Choose Interior Paint Colors

Knowing how to choose the right interior paint colors takes a little time and practice. Think about the sort of ambiance that you want to create before selecting the color. Certain shades add weight to the room, while others have a lighter, airier feel. There are also differences between the ways warm, cool, and neutral colors affect the tone of a room.

Steps

Visual Weight

  1. Make a small room look larger by painting the walls a light color. A small bathroom or cramped den will look more open if the walls are painted white or in a pastel shade. Cool pastels are especially effective in opening a room.
  2. Widen a room by painting the walls a color that matches the furniture. The furniture does not need to be the same color, but placing furniture in a room with walls that fall within the same color family will make the colors blend more, creating an overall space that looks wider and more open.
  3. Add visual weight to a wall by choosing bold, bright colors. Bright colors draw the eye. If you want to draw attention to the walls, one wall in particular, or to the ceiling, consider using a color that is bolder than any of the other colors found in the room.
  4. Reduce visual weight by selecting neutral colors. Neutral colors, especially shades of white, fade into the background. As a result, they show less of the surface they are painted onto, giving it less presence and less visual weight.
  5. Paint the end walls of a narrow room a darker shade than the long, narrow walls. This technique causes the dark color to recede, creating an illusion of width, and balancing out the room's proportions.
  6. Keep the focus on your walls by painting your ceilings a dark color. Darker shades force your eye to look at head level, keeping the focus on your walls and furnishings. However, dark colors can make a low ceiling appear too overbearing.
  7. Create an illusion of height by painting the ceiling a light color. Light colors on the ceiling attract attention. In doing so, however, they make a room look taller than it actually is, making light colors especially well suited for low- to average-height ceilings.

Warm Colors

  1. Choose a warm color to convey togetherness and strength. Warm colors make a room feel cozy and intimate. Muted tones and deep tones have the coziest effect, while brighter tones may seem loud and chaotic if used in large amounts.
  2. Consider painting the walls a brown-tinted red to create a warm, inviting appearance. This color automatically triggers a sense of comfort in most individuals. It is a little darker in tone, which draws the room in and increases the coziness as a result.
  3. Avoid using red on the ceiling. It can appear weighty and oppressive.
  4. Add a delicate touch to any room by painting the walls or ceiling a light pink. Pink is dainty and feminine and usually works best in a girl's bedroom. Pink also works in bathrooms, since light shades complement skin tones.
  5. Create warmth in a room by painting the walls burnt orange. Like brown-tinted reds, burnt orange combines the weight of a dark color with the natural coziness of the warmer half of the color spectrum to create a comfortable, intimate space.
  6. Add peachy tones to a room to make it glow. Peach tones enhance skin tones, making them especially suitable for the bathroom.
  7. Lighten up a room by painting the ceiling or walls yellow. Yellow often appears brighter than plain white appears and makes an especially helpful choice in rooms with poor lighting. Light hues work best in accomplishing this task, while golden hues tend to create a warmer ambiance.
  8. Consider using bright red, bright pink, or bright orange as accent colors. These colors can all seem overwhelming if you fill the room with them, and painting all the walls in a room in a saturated tone may make the room feel chaotic and uncomfortable. Instead, use these colors in accent pieces, or paint one wall a bright shade while choosing something more muted for the other three.

Cool Colors

  1. Choose cool colors to create a soothing effect. Cool colors seem fresh and relaxing. Lighter shades seem fresh and clean, while darker shades can almost be therapeutic.
  2. Paint a room green to give it a natural tone. Green is a color found most prominently in nature, allowing it to blend in easily with most rooms. Green walls tend to give off a calm, safe feeling, but green can also reflect light poorly and make your skin tone look unattractive, especially when green is used on the ceiling. Therefore, green may not make the best choice for bathrooms.
  3. Bring peace to a room by painting the ceiling blue. Light shades have a cool, heavenly appearance, while dark hues make the ceiling look as though it is advancing, making dark shades more suitable for tall rooms.
  4. Use violet to create an air of serenity. Violet is a regal and romantic color. It has less energy than red but more energy than blue. As a result, violet walls can give a room a sense of balance and harmony.

Neutral Colors

  1. Keep things simple with neutral colors. Neutral tones include shades of white, gray, black, and some browns. They blend in with most surroundings and make it easier for homeowners and interior designers to change out furniture later.
  2. Use white to create a blank slate. White on the ceiling reflects light and reduces shadows, making a room look more open. White on walls can also open a room and will make it look neutral in the process. This hue provides you with the greatest amount of versatility when it comes to room accessories.
  3. Paint a high ceiling black or dark brown, especially if it is an exposed ceiling with open ductwork. These dark hues can camouflage ductwork and direct the eye downward, back into the room. Avoid putting these colors on the walls, however, since they tend to seem threatening and over dramatic.
  4. Create shadows by painting the ceiling or walls gray. Gray adds a little bit of drama without becoming too intense. The hue can also inspire creativity.
  5. Opt for brown walls if you want a warmer neutral. Brown has a warm, durable ambiance. Mid-tones and dark hues are especially warm, while soft hues feel natural and neutral.



Tips

  • If you feel uncertain about a color, consider using it as an accent instead of a base color. For instance, if a bright teal catches your eye but you feel uncertain about covering your walls in it, paint your walls a safer tone, and purchase teal accessories (rugs, paintings, curtains) to fill the room with.
  • Consider the function of the room you are painting before you choose the color. For instance, a bedroom is a place to relax and unwind. A bright, energetic red might make it difficult to feel restful at night. Similarly, a family room should evoke a sense of comfort and togetherness, meaning that warmer colors work better than cold, icy blues.

Warnings

  • Know that colors can appear differently under different types of light. Test a color swatch under fluorescent, incandescent, and natural light before making a final decision. Otherwise, you may not have an accurate idea of how the color will look on your walls.
  • Remember the primer. Paint a white or tinted primer over your wall before painting with your chosen color. Otherwise, the original wall color may bleed through and you may not end with the actual color you chose.

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Sources and Citations

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