Finding Pleasing Colors The procedure of picking paint colors for your home may seem to be totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you prefer. That is only partly true. Although it makes sense to start with the colors you like, other elements enter into play. For instance, do the colors you've preferred work well together? Do they compliment furnishing, carpeting, and window treatments already in use? Picking paint colors is actually part art and part science. Let's start with the science part first.
Working with the Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It really is a good way to see which colors work 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 created 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 produce a tertiary color--in this case, turquoise.
Now that there is a color wheel before you, use it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous scheme involves neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie opposing one another on the color wheel and frequently work well together. For instance a red and green living room in full strength might be hard to stomach, but look at a rosy pink room with sage green accents. Exactly the same complements in varying intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A double complementary color scheme involves yet another set of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you can opt for a monochromatic scheme that involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color plan. When creating a monochromatic scheme, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This can make your scheme look uneven.
If you want a more technical palette of three or even more colors, go through the triads formed by three equidistant colors, such as red/yellow/blue or green/purple/orange. A split complement is composed of three colors- one primary or intermediate and two colors on either side of its complete opposite side of the wheel. For example, rather than teaming purple with yellow, transfer the mixture to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Lastly, four colors evenly spaced about the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations seem a little like Technicolor, remember that colors intended for interiors are hardly ever 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 get into these two basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; strategies, derived from neighboring colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; schemes, 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 deciding on a color structure. Review your furniture, curtains, draperies, and carpets, and take note of which colors might supplement them.
Next, be aware 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. The same will additionally apply to other trim, such as home window casings and seat rail.
How about the area where the walls meet the ceiling? Do you want to install crown molding or various other kind of cornice treatment there? Or are you considering painting the walls and demarcating the ceiling and wall junction with a color change?
In addition to paint colors, you'll also need to determine the level of surface finish or sheen the paint will have. The choices range from the most shiny (high gloss and semi-gloss) to the dullest (eggshell and flat). These designations vary with paint makers, but they are important because the sheen of paint influences the color. A guideline says that walls usually receive flat or eggshell surface finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably coated with a flat finish. Trim is typically coated with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These finishes are more durable and easier to clean than duller surface finishes.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Interior Wall Colors All paint stores can offer color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will give you a small scale idea of what the actual colors will look like once applied. You will need to do more than take a look at color chips to obtain a true sense of your colors... nonetheless they are a good place to start. Actually, a seasoned sales person at your neighborhood paint store can help you select color chips in a scheme. In the event that you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales rep can suggest color chips that are typically associated with a design that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color.
When you have whittled down your color choices, look at the color chips or swatches in various types of light including day light at differing times of the day and in varying levels of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is just to get an idea of paints that you'll sample in much larger swaths of color. Hardly any professional designers select from chips, even though they could start their color selection from chips. If indeed they do examine chips, they examine them individually over a white background.
Color Changing Take into account that large surface areas make any paint color appear darker than the color chip. The degree of deviation is usually up to two shades. If you select the color chip you desire, step "back" two shades darker for a genuine representation of what the color will look like when dry. 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 throughout the house so that you can see it in various light and near different colored floor coverings and furniture.
Color and Size Colors make a difference the way you perceive the size of an area. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges can make a space appear smaller because they can provide a cozy feeling to the area. The so called cool colors like blues and greens may actually recede from you, making an area appear bigger than it really is. If you really want to make an area seem large opt for an old standby like a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Estimating Area Size When you get nearer to buying paint, determine the square footage of the room you will paint. Multiply the length of each wall by the width. Subtract the area occupied by the entrance doors, house windows, and other openings. Add all of the measurements together to obtain a total square footage of the area you must paint. If you are applying two layers which is normal for some paint jobs, you'll be painting the area twice.
Sound Quality Painting
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