How to choose the best paint color for any situation

Choosing the best paint colors for your home is enough to drive anyone crazy! It’s a simple question.

What color should I paint my living room?

But then it becomes:
How can I use different colors in different rooms and still make everything look good together? How do I know I will like it when I’m done? How long will I like it?

Sheesh !!! There are so many questions and even more options to choose from!

All of this can be intimidating, which is why most people just give up and go for a white version. It’s neutral, but it usually feels a little less pleasant, right?

Well, I have some suggestions that should help.

We want color! We need color! The rooms look more attractive because the color somehow seems more vivid. Zillow published an article last week that mentioned how houses sell best when painted in certain colors. There are many options, so we know we can find one that we like, but let’s plan.

First, gather options.

There are several sites that will ‘help’ you choose a color. They show you how many different options they have and some of them may even show you how it will look in your room. This is really very useful, IF you want to find out how your program works. You can take advantage of a handful of possibilities at a local hardware store, or you can search magazines or online and save the colors you like best. These are just to have something to start with. I will show you how to reduce it, don’t worry.

Second, consider the mood you want in the room. Relaxing? Energizing and uplifting? Socialize?

Then take a second and consider what it will look like when you are in the room.
I know, this is a bit unconventional. But really, did you ever notice that when you take a selfie, you look better with the background color? Like the blue sky, or the flowers, or maybe a cool red car.

How many of us run around the house, or even outside in the yard to take a quick selfie where the background color of a tree or the sky makes us look better than the boring white bathroom wall? That’s because we want to feel and look our best, even in our home. When we feel like we are at our best, we are happier and recharge from the world much faster.

Fourth, find out which colors complement you personally.

Some people look great in shades of blue and others look better in shades of orange. It only takes a couple of minutes to figure out which color looks best on you.

Some steps to help you choose the best colors

Step 1: Find out what skin tone and hair color you have, and then get color suggestions that will look best with your particular skin tone. Yes, like cosmetically. These tips will give us a good variety of colors that we can use as a palette to choose from.

Having this first palette is a great start because it really narrows down the options.

Step 2: Now that we know what colors make us look our best, we need to consider the purpose of the room we are painting. This is similar to, but slightly different from, the room environment.

What room is it and how do we want to feel when we are in it?

It would be wise to also consider the colors that are already in the upholstery and furniture artwork. We can combine them with the closest shade in our new palette.

Coordinated colors always look “together”, as if we know exactly what we are doing.

Once you know the main colors that make you look your best and match whatever upholstery or drapery you like, Adobe has a great color wheel tool. You can bring your colors to the wheel and connect them one at a time and it will show you which colors will complement or coordinate with the one you have chosen.