How To Choose Foolproof Wall Paint Colors For Your Home

1. Open Your Eyes to Inspiration: To create the right color palette, start by observing objects that mean something to you. It might be a work of art, a souvenir, or a piece of fabric: “Every single thing we put our hands on is a color, and we make decisions based on color whether we’re in tune with that or not,” Ashcraft says. 

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When you’re flipping through magazines or surfing the web, make note of which colors catch your eye -- you may be surprised that a certain unexpected shade keeps jumping out.

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2. Light Changes Everything: It’s an interior designer’s maxim: Wall colors change dramatically with the light. Everything from the size and location of your windows to the region in which you live affects the quality of light you get -- and paint colors also look different depending on the time of day.

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For these reasons, Ashcraft recommends painting a small area and observing the color over a 24-hour period so you can see it in all states before committing. “If you’re going to take the trouble to paint a room, spend time testing the color in different lighting conditions so you can really see what it does.”

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3. Watch Your Wattage: Artificial lighting plays a huge role in how inviting a room feels -- and how paint colors look. Lamps, overhead lighting and other sources all have different ‘color temperatures’ that can significantly change the hue you see on your walls. 

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Tried-and-true incandescent lights, for example, tend to feel warm and flattering, while halogen bulbs are bright and extra-white, making them a good choice for bathrooms. One caveat: Don’t trust paint colors, or even chips, under hardware store lights. “Unless you’re going home to giant fluorescent tube lights, it’s probably not going to look the same!” says Ashcraft.

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4. Evaluate Your Room's Construction: After you consider a room’s lighting, observe other elements of the space. Are the ceilings really high? Is it a small room, or a big room? The scale of a space can affect how much color a room can hold, advises Ashcraft.

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Pay particular attention to woodwork and trims. Traditional architecture often has moldings that frame walls and openings, making it easy to start or stop a color. Painting trim to contrast with the rest of the wall can add interest and visually separate different spaces.

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6. Focus on Flooring: Because they bounce light back into a space, floors have a big impact on how paint colors look -- and how a room feels. Shiny floors reflect light and make a room feel airy even if they’re the darkest ebony.

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Carpeting, on the other hand, can make a room appear dark because the material absorbs light instead of reflecting it, but this effect can also help a room feel warm and cozy. Combining shiny hardwood floors and plush area rugs can give you the best of both worlds.

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7. Borrow Colors From Your Furniture: If you already have furnishings, you can derive a color palette from their colors and fabrics -- but don’t pursue an exact match. “I’m anti-matching, but I love to coordinate,” Ashcraft says.

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If you have a yellow chair, for example, your paint doesn’t have to be that exact color. Start by examining paint swatches while standing near the yellow chair and look at the relationship between the two to see if it’s harmonious and interesting, she suggests.

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8. Hide Architectural Flaws With the Right Hue: One surefire way to disguise architectural trouble spots is with the careful use of color, Ashcraft says. “If you’ve got windows that aren’t centered or trim that’s too thick, painting each a separate color will highlight what’s wrong with them.

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Instead, minimize the impact of any imperfections by limiting your palette to a single shade. “If you super-soak the room in one color, you’re embedding it into the room and creating a harmonious overall look,” she explains.

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9. Bold Colors Enliven Any Space: While you might be hesitant to paint an entire large room in a bright hue like orange, that doesn’t mean you should avoid bold colors altogether. If you really want a red living room, for example, why not paint a red accent wall or toss crimson pillows on the sofa?

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Be warned, however: “With a bold color, you can love it one minute and get tired of it the next,” Ashcraft says. “At the end of the day, think about how much of the color you really want to live with. Portion is key.”

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10. Dark Colors Deliver Intimacy: “People think dark colors will feel alienating, but that’s just not the case so much of the time,” reveals Ashcraft. “If you have a small room, why not make it the coziest place on earth and use a chocolate brown or a dark gray? Don’t worry about it feeling small -- it might just be the best room in your house when you’re feeling down.”Dark Colors 

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Art Doesn't Require White Walls: While galleries often highlight art on white walls, for the home it’s not an absolute necessity. “We fear that colored walls will be too decorative or disrespectful of the art,” says Ashcraft in The Right Color.

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What’s most important is what happens to the artwork itself -- will it be enhanced by the color or does the piece lose something when viewed against it? Before you decide to stick with white, hold up your photographs and portraits against different color backdrops. You might be surprised by the results!

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12. Keep Living Rooms Light: Ashcraft advises using light to medium paint colors in your living room, where you likely spend considerable time. “Because we’re mere mortals who aren’t working with power decorators, I tend not to make living rooms dark. 

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Best to play it safe and stick with light and airy hues.” But there are two possible exceptions: 1. If you have tons of windows, you can go with a darker color. 2. If you have a lot of artwork that will mask a deeper wall color, it can be worth trying.

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13. The Smaller the Bathroom, the Lighter the Walls:  If you like to do your makeup in the bathroom, go with a pale wall color. “I tend to use darker, more interesting colors in secondary bathrooms and half-baths because you don’t need them to function at the same high level,” says Ashcraft.

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14. Color Should Play Nice in the Kitchen:  “There’s all this other stuff bossing the kitchen around -- countertops, stainless steel and marble, to name a few -- so you should make color decisions based on all of the other materials,” explains Ashcraft. “Paint color is not the thing that’s driving this room.”

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15. Have Fun in Hallways!: They’re small, easy to paint and you move in and out of them quickly, making hallways an excellent place to be daring with your decorating.

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“You’re not living in there, so you can do something bold without worrying you’ll tire of it,” notes Ashcraft. And it doesn’t have to be a solid color: Using dramatic, contrasting hues creates interesting sight lines that can highlight the colors of the rooms on either side of the hallway.

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16. Express Your Personality in the Bedroom:  “People use their bedrooms in such different ways,” Ashcraft says. They can act as command centers, places where people live, work and watch TV.

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Other times, bedrooms are sacred spaces for sleeping. They can be romantic, bright or dark and restful. Because they’re not as public as other rooms, bedrooms are the ideal place to decorate with what feels most personal and is natural to your own habits.

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17. Get Creative in Kids' Rooms: Kids change their minds frequently about color and decoration, so Ashcraft uses a few tricks to make the process easier on everyone.

-- Instead of painting the walls, why not paint the ceiling? Ceilings aren’t hard to paint, and it’s easy to repaint them when your little one is bored.

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-- Wall stickers were made for kids’ rooms! The vinyl stickers are fun to put on as a family and they won’t leave a residue on walls.
-- If you’re feeling bolder, treat a wall with chalkboard paint so your kids can write all over it -- and hope they don’t try the same in other rooms around the house!

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18. Experiment With Guest Rooms: In The Right Color, Ashcraft reveals that guest rooms are a laboratory for her most creative decorating ideas: “I might paint a landscape mural on one wall just for the fun of it, or use the walls to test colors that intrigue me.”

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Use your own guest rooms to experiment with designs that you aren’t sure you want to live with every day.

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19. Let Color Lift Your Mood:  There’s no doubt about it, the colors you choose for a room can affect how you feel when you’re in it. If you need a mood boost during the dark winter, for example, avoid blues, greens, and grays, Instead, opt for pale yellows or other colors that have the sun built into them, like oranges and pinks.

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Paint Quality is Key: “You get what you pay for,” Ashcraft says, so go with the very best paint you can afford. The reason? Cheap paint won’t offer a rich, saturated color or cover up imperfections, whereas better paint has high quality pigments that maintain their depth, last a long time -- and won’t come off when you wash the wall.

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Ashcraft adds that it’s essential to follow the directions on the paint can, which can mean frequently stirring. “The manufacturer goes through great pains to make the product, and they want you to use it correctly,” she says. “Paint looks only as good as the prep you put into it.”

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