By Tami Smight, ASID
When you look at a small paint swatch at the paint store, or big box store, it never looks the same in your own home. Why would it? You don’t have commercial grade fluorescent lighting and cement floors in your home.
What is a person to do? You can hire a professional to guide you in the process of creating a color palette for one room or your entire home. Or you can try some of these tricks.
1. Get those chips out of the store aisle and into your home. Limit your choices to 3 for each color you are considering. Now view those chips at three different times of day, ranging from early morning light, golden setting sun light, and evening lamplight.
Walk the chips around the room, comparing against pillows, upholstery, artwork and drapery. Paint chips with suggested coordinating colors are really helpful. They offer ideas for shades that would look good for wood flooring, furniture or drapery and accessories.
2. Once you have one or two shades that you really like for each room, return to the paint store for sample size paint containers. The cost is well worth it, when you consider the alternative of re-painting entire rooms because of choosing a shade you don’t like! The best way to preview a paint color is to paint it on the wall. The larger the square you paint on the wall, the better time you will have deciding.
Click here to get the weekly Your SCV Home & Wellness Newsletter delivered right to your inbox!
3. Back to the paint store one more time to consult the expert behind the paint counter. Describe the wall surface, use of the room (bathroom, kitchen, family or living room etc.) The experts know the proper sheen to give you the best paint finish and durability.
4. Dive in! Now you just need to be brave, purchase the paint, paint your rooms and trust that you have done your homework and the end result will be just what you wanted.
If you are overwhelmed just walking into a paint store, help is a phone call away. Tami Smight Interiors offers paint consultations in your home, for one room or the entire house!
Tami Smight Interiors 661 430-0127