HOW DO I FIGURE OUT THE PAINT COLORS I WANT.

Everyone has what is called a color personality.

Some of us love the red room the green room and the blue accent wall in the great room.

Some of us like muted colors.

I went to the paint store saw the thousands of colors and walked out, HOW DO I FIGURE THIS OUT?

Relax we will walk you through this process.

• Take a look at the room you are trying to choose colors for larger more well lit rooms can handle bolder colors. smaller less well lit rooms should have more muted colors. Grab a pillow off the couch, take a look at the curtains, are you naturally drawn to more muted colors or to bolder more pastel type colors. look around. you will usually be able to find 2 or 3 colors you already like (This is called YOUR color personality)

• Put these 2 or 3 colors in the back of your mind for later. note the size of the room. is it a smaller guest bedroom or the giant living room with 2 story ceilings. remember what we said earlier. larger open spaces could handle bolder brighter colors.

• Take a RELAXED ride to the paint store. bring you pillow if you like. to compare samples.

• look at the color display that has all of the FREE color chips. find a few of the colors that you THINK might work in your space. that matches your personality. take as many as you like. put them into COLOR FAMILY’S (the greys, the beige’s and so on)

• You will want several possible main color choices. a couple accent colors and a trim color if you are changing that too. (REMEMBER ITS YOUR PERSONALITY NOT SOMEONE ELSE’S)

• Bring the samples back home and lay them out on the table in groups, main color, accent color and trim color. pick a couple of the main colors and hold them up on the wall next to the curtains or near the window trim. how does it feel ? THAT’S RIGHT HOW DOES IT “FEEL”

• Play with the main color on other walls, in other light. look at it when its sunny. look at it when it dark outside.

• Take notes on paper using the color name number and how each feels. and narrow it down to one or two for each surface. as you eliminate sample put them in an envelope marking them rejected.

• If you are not sure go back to the paint store and spend less then 10 bucks and get a small sample can of those one or two colors and a couple cheap throw away brushes. bring them home and do a couple 12 in square or so swatches on the wall. near the bright window and a side wall also. do 2 thin coats of paint. let them dry for a few hours to let the color settle in. then go back and take a look. IMPORTANT remember that the sample can will not have the correct sheen or shine as the real paint. But it will be the same color. we can talk about sheen later.

• DO NOT choose 200 samples. trust your feelings, trust YOUR color personality.

• What about that amazing accent wall ? EASY—- an accent wall is supposed to accent something. that giant window ? the head board wall in the master bedroom, the wall behind the crib in the nursery and so on. most homeowners like it to be a brighter bolder color. have fun with this. but do the sample also for sure.

• The trim color should be consistent throughout the home so unless you are totally re painting the entire home then have the paint crew match the existing colors for you. same goes for ceilings. color matches will usually never be 100% exact so if you have to re paint the trim in one area paint it in that entire area or room. any very slight color difference will not be noticable in the corner or at the door jamb.

• OK so now we have the color. what about the sheen or shine. Today’s paint company have what is called washable flat. No shine but you can still take a warm wet sponge and clean off light smudges of dirt no paint is bullet proof. but generally speaking flat paints are easier to touch up just in case the stain is not cleanable. most other homeowners like to use either matte or eggshell sheen on walls. it has a very slight shine to make it a little more cleanable but not so shiny that you have to break out the sunglasses to walk in the room. if the finish it not flat and you do have to re paint a small area you may need to paint that entire wall corner to corner and floor to ceiling to make the sheen blend in. higher sheen’s then that like satin semi gloss or gloss are not recommended for walls. only for trim. the other side of sheen choice is that the more shine there is the better chance there is of exposing older imperfections on the wall surface that you may now even know exists now. old nail pop repairs. old crack repairs and older paint ribbon lines form inferior paint applications can all show up when you use shiny paint on walls.

• in the end. let the choosing of your colors, and the painting process be fun, enjoy the change. understand that once the new colors are done you may go through what i like to call color shock. you second guessing your choices. let the colors sit for a few days for sure. let it set in. if you did your due diligence you will love the color change for many years to come.

• Last thing about colors. for the kids room. we all know that we have that one kid that wants fire engine red for the wall s or hot pink for the walls., we firmly believe that a child that is empowered to help pick the colors for THEIR ROOM. will love the ownership of it. BUT at the same time we don’t want to have to take 4 Motrin just to walk in the room SO go to the paint store pick 4 or 5 of the color family they want. and that you can live with . let them choose out of that group. lets let our kids be kids. they are kids only once. and we can always re paint the room later.