We have all heard or lived the following story: “Jane” falls in love with her friend’s fabulous paint color on her friend’s dining room walls. “Jane” proceeds to go to the paint store, buy 2 gallons of this color and bring it home with her. Armed in her new smock, new paint brush with matching roller and ready to wow her friends, ”Jane” slaps on that first coat of paint in her own dining room. (Insert horror movie scream). Oh Jane, it just didn’t occur to you that the fabulous paint color from your friend’s house may not look the same in yours! Don’t worry Jane, we’ve all been there. You can’t see them, but our readers are nodding their heads up and down in agreement. Probably one of the hardest design decisions to make (and get right), choosing the right paint color can keep someone from ruining to renewing a room. Kristie Barnett (designer, color expert and more) graciously offered to share with us her insider secrets on this subject and show us how to get it right the first time, rather than ending up like Jane.
BACKGROUND: Kristie Barnett (aka, The Decorologist) is a Color & Design Expert, Design Blogger, and Home Stager. She is also a feature writer for The Tennessean and Houzz.com, and conducts design workshops in the Nashville area. Kristie believes that home should be a safe haven and sanctuary and teaches her clients to define their personal style, gain confidence in their choices, and express themselves through the decoration of home.
The Decorologist’s Insider Secrets to Getting Your Paint Color Right
Have you ever been frustrated when you think you’ve found that “perfect” color, only to find that it’s not so perfect in your particular space? As a Color Consultant I find that most of my clients know what they like, but they have difficulty achieving the look they want without the proper foundation – the “right” paint colors.
Let me share a few insider secrets that will help you find the colors that work in your own space. First of all, those tiny paper sample strips only go so far. You cannot rely on them solely to choose the perfect color.
One reason is, of course, because they are TOO SMALL. Keep in mind that the color will be lighter and brighter than it appears on the chip once it goes up all over the walls of a room. Knowing this to be true, my advice is this: Always go darker and more muted than you think you should.
Have you ever chosen a few paint chip samples in the store that you think might be perfect, only to get them home and see that they are NOT? That’s because the way the color reads in the store is not at all how it will read in your home. Color perception is affected by lighting conditions and the context of the colors and finishes surrounding the color when you are viewing it. Unless your lighting and furnishings are exactly the same as the store you are looking at samples in, the color will read differently when you get it home. My advice?
The Decorologist Teaching a Color Workshop
Purchase a branded paint fandeck (like Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, or Porter) so you can peruse many more options whenever you like in the room you are considering painting. Owning your own fandeck is POWER, and it only costs about $20. Now, don’t just consider what your favorite color is – you need to consider what existing finishes and colors you have and what color will look best as a PLEASING BACKDROP for your belongings. Your new paint color must relate to something in your room, or it will look randomly-selected, at best!
Wall Color NOT Related to Existing Finishes
Particularly in kitchens and baths with lots of bossy fixed elements, make sure your new color ties into those in a pleasing way. Even “neutrals” have undertones of color, so pay attention to what those are to help you make wiser decisions. The best way to see if a given color is going to work or not work is to: Make up BIG samples and test them against your existing finishes. The biggest mistake you can make is to paint a small area directly on your wall in the middle of the existing wall color. Paint up a piece of poster board or something similar and place it on the wall against your trim, flooring, or cabinetry so that you can test the color in context with what it will continue to exist in that space (NOT in context with your existing wall color that is going away!).
Wall Color that DOES Relate to Existing Finishes
Are you ready to start painting? If you’d like more advice and inspiration for making your house a home, follow my design blog and The Decorologist Facebook page. If you need expert help creating a color palette that flows and works with your existing finishes and furnishings, contact The Decorologist for a Color Intervention!
Thank you Kristie! We are ready to paint! For more information about contacting Kristie Barnett, please read below.
Kristie Barnett
http://www.facebook.com/thedecorologist
http://twitter.com/thedecorologist
…
(All pictures courtesy of Kristie Barnett ”the Decorologist”)
Nashville Interior Design Blog
Picking house paint colors isn’t just difficult. It’s terrifying! Pick colors that are boring, and your house will seem flat and featureless. But if the colors you pick are too bold, they might overwhelm the architecture and upset the neighbors. The best colors will highlight the most beautiful features of your home. So house painting is not a very easy task.
I’ve followed Kristie’s blog for some time now and I always enjoy her posts and learn something from them each and every time. Kristie gives great tips and advice on color selection and always gives great examples as shown in this post as well.
Well done Kristie!!! I think part of the problem working with people/color is that they are somehow convinced that “contrast” with the existing finishes is an the way to go. Or….they want their “favorite” color. People are more difficult to convince than the walls! This post is so clear, wish everyone would read it!!! Thanks.
When we purchased our current home, we repainted the entire house. First, I painted multiple school-project size posterboards with the various color possibilities and moved them from room to room at various times of day. We also photographed them with and without flash throughout the week-long process to get an idea of what lighting might do to the colors once fixtures and lamps were in place. We ended up selecting Sherwin Williams Perfect Greige and I’m still amazed, years later, at how it can look almost lavender in the morning sun and mutate during the course of the day to a deep gray at twilight! Kristie has talked before about superneutrals and I think I am sold for life on that concept.
Choosing the right color, the blending, the mix, the harmony within the overall outcome of the house paint is a crucial decision to make your house more lovely. Thanks a lot for these tips.
Great advice. I would love to know what the color used in the slate bathroom is. In the correct photo.
Carol Jane,
The “correct” color in that bathroom in Ben Moore’s Revere Pewter. But beware – it’s a tricky color that may or may not work in your situation and lighting conditions. After lots of sampling, it was the clear pick for that bathroom, but it can read a bit pinkish in some settings. Color is relative – relative to surrounding colors and light.
Thank you for this article! It is so frustrating to read that the easiest way to update your home is through paint. So not true! The easiest way is probably to clean and add some fresh flowers. My big paint mistake was my bedroom with Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter. It looked so beautiful in my inspiration images on pinterest but oh so wrong in my room. Thank you for the tips, I will definitely be purchasing a fan deck for my next painting project! cheers:)
Jane,
That’s a common problem – seeing a color you love on pinterest or in a magazine, but then it doesn’t work in your space! You’ve gotta test it before committing – BIG samples!
Great advice Kristie!! We have almost all been through this frustration; now with sooo many colors to choose from it is even more important!
Xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
So true! Outside lighting and reflection of inside colors are such major players in choosing a paint. I just painted about five different colors in my dining room below the chair rail. They were all creamy whites, but kept appearing to be gray green, almost like unfinished drywall. So frustrating! I finally settled on the fifth one, as it was getting better. Maybe I should have gone darker…. We live on the water with lots of trees around the house and lots of windows to let the light in. Unbelievably hard to choose the right paint color!
I will study it in more depth later, but super great tips….love it!
[...] Nashville-based interior design resource, Interior Canvas, recently asked me to write a post about using color in the home, I decided to share a few of my [...]
Paint really can be so tricky! Love Kristie’s tips!
WISE ADVICE. GREAT TIPS