Complimentary Colors The process of picking paint colors for your home may seem to be totally subjective--you simply pick the colors you prefer. That is only partly true. Although it makes sense to start out with the colors you like, other elements enter into play. For instance, do the colors you've picked work well collectively? Do they compliment furnishing, carpeting, and draperies already in use? Picking paint colors is really part skill and part science. Let's start with the science part first.
Features of the Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It really is a sensible way to see which colors work very well together. It includes primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (green, orange, violet), and tertiary colors (red-blue, blue-red, and so on). Secondary colors are made by mixing two primaries together, such as blue and yellow to make green. A primary color such as blue and a secondary color such as green can be blended to produce a tertiary color--in this circumstance, turquoise.
Now that you've got a color wheel in front of you, use it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous design consists of neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie complete opposite each other on the color wheel and often work well in concert. Say for example a red and green living room in full intensity might be hard to stomach, but look at a rosy pink room with sage green accents. Similar complements in differing intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A double complementary color scheme involves an additional group of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you may go with a monochromatic scheme which involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color scheme. When developing a monochromatic plan, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid way too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This can make your design look uneven.
If you want a more technical palette of three or even more colors, go through the triads formed by three equidistant colors, such as red/yellow/blue or green/purple/orange. A split complement is composed of three colors- one primary or intermediate and two colors on either part of its opposite side of the wheel. For example, rather than teaming purple with yellow, shift the mixture to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Lastly, four colors equally spaced about the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations sound a little bit like Technicolor, remember that colors designed for interiors are hardly ever undiluted. Thus yellow might be cream; blue-purple, a dark eggplant; and orange-red, a muted terra-cotta or whisper-pale peach. With less jargon, the color combinations get into both of these basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; strategies, derived from nearby colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; strategies, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.
Interior Paint Schemes Don't just choose one color; think in terms of deciding on a color plan. Review your furniture, curtains, window treatments, and carpets and rugs, and take note of which colors might supplement them.
Next, take notice of how many colors you think you may be using. Will the baseboards be a different color than the walls? They usually are unless the trim is in bad condition and you do not want to call attention to it. Exactly the same is true of other trim, such as window casings and seat rail.
How about the area where the walls meet the ceiling? Do you want to install crown molding or various other type of cornice treatment there? Or are you considering painting the walls and demarcating the ceiling and wall junction with a color change?
In addition to paint colors, you'll also need to look for the level of finish or sheen the paint will have. The options range from the most shiny (high gloss and semi-gloss) to the dullest (eggshell and flat). These designations vary with paint manufacturers, but they are important because the sheen of paint impacts the color. A rule of thumb states that walls usually receive flat or eggshell finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably painted with a flat finish. Trim is typically painted with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These surface finishes are more durable and better to clean than duller surface finishes.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Painting Interior Walls All paint stores can offer color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will give you a small scale idea of what the actual colors will look like once applied. You will need to do more than take a look at color chips to get a true sense of your colors... nevertheless they are a good place to start. Actually, a seasoned sales rep at your neighborhood paint store can help you select color chips in a scheme. If you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales person can suggest color chips that are typically associated with a design that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color.
When you yourself have whittled down your color choices, look at the color chips or swatches in various types of light including day light at different times of the day and in varying degrees of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is just to get an idea of paints that you will sample in bigger swaths of color. Hardly any professional designers select from chips, even though they may start their color selection from chips. If indeed they do examine chips, they examine them one at a time on a white background.
Changes in Color Keep in mind that large surface areas make any paint color seem darker than the color chip. The degree of variance is usually up to two shades. In the event that you pick the color chip you want, step "back" two shades darker for a genuine representation of what the color can look like when dried out. Also, paint always looks darker once it dries. So, when you finally apply the paint, don't stress if the color doesn't look right initially. Wait around until it dries.
If you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 foot poster board or cloth material with the anchor color and stick it throughout the house so that you can visualize it in different light and near different colored floor coverings and furniture.
Size and Color Colors make a difference how you perceive the size of an area. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges can make a space seem to be smaller because they can provide a cozy feeling to the space. The so called cool colors like blues and greens may actually recede from you, making a room appear larger than it truly is. If you really want to make a room seem large opt for an old standby like a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Sizing the Area When you get closer to buying paint, determine the square footage of the room you will paint. Multiply the length of each wall by the width. Subtract the area occupied by the entry doors, glass windows, and other openings. Add all the measurements together to obtain a total square footage of the area you must paint. If you are applying two coats which is normal for most paint jobs, you'll be painting the area twice.
Sound Quality Painting
824 90th Dr SE suite B
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(425) 512-7400
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