Goldenrod honey? Palatial pink? Urban charcoal? Choosing a paint color can be surprisingly tough for many homeowners. When faced with hundreds of choices and hoping to find a tone the whole family will be happy with for years to come, it can be a daunting decision. Here are a few tips to help you choose a color you’ll love:

Get Inspired
Start by flipping through home magazines or browsing decorating sites online to find looks that appeal to you. You can also check out our portfolio on Flickr for more ideas. Try to look for rooms that are similar in style to yours so you can have a good sense of how a particular color will look in your home. Ideally you will find a few colors you like to consider.

Grab Some Swatches
Pick up a number of swatches (the small paper paint color samples) for each of your color options. Find some that are a little lighter, darker, deeper, or brighter than you think you want – you might find that different colors appeal to you at home than do under the florescent lighting of the paint store.

Tape the swatches to the wall in the room you’ll be painting. See how they look in different types of light and at different times of day.

Paint a Sample
Once you’ve narrowed your paint color choices to a few front runners buy small samples of them and paint a large rectangle on the wall. Again, look at it at different times of day to see how lighting changes affect the colors. Hold up artwork and accessories to see how they will work with the colors, and look at it through doorways of other rooms so you make sure you’re happy with how the colors from those rooms stack against your new choices.

When in Doubt Go Lighter
Though bold and bright interiors have become increasingly popular in recent years designers recommend that if you’re not quite sure about a color go one shade lighter (consider the color adjacent to it on a multi color swatch card.) The impact of the color will be much greater on the scale of a room when compared to a small sample.

For a free estimate for your painting project give Wilmington NC painters, Colour Solutions, a call at 910-686-3067 or contact us online today!