The colors of my home were chosen through in-person or online experiences. I looked at Pinterest, magazines, catalogs, books, and nature. It is your turn to start taking note of the interiors that you love and save them somewhere you can find them again to inspire you. Remember that God is the perfect artist and he knows how to combine colors, so collect color combinations from the natural world too. God is the master of beauty and function.
My kitchen colors are actually inspired by an IKEA kitchen in their catalog. I took the picture with me to the hardware store and found a color that I felt matched well. Another paint color in my home was inspired by the colors that I gravitated toward while we shopped for a home: gray with white trim. To add color and cheer, I used yellow as the accent color in my front room.
The other wall colors used in my home are natural tan and alabaster white; I chose them because of the feeling I wanted to create in the space: comfort, relaxation and cleanliness. Carefully curate inspiration from the world around you and from the feelings you intend to create. Remember to use the color psychology to help you choose colors too.
Take Inventory of What you Already Have
Many of us don’t have the luxury of starting completely over, but we can all improve with what we already have. Since you have only kept things that bring you joy from work in previous chapters, see if there is a pattern of colors in your items. Your closet is a good place to look, too. A woman who only keeps blushes and blues for her tops can already determine that those colors bring her joy. Let your items inspire the colors you surround yourself with.
Another example is if you have an art piece that makes your heart sing every time you see it; let it guide the color choices for the throw pillows, furniture, and or accessories in the room. The artwork has a style too and that can help you narrow down your style as well.
When Rooms Collide
The next part of choosing colors is being careful about the rooms that are open to each other. With open concepts being popular, it is essential that the colors that meet jive in the same space. Having all the same colors on the walls is safe and can free up your brain space for choosing colors of other pieces. Wall color is a great way to make a large impact in a room though, so don’t skip it. There are stunning accent walls with bold, beautiful colors or modern wallpaper. Also, if you have a cookie cutter home, paint is also a fun way to add character.
The best way to choose colors for rooms that will connect is to turn to the experts: paint companies or interior designers. When I considered the colors of my home, I noticed that HGTV Sherwin Williams team had already created color palettes that worked together seamlessly.
I considered the function of each room that I wanted to paint. I wanted the kitchen to feel clean and crisp, so I chose a light bluish gray for the walls and used korean wallpaper. For the family room, I was aiming to feel comfortable and relaxed, so I knew neutral colors would work well, along with the brown that was already present in the fireplace and the furniture we had for the room. I chose Sherwin Williams Natural Tan and it was presented on a pre-approved palette with the SW Storm Cloud color in my kitchen. I have since re-painted my living room, but again, it still works with the colors it connects with.
So, even if you are not a color theorist or a certified interior designer, you can use resources available to you: Pre-picked color combinations that the paint companies create, painting a picture of your room virtually with technology like Sherwin Williams’s Color Snap or Benjamin Moore’s Personal Color Viewer, and websites like ColorSchemer.com and Palleton.com. The best way to check colors is putting it on your walls, but using the digital tools can be helpful.
Overcoming the Fear of Putting Paint to Walls
I recently bought two paint colors for our basement renovation. Right before I put the second color on the wall, I was a bit nervous to put the accent color on the walls. I thought of my blog readers and I understood, for a moment, how people feel who can’t decide. It can be scary to commit, but the beauty is that you are not locked into a color. Yes, you bought paint that likely cannot be returned, but you can always change the color and the paint may have use elsewhere. Start with the smaller paint samples to eliminate waste.
I put the accent paint color on the wall (a small portion near the main color, white, and found that I didn’t like it. At first I thought, but I did so much research about this color and there are examples of how great this looks together. But then I realized something: it didn’t matter that I had planned to use the color; I was going to do what I liked best and what I felt served the room best. Since it is a basement, natural light is almost non-existent, so sticking with the original white looked best and brought me joy.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and do the testing with small samples of paint colors before you pay for the gallons of paint. I had not painted with color samples that cost a few dollars and it cost me 40+ when I had an unused gallon of paint. I have plans for the unused paint thankfully, and you can do that too.
