Choosing a Paint Color You Can Live With

Painting is a quick and inexpensive way to give an old room a breath of fresh air or to make your home more sellable if you’re considering putting it on the market. While many homeowners are attracted to bold colors, most are more concerned with making sure the palette in their home feels “livable.” Get the best of both worlds with these tips to help you choose a paint color you’ll enjoy.

Don’t Buy Paint on the Spot

When you go to a paint store, your goal is to arm yourself with a variety of options to make the best possible choice later. Pull more swatches than you think you need – even ones you don’t think you like. Grab what appeals to you at first glance, plus swatches on either side for variety.

Bring Your Own Swatch

When you go to the paint store, don’t go empty-handed. Bringing a piece of art or fabric as color inspiration can be useful, but something even simpler can help you see colors correctly: a white sheet of paper.

Try Some Space Experiments

Once you’ve taken your swatches home, that is when you can truly decide which colors will work. Colors can look quite different in your real-life lighting than in the bright fluorescent lighting of a store. Tape paint chips to the wall where they will be applied, and view them during the time of day you will be in the room the most.

Go Big and Go Home

A tiny paint store swatch will never fully show you what a color will look like on a full wall. For this reason, designers often apply a large stroke of paint directly to the wall to see how it will look in real life. This is an effective technique to help compare your narrowed down selection of colors.

Take Your Time

Do you love a color right now because it’s a true favorite, or is it just a passing infatuation? Avoid getting swept up in a passing fad & the expense of repainting by taking time to really sit with a color option before you take the plunge.

Make a Commitment

Once you’ve selected and purchased a paint color, it’s time to commit. Paint will look quite different during the application process, so its important not to judge the color until at least the next day. Give yourself some time to adjust to the change in your space before jumping to any conclusions.