Today one of my girlfriends showed me an apartment she's looking to move into. It's a charming, older building with great architecture and a lot of character. It will be perfect for her. While we were there, we were talking about what color she should paint the walls.
One of the most paralyzing decisions to be made while decorating is the wall paint color, when in fact, it should be one of the easiest. Looking at the paint chip wall at your local Home Depot can be overwhelming but remember, paint is available in practically an infinite array of colors and is the least expensive thing to change in a room. I believe that paint should not be the first decision made, but one of the last.
When it comes time to choose a paint color, find your inspiration from something you truly love. Maybe it's a bedding set already in the room and you're simply updating the walls, or maybe it's a new piece of artwork that you're completely redesigning the room around. Whatever it is, don't let it be the paint color itself. It's much easier to find a bedding set or shower curtain that you love and then find a paint color to match than it is to find a paint color you love and then have to hunt for the rest.
For an example, let's say you found this rug and absolutely love it. (Just go with me on this one.) You want to base your entire living room around this rug. Your color choices are endless. A matching blue shade, a crisp white, a moody gray, or something completely opposite, like a sunny yellow or vibrant orange. We've now eliminated all the colors in the brown, purple, red and green spectrums. Congratulations! There goes half the paint chip wall. We've even eliminated a lot of the blues, since you'd want something close to the rug color. You wouldn't want a greenish blue or a purpley blue. Even if you wanted to go lighter or darker, you would essentially be moving up or down the paint chip, not left or right.
I'm sure that was confusing. Pictures may help?
Let's say you decided the outmost shade of blue inside the white boxy shape is the color of the rug. You'd usually only want to move in towards the center in the same line, not move left into the green shades or right into the purple shades. This seems obvious enough, but when you're overwhelmed by the options, it helps to remember this.
But now let's say you love the rug, but don't want blue walls, you want gray. Neutrals are some of the hardest colors to choose because they all have an underlying color to them. It may look harmless enough on a paint chip, but when you get it up on the wall you realize it has a tint of green or brown and clashes horribly with your beautiful blue rug.
These are just three grays I chose from my Sherwin Williams color specifier. Individually, they all look perfectly gray, but when you line them up next to each other, you can see just how different they are. The best way I've found to avoid being surprised with an unwanted shade is to gather every paint chip you can get your hands on in the color you want and start eliminating them. When you line all the grays up together, the underlying shades become more obvious and it's easier to weed out the brown grays and the green grays. Granted this won't work all the time, but it's a good starting place.
Another important decision when choosing color is the sheen. In this picture, the walls are black, a traditional painting no-no, but the high gloss finish allows light to reflect off the walls, creating a much brighter room.
Paints typically range from flat/matte, to satin/eggshell, or semi-gloss and finally to high gloss. Each paint sheen has pros and cons and suggested uses.
Flat/matte- Flat paint is essentially nonreflective and is great at hiding imperfections like dents, nailheads and patches. It's a very soft paint though and scrubbing can actually remove the paint. Many ceilings are painted in flat paint and homebuilders may paint walls with flat paint to disguise less-than-perfect finishing.
Satin/Eggshell- This is the most commonly used paint in bedrooms and hallways. It has a little shine to it and is much more durable than flat paint. It doesn't show imperfections as easily as higher gloss paints will, but it gives a nice depth to the color.
Semi-Gloss- Semi-Gloss is more durable than satin, but still not as durable as high gloss paint. It can begin to show imperfections, but its durability makes it great for higher traffic, frequently cleaned areas like bathrooms, kitchens and utility rooms.
High Gloss- This paint has a very shiny finish and hard, scrubbable surface. It's perfect for wood trims, furniture, cabinets, and any place that would need vigorous cleaning. Due to its highly reflective nature, high gloss paints show imperfections much more clearly.
Paints can absolutely be used outside of their suggested uses. I painted a small, narrow bathroom a dark, charcoal gray which completely worried my mother, but I painted it a very high gloss, and the reflective finish actually brightened the room up. I wouldn't suggest moving down in gloss, like using a flat paint in a kitchen, because durability is important. A paint finish can always be too durable, but not durable enough would be a problem.
With all the new small paint samples that retailers are offering these days, don't hesitate to grab a few samples and test out your final color options. You may spend a few more dollars on the samples, but it's worth it to not have to repaint an entire living room.
