Choose Paint Colors (Almost) Last

Find Your Color Inspiration

How to choose paint colors:

  1. Begin at the Beginning – When you choose paint colors, be sure to have a starting point, whether it’s the fabric on your dining chairs or a pattern in your window treatments, a favorite area rug or a favorite piece of artwork. Define your color scheme by choosing two to four colors from the furnishings and finishes that are already in your home and will be staying.
  2. Know Your Likes and Dislikes – have fun noticing which colors you love in other homes, in restaurants, in magazines, and online. Knowing what you like will help ensure you use colors that you will love to come home to.
  3. Analyze the Hue Families– Even whites belong to different but families. The key to creating a look of harmony is to match or compliment the hue family of your new paint colors to your existing hue families. Floors, countertops, stone, and fireplace surrounds count!
  4. Consider Mood – in addition to making your space visually beautiful, decide on the mood you want in each room. A mood is a feeling. For example a peaceful, calm room will help you recharge, restore, and relax, which is perfect for a bedroom. In a dining room where you entertain, you might want an energetic feeling that stimulates conversation. Think of how you want to use each room then use colors with personalities that match the mood you want.
  5. Consider Your Color Scheme for Remodels – When doing a total remodel or replacing cabinets, countertops, tile, and flooring, choose paint colors in conjunction with these elements. The hue families in your granite will dictate the paint color you choose for your walls.
  6. Narrow Down Your Choices – Decide on two or three colors from hue families that coordinate with your existing furnishings and finishes.
  7. Take Your Time – be sure to test the colors and sit with them, ponder, view them in different lighting conditions at different times of the day.
  8. Choose Paint Colors – Once you go through these steps, you will then be able to choose the right color the first time! If you want a professional consultation, click for Certified Color Expert help.

For more ideas, see my idea book at Color Confident Home – Houzz. Also, follow me on Facebook here. For a consultation or a quote contact me.

Choose Paint Colors in Five Steps

Choose Paint Colors in Five Steps

Choose Paint Colors in Five Steps

Choosing Paint Colors

Are you overwhelmed with the task of choosing paint colors for your home? Small color chips do not give homeowners a true idea of how paint colors will look on the expanse of a wall. According to a Benjamin Moore survey, fifty percent of paint sales come from people choosing the wrong color the first time.
As a certified color consultant, I have observed many house interiors and exteriors. Some homes have different colors in every room, while others still have “builders’ white” in abundance. Many homeowners choose neutral paint colors but use different tones in each room. So how do you add color and create a look of harmony and balance?

Break it Down into Five Steps:

  • Cultivate your colors.

Decide which you like and don’t like. Dream, do a vision board, peruse the paint chips at a paint store, look in magazines and on Pinterest or Houzz.com (search for Color Confident Home and look at my idea boards on both sites).

  • Start with the Rules of Design.

Sixty percent of your room color will be a neutral or a color that is a backdrop for your furniture, accessories and artwork. A current trend mixes warm colors and cool colors, but to get it right you must have a mix of textures and an eye for design. Walls with vivid colors can create a dramatic look, as long as design rules are followed and the eye has a focal point as well as a balance that allows the eye to rest.

  • Hone in on Hue Families

Look at your existing furniture, cabinets, and other fixed items like countertops and flooring. Which hue families do your current colors fall in? If your sofa is brown with a pinkish hue, you’ll want to find paint colors in the same or coordinating hue family. If your carpeting is a goldish beige, be sure you choose neutral paint colors within the correct hue families. Choose your trim color based on your whether your color scheme is warm or cool. Off-whites and creams go well with warm, muted colors while white and cooler off-whites provide a crisp look for cool colors.

  • Look at your lighting.

Natural light, the number of windows in room, time of day and season affect the color of light entering your home, as well as how the colors in the room will look. Your artificial lighting, including the amount, type, and color of bulbs, also determines how paint colors will look on your walls.

  • Don’t skip the sample.

After you narrow down your choices to two or three, test your colors using the Color Confident Home tried-and-true-method for color selection, which does not mean paint swatches on your walls!! You will then be able to choose your paint color with confidence.

For more ideas, see my idea book at Color Confident Home – Houzz. Also, follow me on Facebook here. For a consultation or a quote contact me.

How To Choose A Paint Color – Rochester Hills

Color Selection Rochester Hills

How To Choose A Paint Color – Rochester Hills

With the thousands of pant chips available at paint stores, it can be hard to know where to begin. Have you ever painted a room only to find the color does not look as you thought it would? Many factors, including natural light, lighting fixtures, season, and existing furnishings, fixtures, and finishes, influence the way a color looks. If you want to make sure you’re choosing the right colors, as well as colors that will create harmony from room-to-room, or from interior to exterior, you can use the rules of design and color. Cheryl Adams, a certified color expert from Color Confifent Home, is trained to help you create your personal palette with confidence.

After an initial phone interview, Cheryl will provide an on-site consultation to help you choose your paint palette for walls, trim, and ceilings. Using her Six-Step Color Process and the rules of color and design, she will take into consideration your current cabinets, counter tops, and flooring and make recommendations for your overall color scheme. Cheryl will work with you the whole time, assessing your color sensitivity and likes as well as your current furnishings. She provides large paint samples you can keep for easier selection of your paint color schemes.

  • If you’re starting from scratch, do the hue families in your finishes match or coordinate?
  • Which neutrals and colors will complement those elements?
  • How is your current lighting affecting your colors and the feel of your home?

Cheryl Adams – Certified Color Expert – Color Confident Home of Rochester Hills Michigan can help you decide on paint and color for you home that creates harmony from room to room.

To see some idea books by Cheryl on Houzz

For more information on Interior Paint Color Selection

Call Today to schedule your Paint Consultation: (248) 509-4720

Choose Interior Colors with Confidence in Your Michigan Home

Choose Interior Colors with Confidence in Your Michigan Home

Interior Colors Michigan

Who’s the boss in your home? The first step to choosing interior colors for your walls is to determine the dominant features and the hue families of your furnishings and finishes. If your granite counter tops have a strong pattern or consist of multiple colors, they will be a determining factor in your color selection. A grayish-blue sofa must be considered when selecting wall colors. Are your cabinets wood? The colors in the wood will also give you a starting point for choosing your paint. Lastly, your flooring materials will either be neutral or dominant depending on the material, pattern, and color.

A friend recently asked me why the kitchen cabinets she painted a light gray did not look right. With the recent trend of gray, many homeowners struggle to find the right colors to go with their existing finishes. When I assessed my friend’s existing finishes, I discovered her backsplash had brown hues. I explained to her any updates to the past Tuscan trend of warm tones like browns, muted oranges and reds, and golds requires paint colors like beiges, creams, and off-whites to harmonize. The incoming trend of “greige,” a warmer gray with brownish hues, would tie in her backsplash while still giving her the updated look she wants, IF she chooses the right greige. Remember, the right hue families are key.

No matter the hue family, patterns are considered bosses. Granite, quartz, marble, patterned backsplashes, brick fireplaces, and stone are dominant features, unless they are very neutral in color and pattern. And remember to coordinate hue families (Have I stressed that enough?) Carrera Marble and gray, black, and blue go well with whites, grays, blacks, navy, and more saturated colors. Again, consider your flooring, especially if it’s tile. A beige tile that leans toward the yellow-red hue family and looks pink paired with neutrals containing a beige from another hue family could look off.

So before you choose your interior colors, know who’s the boss.

For more info or a quote call: 248-509-4720 – Cheryl Adams – COLOR confident HOME – Rochester, Michigan 48306

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