning transformation it deserves. Contact us today to learn more about our services and request a quote. We look forward to working with you!
