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Choosing a color for the house: Tips and ideas in choosing the colors before painting the house
Updated: Mar 7
Before painting a house Choosing a color for a particular house or room involves thought, planning and understanding. Color has many meanings that can affect the atmosphere and appearance of the home.
When it comes to painting the walls of the house the possibilities are almost endless. You stand in front of the color catalog and feel like a deer standing in the middle of the road and caught in the headlights, then in a moment of desperation you decide to give up the idea, paint the house in shades and you want to shout "white" and then you remember that white also has about a million shades...
If you still decided not to compromise on the standard "white" and do something special and colorful, in this article we will try to give some important tips and "don'ts" that will help you in choosing the color.
Believe it or not, color can improve the "function" of a room. There is a study that shows that if a blind person enters a red room he will feel warmer than in a white room even though the temperature is the same. Conclusion: People feel the color in the room. This is why restaurants, for example, paint with "warm" colors like red and yellow, because it adds to the atmosphere and stimulates the appetite. Cold colors, on the other hand, like blue and purple, decrease the appetite. Experts recommend painting the interior rooms in deep warm colors such as cocoa or green, the kitchen in warm colors such as red and yellow, and in the bathroom cold colors such as blue.
It is always recommended to look at what is around. If the floor is parquet, it is important to take into account the color of the parquet. Wood is not always suitable for all colors. Usually, the colors of the wood are warm colors and therefore we will paint the room in "cold" colors.
If we are painting a kitchen and the kitchen is a "cherry" color, it is important to take this into account because we need to find a color intense enough to compete with the "cherry" and so on...
It is customary to divide the world of colors into two main concepts -
"Cold" colors and "warm" colors.
The cold colors are expressed in shades of blue, purple, gray, and silver, and the warm ones in shades of red, orange, yellow, and green.
As their name implies - colors that transmit more warmth and colors that transmit more calmness and coldness.
Why is it important to know this? Because the basic property of the color can affect the appearance of the room. In some situations, the warm colors will suit and in others, the cold ones will suit you, it all depends on the atmosphere we want to create in the room.
Painting a room does not have to be uniform - we can use certain shades that we like and distribute them accordingly in the room.
When will we use cold colors and when will we use warm colors?
Light is something that greatly affects the visibility of color in the eyes of the beholder. The meaning is that a certain color in sunlight will look a different shade if the same color is in the shade. So for example, if you paint the room a certain color, the ceiling will be a slightly different shade from the rest of the room because it is more shaded. Also, the size of the room and the size of the wall affect the visibility of the color tone.
In general, rooms facing north will be more shaded, which will cause the color to take on a "cold" tone, and this should also be taken into account.
Dark colors will make the walls look closer to each other and actually create a feeling of narrowing. On the other hand, light colors make the room look bigger and more spacious.
The question is of course, what feeling do you want to create? If you want to give the room a spacious look, you should not only paint in light colors, but change the shade slightly between one wall and the other because it creates a feeling of depth and spaciousness. If you want to give the hallway, for example, a narrow look before entering the "Great Hall", then you should paint with "cold" colors.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few times when we go into a paint store and see a certain color in the catalog that on the surface looks perfect, but after the purchase, we get home and the actual result looks distant and even disappointing. The reason is, because of the proportion and size of the room in combination with certain lighting change the visibility of the color in the eyes of the beholder.
So how do we find the perfect and most suitable color for us?
The first thing is to be patient! The process can take time but it is worth it.
It is recommended to start collecting different colors that look different to you.
The collection can be from catalogs you received in stores (it is important to write down the name of the store behind the color you chose in the catalog so you will know where to return if you choose it).
You can also take a certain item of clothing that you like the color of, pieces of tiles, carpets, fabrics, or curtains that you like or already have in the room and with these items go shopping.
Once you've gotten an idea and decided on a direction, you should ask to take samples of some colors that you like (this is common in paint stores today), return home with it and do "experiments" on the wall.
Some important tips:
- It is important to refer to the items already in the room such as carpet, curtains, tiles, etc.
- Make a measurement for the room and bring the data to the store so that they know how to give you the right amount of paint. It is recommended to always take 25% more, even if it is not accidentally missing and for repairs in the future.
- You should always consult with professionals (usually you will find them at the paint store).
- A problem I mentioned earlier - the ceiling will always come out darker than the walls because it is more shaded, so if it is important to you that they don't see the difference, you can dilute the ceiling color with white (about 25% white) or buy the ceiling color as lighter in advance.
Put some thought into your next home paint job then call us at dream home design & build and we’ll take it from there!