9 Guidelines To Pick A Perfect Paint Color For Your Home

So, you have fixed all the structure flaws and you are finally done renovating your new home to suit your lifestyle. Now, it is the time to tackle the last, and possibly the most challenging part in the entire new home refurbishment project – pick the color palette of your interior spaces.

Picking out the shade of paint to use inside your home can be an overwhelming challenge indeed, especially when you have no clue in color scheme and toning at all. How can you know which color will go well with another? Where do you even begin? Fret not, here are the nine guidelines to choose a perfect paint color that could help you to avoid many color mistakes.

1. Find paint color inspiration

If you do not have any idea how to deal with the color shades, there are plenty of free ideas available on the Internet. Pinterest, for instant, is a great source. You could start pinning interior design ideas that catch your eye. Once you have a few, you will get a feel of what color and style that you are drawn into. It will help you to draw the first draft of your interior spaces color planning.

2. Be scientific

Do not have a must-use color scheme in any space of your new home? Consider to decide it from the scientific perspective then. For example, blue is a calming color that can make you feel relaxed and serene, which could be the best choice for your bedroom. Meanwhile, green is one of the most restful colors for your eyes and helps to reduce anxiety. This can be a great color for your home office or study.

3. Home furniture and decorative furnishing go first

Let the existing furniture or decorative furnishings decide the space tone. If you have an antique wooden cabinet passed down from your grandparents as a focal point of your dining space, choose a neutral paint color such as white or cream as the background to highlight the cabinet and items displayed in it.
Likewise, if you have a rather simple white sofa in your living room, you may want to add some color and fun on the wall to make the space livelier.

4. Know what you want

Setting the design theme and style of your home could help you decide on the interior spaces color much easier. If you prefer a Japanese Muji kind of style, you can first rule out the funky paint color schemes, such as violet, rose red and bright yellow, and focus on the natural color scheme such as light brown, cream and white to create the appealing visual effect that you want to match the overall interior design theme.

5. Understand your spaces

Light color such as white and pale peach tends to make a small space look bigger while warm color such as light yellow creates a cozy atmosphere in a larger room. Generally, a large room can handle more colors and darker color tones than a smaller room does. Therefore, understanding your space is one of the crucial steps to avoid choosing the wall color that you will regret. 

6. Let the color flows

While every space has its dedicated function that color can help to separate them from one another, continuity is also very important especially if you have an open space layout. You can consider keeping the connecting space color neutral and united, such as the corridor, staircase or walkway, to highlight that the all spaces are connecting to each other with these neutral colors such as white, beige and greige.

7. Follow the color wheel

Get yourself a color wheel when you want more than one color or two in the same space. The color wheel will tell you what colors will go well together and what colors would make your eyesore if you are putting them together, for example, red and green are most intense when used together.

8. Not sure? Start small first

If you do not have the budget and time to “just try” and repaint a space later, start and experiment with small spaces, such as the backyard, store room or bathroom. Alternatively, paint the color on the chipboard or poster board and hold it up against your furniture or decorative items that will be in the room to see if it fulfils your expectation before painting it on the wall. 

9. Do not forget the natural lighting

Everyone knows the lightings make a difference on the wall color so it is a must to consider when choosing a space color. However, natural lighting is equally important, which many homeowners often overlook. A west facing bedroom receives stronger natural light, so be sure to avoid using color such as bright red on the wall as the color will be too irritating to rest in.

[Image source: Photo by Tatiana Syrikova from Pexels]