Choosing Color Schemes The process of picking paint colors for your home may seem totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you prefer. That is merely partly true. Although it makes sense to get started on with the colors you prefer, other elements enter into play. For example, do the colors you've picked work well together? Do they work with furnishing, carpeting, and window treatments already in use? Picking paint colors is part artwork and part science. Let's focus on the science part first.
The Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It really is a sensible 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, etc). Secondary colors are made 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 mixed to produce a tertiary color--in this circumstance, turquoise.
Now that there is a color wheel in front of you, put it to use to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous design requires neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie complete opposite each other on the color wheel and often work well in concert. Say for example a red and green living room in full intensity might be hard to stomach, but consider a rosy pink room with sage green accents. Similar complements in differing intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A double complementary color plan involves yet another set of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you could go with a monochromatic scheme which involves using one color in a variety of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color scheme. 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 plan look uneven.
If you want a more complex palette of three or even more colors, look at 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 part of its opposite side of the wheel. For example, rather than teaming purple with yellow, transfer the mixture to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Finally, four colors equally spaced about the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations seem a bit 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 fall into these two basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; plans, derived from nearby colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; schemes, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.
Interior Colors Don't just choose one color; think in terms of picking a color design. Study your furniture, curtains, draperies, and carpets, and note which colors might match them.
Next, take note of 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 condition and you don't want to call attention to it. The same will additionally apply to other trim, such as windows casings and couch rail.
How about where the walls meet up with the ceiling? Do you want to install crown molding or some other type 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 manufacturers, but they are important because the sheen of paint impacts the color. A rule of thumb claims that walls usually receive flat or eggshell surface finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably decorated with a flat finish. Trim is normally decorated with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These coatings are more durable and simpler to clean than duller coatings.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Interior Color Chips All paint stores can offer color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will provide you with a small scale idea of what the specific colors will look like once applied. You need to do more than look at color chips to get a true sense of your colors... nevertheless they are a good place to start. Actually, a seasoned sales person at your neighborhood paint store can help you decide on 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 usually associated with a scheme that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color.
When you yourself have whittled down your color alternatives, go through the color chips or swatches in several types of light including day light at different times of your day and in varying levels of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is merely to get an idea of paints that you will sample in larger swaths of color. Very few professional designers select from chips, even though they may start their color selection from chips. If they do examine chips, they examine them one at a time over a white background.
Color Changes Keep in mind 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 want, step "back" two shades darker for a true 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 around until it dries.
When you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 ft. poster board or fabric with the anchor color and stick it around the house to enable you to visualize it in different light and near different colored carpets and furniture.
Color and Space Colors can affect the way you perceive the size of a room. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges will make a space appear smaller because they provide a cozy feeling to the area. The so called cool colors like blues and greens appear to recede from you, making an area appear bigger than it really is. If you really want to make an area seem large select an old standby such as a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Estimating Room Size As you get closer to buying paint, determine the square footage of the area you will paint. Multiply the length of each wall by the width. Subtract the area occupied by the entry doors, glass windows, and other openings. Add all of the measurements together to get a total square footage of the area you must paint. If you're applying two layers which is normal for most paint jobs, you'll be painting the area twice.
Sound Quality Painting
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