Choosing Paint Colours for your Space

How do you choose paint colours for your room?

It feels like it should be an easy enough task, but choosing paint colours for your space can quickly descend into chaos, with a wall full of swatches and serious decision fatigue halting your decorating dreams. 

So how do you find the perfect colour for your space? 

Often when we think of painting our walls we think about our favourite colours, however when you start a room design with the paint colour as your lead it can often make it much trickier to add in pieces later. A rich red may make your heart sing, but think about what is going to go into that space, how are you going to decorate around that? 

What I have found helpful is finding an anchor piece for your space first, whether it’s a piece of artwork, a patterned chair or a little keepsake you display on a shelf - so long as you know you want that piece in the room use it as your inspiration, pull colours from it. A moody blue from your favourite landscape artwork, a taupe from the stitching of a chair - using this chosen item as your guide for the rest of the space takes the pressure out of the paint choices because you have already narrowed your palette right down to what you can see in the item. 

Next to the most important and often overlooked aspect of choosing your paint colour: the placement of your room. You need to think about what direction your room is facing, is it a darker north facing space or is it west facing getting drenched in sunlight at the end of the day? Colours can look extremely different depending on the lighting within the room and we can also use colours to trick our eye, for example we can keep a north face room feeling cosy despite it’s lack of light by opting for a colour with warm undertones. 

With this example in mind it is important that you know how you want the room to feel, do you want a calm bedroom? Then let’s stay away from anything too bold - you could save that for the kitchen where maybe you want the space to feel a bit more lively. Really think about how you use the space and how you want to feel/influence how others feel in your space. Colour psychology exists for a reason, we are hugely influenced by the colours that surround us, just think about how much more joyful you feel when you see a sky full of blue rather than those deep ominous grey clouds. Use this to your advantage to create an entrance space that feels opulent or a dining space that fuels discussion - once you can key into this your spaces will quickly start feeling more aligned with what you want.  

Finally, remember to push yourself outside of your comfort zone - this is often where I see clients have a total ah-ha moment. Going for something a little bolder when you are used to a neutral palette can make you see a space in a whole new light. And equally, sometimes you need to tone it down a bit to ensure your home is actually giving you the restful moments that your body needs. Be brave, if you aren’t sure when the paint goes on, wait until you get all of your furniture and knick-knacks in and let everything settle - because you will suddenly see that the walls become the backdrop and not the main focus. And if even after that you really hate it, go again, paint is one of the cheapest ways you can transform a space (especially if you DIY) so note down what about it isn’t sitting right with you and find something that is better aligned to what you need, yes its a pain, but not the end of the world.

We have all made mistakes when it comes to our paint colours (myself included!) but by really analysing your space and what you want from it you will hopefully hit the mark more often than not.  

If you feel you'd like more guidance with the colours for your room please don't hesitate to get in touch, I offer in person & virtual interior design consultations where I can answer all your interiors questions and give you tips tailored to your home.