Picking the right paint color
Picking the right paint color for your home can be a tough decision to make. What is the difference between cream and ivory? Gray and charcoal? Teal and turquoise? How will it look in different lights? Will it match your furniture or the tones in your flooring?
While picking the correct paint color for your home or room, it’s important to remember that paint is easily correctible and relatively inexpensive, as far as home improvements go. So if you’re paralyzed by your choices, rest assured that it won’t be the worst thing if the color you choose does turn out to be incorrect for your space.
But to save yourself some headache, here are some tips to help you pick the right color:
1. Bring home swatches. Lots of swatches.
In the aisles of a home improvement store, paint swatches can be difficult to navigate. All the tans look the same, and this blue and that gray seem too dark. The solution? Take the swatches home. Tape them to your wall and study them in different lights – in the morning, the afternoon, the evening and at night with lamps on.
You’ll likely be able to narrow down your choices to just a few. In your space, the warm or cool tones of each shade will become more apparent and you’ll be able to see what might look best.
2. Buy sample pots.
Most home improvement stores can offer sample pots of major paint brand shades. This is an important step if you’re still divided between several swatches. Once it’s actually on the wall, paint has a different sheen and can have different tones than the swatches show. Samples can separate the winning colors from the losers.
3. Pay attention to your light.
Colors that you love in one room of your home can look completely different in another room or another light. A room that has afternoon light will cause paint to look different than a room that has only morning light. Before you paint – even with colors you’ve used elsewhere in your home – it can be helpful to tape swatches or paint samples on the wall.
If you want help deciding on the perfect paint shade for your home, call McLain’s Painting Service and speak to our professional color consultants.
