How to Choose Interior Paint Colors for Your Home or Apartment

How to Choose Interior Paint Colors for Your Home or Apartment

Determining what colors to paint your home or apartment is an important aspect of decorating a living space. The colors of the walls can personalize your home with a certain look and mood, and implementing certain color schemes can change the atmosphere of any room. Whether you would like a room to have a warm, cool, elegant or spacious look, your desired preferences can be achieved by choosing the right paint colors.

Understanding how wall colors will affect the overall tone and décor of your home is the best way to find a palette that meets your needs. There are various methods for choosing interior paint colors in a home or apartment. Consider the following tips for deciding on what colors to use in your living space.

Find a Focal Point

A good way to get ideas for interior paint colors is choosing a focal point within a room. The focal point could be a piece of art, furniture or other décor. Even a stairway can be used as a focal point for a home. The colors of the main piece should be used to determine a suitable wall color. Implementing a wall color that complements the focal point very well will create an attractive look in a room.

The color of a space can remain neutral while still complementing the focal point. To achieve this look, simply pick a soft color within the focal piece to be used in the room. For more dramatic color in a room, a bold shade in this piece can be used as the wall color.

An accent wall can also be added to create a focal point within a home. Making one wall a darker color will make a big room look smaller using the focal point. Contrasting colors bring depth and character to a living space.

Define the Mood

Determining the right color for a room in your home can be achieved by considering the feeling you want to create in the space. Depending on what atmosphere you would like to develop, different colors can be used. The desired look and feel in an area of the home may also be affected by the purpose of the room. Various colors may be used in your kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom.

Softer neutral colors create a serene atmosphere, while bright colors create a lively and stimulating ambiance. Blue, pink, soft yellow and lavender are all colors that promote restfulness and peace. These colors are particularly suitable for bedrooms. In general, lighter colors, darker blue-greens and neutral colors create a feeling of calm in a room.

Warm colors such as different shades of red and orange make a room inviting and cozy. Bright colors create a vibrant look that promotes energy and activity. If you have kids, refrain from using bright colors on the walls. Studies have shown that these colors in a bedroom may lead to trouble sleeping.

Dark colors will make a space look smaller and may require more lighting in the room. Adding a dark colored accent wall is a great way to bring contrast within a home. Neutral colors are beneficial for easily changing the look and feel of a room. Furniture and décor of various colors and patterns will look attractive against a neutral wall color.

Consider the Lighting

Different forms of lighting within a home have varying effects on wall colors. Homeowners may choose to use natural, incandescent or fluorescent lighting against various colors within the living space. Natural lighting shows the wall color in its actual appearance. Incandescent lighting works well with warm colors and yellow. Fluorescent lighting emanates a blue light, which alters the appearance of walls and furniture.

In some hardware stores, a lighting box is available for customers to see how different paint colors will interact with various light sources. This tool is helpful for determining what wall colors will work best with the lighting in your home. Additionally, you can always change the lighting in a room, if you desire.

Another aspect to consider when choosing paint colors is the natural light available within a room. Areas that receive very little natural light should not be painted dark colors. Alternatively, a dramatic color in a well-lit room could be overwhelming. A bright accent wall in a well-lit room can bring the right amount of vibrancy to a space.

Use a Color Wheel

Color wheels are helpful for choosing the right shades to be used in your home. This tool demonstrates opposing and complementary colors within the spectrum. Using a color wheel can help you determine what colors will work best together. By forming color palettes, you can distinguish the varying visual temperatures of each color.

The colors close to each other on the wheel are analogous, while the opposite colors on the wheel are complementary. Analogous colors, such as blue and purple, allow one color to stand out. Complementary colors, such as red and green, will work together in a room. If a line is drawn from the yellow-green mark to the red-violet indicator, the left will be warm colors and the right will be cool colors.

Use color wheels to test out various color combinations for rooms in your home. This way, you can explore a variety of possibilities for how the walls in your living space can look.

Test it Out

Homeowners do not know exactly how a certain color will look in a room until the area is actually painted. By painting a small area of your home a shade you are interested in, you can see how the color would look against your furniture and décor. Doing this also helps you avoid painting a larger area a certain color and being unhappy with the finished product.

A small room, bathroom or hallway is an ideal space to test out a new color in a home. This is because painting these areas gives you a complete image of how the color will look in a room. Small spaces are also fast and simple to paint, making this one of many easy ways to redecorate your space. If you do not like how the color looks or interacts with other pieces, you can easily paint over it.

By Admin