Talk to realtors and home stagers and they usually tell you to paint your walls white or off-white when you’re putting your house on the market. If you’re staying put, using color can transform a room and liven it up. But the fear of choosing the wrong shade is one reason so many people stick with white. Here’s how to nail the right color.
Get inspired
To find the color you love look in your closet, says Debbie Zimmer of the Paint Quality Institute. Pour over vacation photos—nature’s colors are inspiring—and look at paintings and rugs for ideas. Are you drawn to muted or bold colors?
Set the mood
Blue can be perceived as calming, making certain shades a fine choice for the bedroom. Red is energizing. So figure out if you’re going for warm and cozy or cool. And now’s the time to consider the room’s floors, rugs, furnishings, and light.
Use online tools
Manufacturer and retailer websites offer tools, including ones that let you play with color. Some let you upload a photo of your room and then click to change the color of your walls. Behr’s ColorSmart, Benjamin Moore’s Personal Color Viewer, and Valspar’s Virtual Painter are a few of these tools.
Buy three samples
If you’ve found a color you like buy the color you’re drawn to, and a shade lighter and one darker. Paint a sample next to a window and in an area that’s dark, viewing the colors in daylight and at night, with the lights on and off. Give yourself a day or two before deciding.
Matching colors
Let’s say you found a color you love but you’re not wild about the brand of paint. Color-matching systems have improved and you can get very close to the original color. A salesperson with a good eye and mixing equipment with clean nozzles can help too, and so does shopping when there are fewer customers. So pick the color then the paint brand. Keep in mind that the paint base and sheen can differ slightly among brands so ask the salesperson to put a dab of the freshly mixed paint on your paint chip and then dry it. Retailers often keep hair dryers within reach for that purpose.
Be sure to read “Don’t buy a beautiful shade of mediocre paint” for more ideas and the list of the top paint picks from our tests. Our interior paint Ratings give you all the details. If you have questions for our paint pros e-mail me at kjaneway@consumer.org.
—Kimberly Janeway
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