Choosing Paint Color is Complicated for Nearly Everyone!

(Originally published February 2020; Revised & improved July 2021!)

Paint color is complicated!

A painter told me that choosing a paint color is an overwhelming decision for a lot of people.

There are so many options–WAY more than 50 shades of gray! Unless you are a serious DIY-er, you should expect to spend a significant amount of money to paint your space. And to re-paint if you make a poor color choice. Paint costs a lot, too! A can of paint runs $20-30 for moderate quality, or $80-100 for premium paint, and a room often requires multiple cans. The cost of a professional painter varies, but hundreds of dollars for a room is typical. Choosing badly will cost you a bundle.

The fear of choosing the “wrong” color leaves too many people in the “stuck” zone. Rather than make a “bad” color choice, they usually don’t make a choice at all. Fear paralyzes them, and they settle for the same old paint that they’ve been living with, even if they don’t liker it. That’s unfortunate.

Selecting a paint color involves more than looking at a color strip

Choosing a color without considering adjacent rooms results in jarring clashes and rooms that seem disjointed. It disrupts the flow of a home, and leads to dissatisfaction that people may not even consciously appreciate. Clashing colors also has a negative influence on the energy of a home, and can lead to feelings of hostility and impatience. You don’t believe me? I dare you to paint one of your rooms–just one room–bright red, and let me know how it affects your mood.

Room lighting is tricky!

Besides the emotional impact of colors, anyone choosing color should also consider the influence of room lighting. Color appears differently depending on room size, windows, and lighting. Shadows affect how you see undertones, making your “perfect” gray look gloomy, purple, perfect, or prison-like on the wall. The other surfaces in a space, like flooring, furniture, cabinets, or trim paint, also influence the way that you perceive undertones. Adjacent rooms provide additional context for choosing a color—nobody intentionally selects a wall color that clashes with the rest of the house.

Furthermore, imagine the impact of color: a bright color in a kid’s bedroom results in a feeling of excitement and energy–not good at bedtime! See my article on the use of teal and turquoise in kids’ rooms to see how a bright pink mistake made us all feel crazy!

When my husband and I were selecting a color for our basement space, he selected a dozen or so colors from the fan deck, and I purchased samples of each. After a couple days of living with patchwork paint splotches all over the walls, I asked him which one he liked the best. He stared at the wall, and flatly told me, “I hate them all.” That was his “a-ha” moment, when he started to consider that what he thought he wanted, wasn’t going to work. (We ended up selecting Benjamin Moore’s Rodeo, a neutral that looks quite nice, even in shadowy rooms.)

Painting before listing a house for sale

For those of you who plan to list your home for sale, I want to give you the reassurance to make necessary changes to your asset! Updating paint colors can have an enormous return on investment when you sell! Outdated colors convey to potential buyers that the house has not been maintained. Buyers assume that other aspects of the home have also been neglected, making them less likely to give you a good offer. If you have not updated your colors lately, or if the flow of color feels awkward, consider repainting to attract buyers and avoid losing money on your sale!

Color affects your mood and way that the space makes you feel. A poor color choice causes you to feel unsettled. Since your home is your happy space, approach paint color selection systematically to make the best paint color choice. Choosing poorly leads to dissatisfaction and the expense of repainting.

Give us a call today to find out how our Certified Color Expert can make your home Color Perfect!

Ask for Hillary—(336) 707-7324

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