{"id":2190,"date":"2015-02-11T16:47:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T21:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/?p=2190"},"modified":"2015-02-11T16:47:20","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T21:47:20","slug":"wfmw-choosing-paint-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wfmw-choosing-paint-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"WFMW: Choosing Paint Colors"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been having a blast helping a friend choose paint colors for her house and just last week had someone else message me for advice on the same subject. \u00a0I’m far from an expert, but when you do it a lot, you pick up a few helpful tips\u00a0along the way. Best of all, you start to develop an eye. \u00a0A friend of David’s is a professional painter. \u00a0I listened in awe as he described one client who gets her house repainted every year before Christmas. \u00a0She can flip through the paint color stack one time and say, “this one and this one and this one” and every time it looks perfect. \u00a0I’m convinced our only connection must go all the way back to Eve. Then again, I kind of like<\/em> the obsessing<\/del> process.<\/p>\n

I thought it might be a fun WFMW subject then you guys can chime in with your own advice and preferences. \u00a0After all, we all know that painting and decor has as much\u00a0to do with personal style and taste as\u00a0it does with anything else. \u00a0It goes without saying that everything here is opinion and biased by own experiences. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Let’s talk paint, first. \u00a0I am a huge fan of Benjamin Moore paint. \u00a0I love that it is thick, covers well, doesn’t splatter, and best of all, has very little odor. \u00a0Most paints leave me eating almost as much as I paint (food, not paint, just in case you were worried) …. I have no idea what they put in those paint fumes, but three strokes in, I’m starving. \u00a0Ben Moore? No such problem. \u00a0I usually buy the eggshell finish for walls and semi gloss for trim and have not had any trouble with washing walls even though they recommend going to a satin finish for bathrooms and kids bedrooms. \u00a0I’ll take a little wear and tear over gloss on the walls, and so far we’ve not had any issues. \u00a0The closest knock off I’ve found to Ben Moore is the Behr paint at Home Depot. \u00a0It’s thinner, has a little more smell, but it’s pretty similar. \u00a0I know lots of people like Sherwin Williams and I have no doubt it’s a good product. \u00a0But I’d have to park my painting project next to the grocery store, just saying.<\/p>\n

And now, the fun part! I could just about get giddy in the paint chip aisle. \u00a0Seriously, if David ever wants to convince me to build another house, he’d be very wise to suggest it while we’re standing in that aisle. \u00a0I lose my head when I’m surrounded by all those possibilities and think anything<\/em> would be fun.<\/p>\n

But it can also be overwhelming, especially if you’re looking at a big project. \u00a0When we were building our house, I found it helpful to take my known (kitchen cabinets) and work around that. \u00a0You \u00a0can choose lots of colors or shades of colors, but it’s nice if they flow nicely. \u00a0You won’t be jolted walking into a room with lots of color if it relates well to the color next door. \u00a0The paint expert where we bought our paint showed me how to line the color chips up so we could see if they were all similarly warm or cool shades. \u00a0For example, a cool yellow won’t look as good\u00a0next to warm tones.\u00a0Don’t forget the trim color when you’re lining things up! Once I know the colors all belong together, I like to hold them so that I visualize the amounts of each color. \u00a0A teeny bit of the white, a little more of my secondary color, and the whole chip of the main color.<\/p>\n

Here’s my lineup for the basement. \u00a0{You can see what it looks like on the walls here<\/a>. \u00a0Well, kind of. \u00a0It’s pretty hard to take accurate color pictures in a basement. \u00a0The bathroom is\u00a0a little richer in real life and the navy might be a little darker, but it’s pretty close.} \u00a0I loved this greige color for the main part. \u00a0I wanted something just a little bit warmer than grey since it was a basement, but I gravitate toward gray more than tan. \u00a0This color was the perfect in-between.<\/p>\n

\"choosing<\/a><\/p>\n

Color names from L-R: van deucen blue HC-156, collingwood 859, white dove OC-17, ocean air 2123-50<\/p>\n

David and I gravitate toward painted trim, but we prefer a white that is a little warmer, yet still\u00a0looks crisp white. \u00a0Benjamin Moore’s white dove is perfect for us. \u00a0I always keep a chip of that so I can make sure I’m staying in the same tones. \u00a0If you prefer a crisper white, Decorator White may be what you’re looking for.<\/p>\n

If you see a color you like, ask! It helps so much to see a color on the wall. \u00a0Even if you don’t use the same color, it can help you find a color that is similar with perhaps a tiny bit more of another tone you’re looking for. \u00a0I loved that for a long time Pottery Barn named the wall colors in their catalogs. \u00a0It was so much easier to visualize a room when you saw a picture of a room done in that color. \u00a0I think they’ve switched to Sherwin William colors …or at least they did the last time I checked. \u00a0Sadly, my catalogs have quit coming. \u00a0Probably because it’s been awhile since I made a purchase. \u00a0They were one of my favorite pieces in the mail just for the inspiration! I kind of think I could live in their stores!<\/p>\n

Sometimes it’s worth the money to buy a sample! A wall of color can look so different from a 2 inch chip! After you do it for awhile, you’ll get better at seeing undertones. \u00a0I’m pretty sure David can spot pink undertones a half a mile away and I’m pretty sure he has an allergic reaction to lavender undertones in grays. \ud83d\ude42 He likes pink. \u00a0In a girls room. \u00a0Unrecognized pink undertones that get louder on the wall in our room? Not so much. \ud83d\ude42 We had\u00a0a bit of a learning curve in Virginia until I figured out how to hold the color against other colors to see different tones pop out.<\/p>\n

Don’t be afraid of color whether it’s in large amounts or small pops. \u00a0Just think about what you want ahead of time and where you want the color. \u00a0My personal rule is, “you can always paint it again.” \ud83d\ude42 Things like flooring and furniture will likely hang out in your house for a long time. \u00a0But it’s not that hard to repaint a few walls (unless you’ve got a second story house with an open foyer) and you can change the look of the room after awhile if you don’t like it. \u00a0If the paint store isn’t too far away, I like to order enough paint for the first coat. \u00a0If the color only needs to be tweaked a tiny bit, you can sometimes get away with just one coat of the new color.<\/p>\n

I still think grays are tricky. \u00a0The gray in our living room has far more blue essence on the wall than it does on the chip. \u00a0In fact, most people don’t believe me when I tell them that’s the color. \u00a0I like the color. It just surprises me. \u00a0But at least it didn’t shine lavender. \ud83d\ude09 Which leads me to the next tip. \u00a0Check the color in the room you’re planning to paint. \u00a0Not outside, and definitely not in the store under the fluorescent lights. \u00a0A room that has lots of light will not only look lighter, it may bring out hues you wouldn’t notice otherwise. A small room with few windows will appear darker and you might want to choose the same color in a lighter shade. \u00a0So grab those color chips and a good drink and sit in the room you’re going to paint.<\/p>\n

You’ve probably heard\u00a0all the old tips about light colors in small rooms and dark colors in big rooms. \u00a0They’re true. \u00a0But I think more importantly, you should think about how you want the rooms to feel. \u00a0Our house in Virginia had big rooms with high ceilings so I wanted warm colors. A rich gold, yellow in the kitchen that made you think of big, lazy breakfasts (even if they only happened Saturday mornings), a rich grown up blue in the living room, and a dark, red in a small bathroom that made the white towels and shower curtain look fresh and clean. It was warm and inviting.<\/p>\n

Our house in Maryland is smaller with typical eight foot ceilings and the sun seems to hide a lot. \u00a0Plus, my mental capacity gets maxed out so much I found I craved white space. I chose a much more neutral, light color scheme and even painted some rooms a warm white, barely warmer than the trim color. \u00a0Surprisingly, it’s perfect! \u00a0I love the way I can add color pops in small accents. It’s easy to change the feel of the room with just a few things and seasonal decor really pops! \u00a0I love that it looks restful, clean, and inviting.<\/p>\n

You can see the colors in our main floor sprinkled throughout all of our pictures. \u00a0Here’s the main floor line up. I wasn’t lying when I said I stayed very, very neutral. \u00a0The only wild child on the main floor is the front door<\/a>. Zara’s room has pink in it, now, but I have no color chip because I mixed white with the pink color I bought. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From back to front: Ominous Cloud 5044 (this is a Clark and Kensington paint) used in the master bedroom, sea pearl OC-19 used on the kitchen walls and the bathroom walls and the base coat for Zara’s room, stonington gray HC-170 in our living room, and of course the white dove for the trim.<\/p>\n

I think this is what is the most fun about creating a space.\u00a0\u00a0Seeing the ways it evolves to hold it’s own personality. \u00a0It’s also why I love to visit other people’s homes and enjoy their tastes and beauty. \u00a0Our homes are really such a beautiful extension of ourselves and a tangible way we can share with others.<\/p>\n

I’d love to hear what goes through your mind when you choose paint colors? Do you get your inspiration from\u00a0colors you love in other places like the sparkling blues and sandy tans of the ocean\u00a0or burnt rust and gold as the warm afternoon sun shines through red maple leaves? Or do you automatically\u00a0think about the colors you love most in your closet? \u00a0Do you gravitate toward lots of color or neutrals? But even more, I’d love to hear if the process is fun for you or gives you a bellyache or does both. \ud83d\ude42 And if you’ve never had a chance to paint, what colors do you dream of painting? Maybe your color scheme will inspire someone else! \u00a0Happy Wednesday!<\/p>\n

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I’ve been having a blast helping a friend choose paint colors for her house and just last week had someone else message me for advice on the same subject. \u00a0I’m… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-works-for-me-wednesday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39ynQ-zk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2190"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2197,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2190\/revisions\/2197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}