Tips for Choosing Interior Paint Colors

Bringing the outside in is a popular inspiration for color schemes. Whether you choose foliage green or the laid-back blues of the beach, exterior-inspired colors schemes are meant to be restful and relaxing. Be sure to sample your favorite paint colors at all times of the day and night, and with the window treatments closed and open to get the most realistic view of your possible choices.

An interior designer’s secret is choosing colors from artwork in your home. Most artists are masters of color and light,  creating their own color schemes for their pieces. You can benefit from their insight by choosing colors from a favorite piece of art. You can also choose complimentary colors from the same work of art, to create a color scheme.

Just because you love Craftsman color schemes doesn’t mean you have to decorate in a Craftsman style. Historical paint colors are offered by many of the paint industry leaders. Use these collections as inspiration and tailor them to your own decorating style.

Benjamin Moore’s Damask Yellow is a rich and warm wall color that would work well in a variety of decorating styles including Craftsman and Mid-Century Modern.

Sometimes all you need is a little adjustment to find the right interior paint color. Before you abandon your paint color choice too quickly, consider a lighter or darker shade of the same color. Many paint colors appear on a paint strip in gradual shades, but you can also ask your paint store to customize it by percentages of light or dark shades.

You can be unpleasantly surprised by the undertones when choosing interior paint colors. Simply explained, undertones are the colors lurking beneath your favorite paint color. A simple beige may not be all that simple if it has a strong green undertone. The only way to accurately read how an undertone will appear in your home is to sample the color. Undertones from other surfaces in your room can also change the way your paint appears due to reflection, so sampling is essential.

Choosing the right interior paint color starts at home. Before you head to the paint store to gather paper samples, gather inspiration from catalogs and magazines, and fabric swatches. This will keep you from grabbing too many paint color options on your first trip to the store. The hardest part of choosing paint color, at first, is having too many options.

Once you narrow down your paint color choices, return to the store for paint color samples to try at home. This step is crucial to finding the perfect color.

This is a simple rule that should never be ignored. Always sample any paint color you’re considering. When you are committing gallons of paint and hours to your project, you have to get the color right the first time. You don’t want to skip this step. If you look at the back of the paint store, there are stacks of cans of returned paint from people that did not take the time to sample first. Don’t be one of them.

Remember, sampling paint colors is the most important step in finding the right colors for your home.​

If you’re decorating a small home, flowing paint color throughout the rooms can give the illusion of a larger space. Flowing paint color through your home can also create a relaxing vibe. The most stunning way to use flowing color is to choose a neutral paint color that will be your signature hue for your home. Each room can have its own accent colors, or you can use the same accent colors in different amounts in each room. Keep flooring similar from room to room, and consider molding to tie everything together.