3 Tips for Picking Paint Colors

When selecting paint colors for your home, start by browsing through some DIY and decorating magazines and web sites. Find rooms with color that "speaks" to you - rooms that you like. You are looking for a basic idea of what you like right now.

Take stock of what you found. Are the rooms generally traditional in style? Did you pick rooms that are decidedly country in feel? Or do you find yourself drawn towards minimalistic and modern, such as graphic black and white?

"Know thyself" is the first step in finding a color that you can live with and that will make the room come alive for you.

(2) Look for common factors in the rooms you admire.

Traditional rooms will usually have warm neutral walls with the ceiling and trim painted some shade of white. The ceiling will usually have a flat finish, while the trim work will be semi-gloss.

Contemporary rooms may sport a trim color that will guide you to your wall color. In other words, the trim will be the focal point and the walls and ceiling will be the background in your room color scheme.

Eclectic rooms often let go of all traditional thought processes. In this style of room you will focus on the ceiling for the biggest color impact in your room. The walls and trim will coordinate, but will not stand out.

Once you have determined what style of decorating with color you want to follow, it's time to focus on one more important aspect:

(3) Pay attention to the continuity of colors.

Kitchens are considered the "heart of the home", but may be the most difficult to choose a paint color for. Why? Because unless you are doing a total kitchen remodel, there are probably permanent kitchen fixtures that you need to take into consideration when choosing paint.

The underlying base color of your countertops, floors, cabinets and other hard finishes will determine the direction you should go with your wall paint colors. You may also have to take the color in other rooms into consideration, depending on how open your kitchen is to the rest of your home.

Bedrooms have the ability to be closed off from the rest of the house by virtue of having doors, but if your kitchen and main living area colors are continued through a hallway, you might want to coordinate the bedroom walls colors as well.

Bathroom wall colors are usually based on the bedroom if they are part of a suite. And if you live in a home where the bathroom is centrally located off a hall, you will need to take the color of the hall into account as well, for a better overall color flow.

For more color tips and tricks, see this guide to choosing interior paint colors.