A fresh coat of paint or a bold new accent color can totally transform a space in your home. And boy do we need to change things up on our walls, considering the amount of time we spend looking at them these days!
Picking paint colors can be overwhelming, here are some hacks and things to consider when imagining your painting project, whether you do it yourself or hire a pro. CHOOSING YOUR DREAM COLOR Sometimes the color of an accent pillow in a catalogue or on a website, or color you saw in an Instagram post can made you happy and inspire you to paint a wall or a room a specific color. The challenge is how to replicate it. How do you know it will look good in your space with your stuff and the quality of the light in the room? What other colors harmonize with that color you so want? Since there’s an app for everything, of course, there are apps that can help you choose your perfect palette. Here are two examples:
Pantone Studio / Coolors
With these apps you can:
Take a photo to build a custom palette
Extract colors from images on your phone or Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram accounts
Build color palettes from color guides
Browse thousands of color schemes
Create and share collages.
You can also get your color values - the codes that you need so that your paint supplier can translate that into their colors, and mix the perfect paint colors for you.
I HAVE THE PERFECT COLORS. NOW WHAT?
Here are other important things to consider to ensure that what you have in your head is actually what you get.
What’s currently on your walls:
If you have a smooth wall with a light color, likely one coat will do the trick. A rough wall will need sanding - particularly if you are leaning toward certain finishes that are less forgiving. If you are transitioning from a dark color to a light one, priming or a second coat of paint will be needed, so that the darker color doesn't bleed through.
Finish:
Matte, eggshell, satin? The more “sheen” the easier to clean. However, that sheen also picks up light differently than matte.
Lighting:
The lighting in your room can have a huge impact on the final appearance of your wall and the actual color that you see. Of course the time of day also has an impact on how it looks, so make sure that you sample the paint on your wall and check how it looks throughout the day and evening
You also need to consider transitions from one room to another. Here’s a great article from House Beautiful on connecting rooms with color to create a seamless look.
Happy painting!
Comments