Ever felt stressed about choosing a paint colour? Who hasn’t?
1. Work out which direction your room faces?
And this is important why? Because the quality of the light will restrict your paint colour options.
North facing? Your space can feel a bit chilly so you need colours with warm undertones. Think of neutrals with yellow or brown in them, or look at pinks, reds and oranges.
East facing? Your room will be glorious in the morning and duller in the afternoon once the sun has gone round. So think about what time of day you use this space. If it’s the afternoons lean toward warmer colours. And if it’s in the mornings pure blues and greens will look very pretty.
West facing? Your room will feel warm with the golden quality of the light it gets in the afternoons. So if this is the time of day you use the space most, then you can afford to choose a cooler palette. Blues, greens or greys would look great. But! If you spend time in here in the morning it can feel dark so go for lighter or warmer colours.
South facing? Lucky you. You aren’t restricted at all. You can celebrate the light by going for whites or neutrals. Or you can counteract all that light with dark and moody colours.
2. Consider how much natural light your room gets.
The quality of the light is one thing, but how much light the room gets is also really important.
If your windows are large and look out onto an open space then winner winner, your room should get a decent amount of light. That allows you to consider a number of options. Lighter paint colours will reflect the natural light and make your room appear larger and more airy. Darker colours will absorb some of that light and make it feel smaller but more cosy.
If you have a small window, or there is another building very close to you, or you have a giant bush growing outside your window, then your room may not receive a lot of natural light. If it feels a bit dark, consider light neutrals to make the space feel as large as possible. Avoid dark colours as this sucks up the light making your room feel smaller and darker than it naturally is.
3. Ask yourself how you want the room to feel.
Now you have worked out any restrictions you have with your colour choices you can start to think about the more interesting stuff like, how you want the room to feel. Colours have a huge impact on our emotions so picking the right colour to create the feel you want should come early on in the process. Work out what feeling you want then just Google the rest, there is stacks on information on colour psychology.
If you’re after relaxing vibes then saturated blues should sort you out.
It it’s energising and stimulating you want then reds and oranges are a good place to start.
Need a space to enhance your concentration? Have a look at a palette of greens.
And if you want a sense of calm then pink could be your colour.
4. Coordinate with your furniture and fabrics
Unless you are designing a room from scratch, you are likely to already have items you’ll be using in the room and you should draw inspiration from these. Your new paint colour should harmonise or contrast with other elements in your room such as rugs, sofas and flooring.
Harmonising colours can be variations of one shade, such as navy, light blue and blue grey. Or they can be colours that are very close to each other such as blue and green, or blue and purple. A room with harmonising colours will feel calm because of the low contrast between the colours. Contrasting colours are opposites such as blue and orange, or red and green. These create a higher energy because of the contrast of the colours.
You can either choose your colours using instinct and what feels right. Or you can use a colour wheel to help you, these are really useful tools when putting together a colour scheme. When considering your paint colours paint them onto lining paper rather than the walls so you can consider them next to your rugs, sofas, cushions, artwork, floors or any other item you want your paint colour to work with.
5. Look in a mirror and ask “would I wear this colour?”
If you want to feel good in your newly painted room it needs to suit you, so hold your sample up to your face in a mirror. Would you wear it? If yes then great you’re onto a winner. If you wouldn’t buy a dress, top or scarf in that colour then don’t paint your walls in it.
6. Do you love it?
It may be the perfect shade for your west facing room that picks out the detailing of the rug beautifully, but if it doesn’t make you happy then forget it. It’s not always about what looks right it’s about what feels right. So if you ever find yourself tilting your head, squinting, or asking your decorator for a second opinion, then you know it’s no good.
Start again and find a colour you love.
Still not sure?
Then hire me. Check out my services here. I can help you choose a paint colour for just one room or for your whole house! Get in touch here and we can have a chat about your decorating project.
