How to Pick the Perfect Color Palette for Your Home

Painting can be the easiest, fastest, and most cost-effective way to refresh and reclaim a room–as long as you don’t count the torment that goes into choosing the right color. Luckily, picking the right color palette for your home is easier than you think, especially when you keep these five tips in mind.

Start with what you have.

There’s a really good chance your perfect color palette is staring right at you. Stand in the doorway of your favorite or most frequented rooms and find the biggest pattern in the space. That’s where the eye is naturally drawn and what will compete with or complement your wall color most.

Find what flatters.

More than one interior decorator has leaned on a homeowner’s closet for inspiration, and for good reasons; people surround themselves with colors and fabrics that flatter and feel good. Trust that instinct. If you love perky colors, don’t say no to a yellow front door. If you dream in blue jeans, there is a blue that will match every occasion.

Find what flows.

Luckily, most paint stores and home improvement stores feature paint lines that offer suggested groupings; you no longer have to guess which paint colors look best together. What you do have to decide is when rooms should look the same and how they could be different. Rooms that flow into each other should be the same color unless there is a hard break, like a doorway. If you long for a pop of color, consider drawing attention to a wall or nook with an accent color.

Redefine neutral.

And say goodbye to “builder beige.” Neutrals are simply a name for a group of colors that mind their own business while still playing well with others; they don’t attract attention to themselves and, by contrast, other colors find a way to shine. If you’re on the fence about what color to paint your home, find your favorite color and soften it, or ask the paint mixer to lighten it by 25 to 50%.

When in doubt, embrace gray.

Jokes about the 50 shades of this light-black neutral aside, gray has been trending steadily for several reasons. It can warm. It can cool. It can kick up pastels tones, and it can tone down jewel tones, and it can do both at the same time, in different rooms. Finding the perfect gray for your home takes a little bit of patience and a few jars of paint samples, but the good news is that when you find it, you absolutely know.

Need more help finding your true colors? Book a project consult.