So you’ve made all the furniture and artwork selections or you’ve decided to re-do the walls of an existing room. You’ve got an idea of what color you want to choose but how do you know before you commit to an entire room? How do you pick the color?
- Get the largest sample you can (I like 8 x 10’s) or buy a small container of the colors you are considering and paint them on poster board or the wall if you are only deciding between a couple of shades of the same color.
- Place your samples in different areas of the room: in a corner, opposite a window, next to a window, next to any existing trim or fixed details and see if the color is still appealing. If you have important wood trim or floors consider if they have a yellow, red or green tone to them and pick your wall color to harmonize.
- View your samples at different times of day and with lighting you will have in the room.
- View the sample like you would in your room. If you are painting a ceiling, place the sample above you and look up. If you are painting a floor, place it on the floor and view it from above.
- Always try a few shades lighter and darker of your chosen color when you are sampling, you may be very surprised what you end up with.
In this last picture I had the painter change the background because the old color we were painting over had too much of a green cast. Grab a brush and make a couple of passes in different locations just to make sure. In this case we were using a yellow which is incredibly tricky.
Great room before.
Look how pretty this yellow turned out!
Final note: Never ever select your wall color without doing steps 1-5!
We really do get about three or four 8×10 color samples of each color and place them all around the room. Leave the samples up overnight. It is amazing what we think we like and what we actually like can be much different.
*All of the paint colors shown in the pictures are from Sherwin Williams and you can get sample pots smaller than the pint size shown.
