Interior Decorating - How To Choose The Right Paint Color

Choosing the right paint color in interior design or decorating may seem like a difficult decision. The difficulty for most usually has to do with where to start.

While it would be nice to just hire a whole team of painters and decorators and do it all at once, for most of us it's just not practical. Not to worry, help is here.

When deciding where to start in selecting a paint color, fabric color or any other interior decorating feature, we have developed a few key points to review that will help guide you to your decision.

Personal Style – A home is a refuge, a personal space that you should feel comfortable in and it should be decorated to match your personal style and not someone else.

But what is your personal style. What types of colors and patterns make you feel comfortable, energetic, romantic, calm and peaceful. A good place to look is in your wardrobe or closet. Look at the colors and textures of the clothes you wear. Most people purchase clothes because they like them and look good in them. Your selection of colors and decorating should be with the same idea in mind.

Study the clothes, textures and patterns that make you feel good and translate them into your decorating.

Architecture – Often the architecture of a room or home will dictate how it should be decorated. For example a wall that is 2 stories tall in the a central room may not be suitable for wallpaper but is perfect for painting. A cosy corner or other features in your home can be and should be accentuated. Use your imagination and let the architecture inspire.

Formal Areas – One school of thought is to decorate the formal areas of the house first. The idea is to start with one to three central colors and then select one and expand upon it in the other rooms of your house. Although this is a proven method of decorating, we believe better results come from taking this same concept and applying it to the room where you will spend most of your time.

Colors You Have – You probably already have a favourite sofa, couch or chair. If this is the case, select your favourite piece of furniture and use its colors to decorate the rest of the room.

The Color Wheel – Further on in this guide, there is an entire section on the Color Wheel. It is a valuable tool when selecting the colors for your project.

60-30-10 Rule – Many professional decorators use the 60-30-10 rule when selecting colors, furniture, window shades, and more. It basically is this: 60 percent of a dominate color, 30 percent of a secondary color, and 10 percent of an accent color. When applied to other features, it could be: 60 percent of the dominate color will be the wall, 30 percent of an accent is furniture, and 10 percent may be rugs, plants, or window dressings.