Complimentary Color Schemes The process of picking paint colors for your home may seem to be totally subjective--you simply select the colors you like. That is only partly true. Although it makes sense to start with the colors you like, other elements enter into play. For example, do the colors you've selected work well together? Do they work with furnishing, carpeting, and draperies already in use? Picking paint colors is actually part artwork and part science. Let's focus on the science part first.
Employing the Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It is a good way to see which colors work very well together. It includes primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (green, orange, violet), and tertiary colors (red-blue, blue-red, etc). Secondary colors are made by mixing two primaries together, such as blue and yellow to make green. A primary color such as blue and a secondary color such as green can be mixed to make a tertiary color--in this circumstance, turquoise.
Now that you've got a color wheel in front of you, use it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous scheme includes neighboring colors that share an underlying hue.
Complementary colors lie complete opposite each other on the color wheel and often work well in concert. For instance a red and green living room in full intensity might be hard to stomach, but consider a rosy pink room with sage green accents. Exactly the same complements in varying intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A dual complementary color design involves yet another set of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange.
Alternatively, you can go with a monochromatic scheme that involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color scheme. When developing a monochromatic plan, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This can make your scheme look uneven.
If you want a more complex palette of three or even more colors, go through the triads formed by three equidistant colors, such as red/yellow/blue or green/purple/orange. A split complement is composed of three colors- one primary or intermediate and two colors on either part of its opposing side of the wheel. For example, instead of teaming purple with yellow, transfer the mix to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green.
Last but not least, four colors similarly spaced around the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations sound somewhat like Technicolor, remember that colors designed for interiors are rarely undiluted. Thus yellow might be cream; blue-purple, a dark eggplant; and orange-red, a muted terra-cotta or whisper-pale peach. With less jargon, the color combinations fall into these two basic camps:
Harmonious or analogous; techniques, derived from neighboring colors on the wheel less than halfway around.
Contrasting or complementary; strategies, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.
Interior Color Schemes Don't just choose one color; think in terms of deciding on a color design. Review your furniture, curtains, window treatments, and carpets and rugs, and notice which colors might complement them.
Next, take notice of how many colors you think you may be using. Will the baseboards be considered a different color than the walls? They usually are unless the trim is in bad shape and you don't want to call attention to it. The same is true of other trim, such as home window casings and chair rail.
How about where the walls meet the ceiling? Will you install crown molding or various other type of cornice treatment there? Or will you be painting the walls and demarcating the ceiling and wall junction with a color change?
In addition to paint colors, you'll also need to determine the level of finish or sheen the paint will have. The choices range from the most shiny (high gloss and semi-gloss) to the dullest (eggshell and flat). These designations differ with paint producers, but they are essential because the sheen of paint impacts the color. A guideline states that walls usually get flat or eggshell finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably decorated with a flat finish. Trim is typically painted with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These coatings are stronger and better to clean than duller finishes.
Think in terms of groups of colors.
Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below:
Painting Interior Walls All paint stores provide color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will give you a small scale idea of what the specific colors can look like once applied. You need to do more than take a look at color chips to obtain a true sense of your colors... however they are a good place to start. In fact, a seasoned sales person at your neighborhood paint store can help you select color chips in a scheme. If you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales rep can suggest color chips that are typically associated with a design that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color.
When you have whittled down your color options, look at the color chips or swatches in different types of light including natural light at different times of the day and in varying degrees of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is just to get a concept of paints that you will sample in much larger swaths of color. Hardly any professional designers select from chips, even though they may start their color selection from chips. If they do examine chips, they examine them individually over a white background.
Color Changes Take into account that large surface areas make any paint color show up darker than the color chip. The amount of variation is usually equal to two shades. In the event that you select the color chip you desire, step "back" two shades darker for a genuine representation of what the color will look like when dried out. Also, paint always appears darker once it dries. So, when you finally apply the paint, don't stress if the color doesn't look right at first. Wait around until it dries.
When you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 ft. poster board or fabric material with the anchor color and stick it throughout the house so as to see it in different light and near different colored rugs and furniture.
Space and Color Colors make a difference how you perceive the size of an area. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges will make a space appear smaller because they can provide a cozy feeling to the space. The so called cool colors like blues and greens may actually recede from you, making an area appear larger than it truly is. If you really want to make an area seem large go with an old standby like a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color.
Sizing the Area As you get nearer to buying paint, determine the square footage of the room you will paint. Multiply the length of each wall by the width. Subtract the area occupied by the entry doors, home windows, and other openings. Add all the measurements together to get a total square footage of the area you must paint. If you're applying two coats which is normal for some paint jobs, you will be painting the area twice.
Sound Quality Painting
824 90th Dr SE suite B
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