How to Choose an Interior Paint Color

When preparing a home for sale, it is best to paint interior walls a neutral color, with off-white being the most popular. However, if a buyer has just bought a house and is making it their own, or they are just ready for a change in décor, there is a world of colorful possibilities.

Light vs. Dark Colors

There are good reasons why sellers paint rooms off-white, and these are as true in Myrtle Beach as they are anywhere else. It is unobtrusive, allowing potential buyers to more easily envision the space as their own. But light colors also make spaces look bigger, and buyers are always in the market for more space. If a space feels cramped, keep the paint light to open it up.

However, openness is not always the desired impression. Sometimes small and cozy is what is called for. For these rooms, use darker colors.

Sometimes, rooms are just shaped weird, but clever use of color can help visually downplay it. If a room is overly long, paint the long walls something light and the short walls something darker. This causes the width to expand and the length to narrow, presenting a more proportioned room.

From Floor to Ceiling, Dark to Light

The desire for space is also the reason why nearly every home has its ceilings painted white. If it was dark, it would be smothering.

As a general rule, a room should transition from dark to light as it moves from floor to ceiling. Flooring, therefore, should be the darkest element in the room. The walls are lighter, and the ceiling is white.

Cool vs. Warm Colors

Cool colors are green, blue and purple. Warm colors are yellow, orange and red. Each group has a very distinct impact on the subconscious.

Cool colors are soothing and restful. They are great colors for bedrooms, where people are trying to get their minds to turn off from the day's activities and go to sleep. Warm colors are energizing. They encourage people to wake up, keep moving and get things done. They are great colors for living rooms and kitchens.

Color Saturation

Color saturation addresses the amount of gray which has been mixed into a color. Highly saturated colors are vibrant and possess little gray. They transfer energy to a room. Low saturated colors are more quiet and calming.

A combination of lightness, color temperature and saturation provides a painter with a lot of options. Blues do not have to put people to sleep. A highly saturated blue can absolutely inject activity into a room.

Getting Colors to Play Well With Others

Consider how all the colors in a room will work with one another. This includes, floor, walls, ceiling and furnishings. Too many colors can get visually messy, especially if they do not coordinate well.

One way of addressing this problem is to choose paint based on the color of the dominant item in the room, such as the sofa.

Another method is to study up on the color wheel. The color wheel depicts how colors relate to one another. Colors work well with nearby colors on the wheel. Shades of blue work well with one another, as do many shades of blue and purple. However, blue does not work so well with red, which is much more distant on the wheel.

And do not ignore where rooms intersect. Being able to see a deep red room from a bright blue room can be jarring.

Paint jobs last for years, so it makes sense to invest time in planning them out. Owners should consider how they want a room to behave: do they want it open or cozy, energetic or quieting? They should also consider the other colors already in the room.

Once the owner decide on colors, they should bring paint chips home from the store to help them better envision the final product. Even after all that, it is not uncommon for the color to not look right on the wall, so buy a single can of paint, paint a section, let it dry and re-evaluate. It takes a bit more time, but the end result will more likely fulfill one's decorative needs for years to come.