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Choosing the Proper Paint Color for your Home

• Choose the colors that you love and look good in.

• Cool and pastel colors can make a room seem larger and reflect light; warm and bright colors have grater visual weight than cool tones; and warmer colors are easier to live with and more mellow than cooler colors.

• Limit yourself to two or three tones in each room.  Choose a dominant color first, and then add accent colors.

• Once you decided on the color you like, buy only a quart of it and paint the color on a two-by two-foot piece of foam (available at paint centers and art supply stores).  Position the panel in several parts of the room at different times of the day and night to see how light plays off the tone in every type of illumination.  Color is perceived differently in relation to light.  Check your color choices under all lighting conditions.

• Colors also reflect off each other so your color schemes should be planned and tested out to see how the color works together before you commit to the whole room.

• Complimentary colors are the color opposite on the color wheel, better known as contrasting colors.  They are as unlike each other as possible (they are strong hues in their strongest forms).  Vary the depth and intensity of your color scheme by mixing a hue with black or white, or its contrasting color.  To create a subtle color scheme, use milder color variations such as pink and sea foam mint instead of red and green.      

• Match the color you like.  You can have paint custom mixed to match a piece of fabric (such as your favorite blouse), carpeting, or wallpaper at almost any paint center in your local hardware store.  The sample needs to be flat and has uniform color and is at least ½ inch square.

• When working with white color, buy sample paint.  There are countless shades and variations of white wall paint to choose from.  Even unmixed cans of paint vary in hues.  Choose a white shade with pink undertones, it will make a space feel warm and inviting; while a bluer white can feel more formal and cool. To know which white you can live with, buy a quart size sample and paint a 2-foot by 2-foot (4 square feet) test patches in different areas.  Apply egg shell or flat finish on walls and a semi-gloss on trim and doors.  The cost of 2-ounce sample paint that covers up to four square feet ranges from $ 3.50 to $ 4.00.

• After the painting is finished, always keep a touch-up reserve.  Labeled it so you know exactly where you have used it, especially if you have several of similar shades.