Picking Color Schemes

1. Finding Pleasing Colors Picking Colors The procedure of picking paint colors for your home may seem to be totally subjective--you simply select the colors you prefer. That is merely partly true. Although it makes sense to get started on with the colors you prefer, other elements enter into play. For example, do the colors you've picked work well together? Do they compliment furnishing, carpeting, and window treatments already in use? Picking paint colors is really part artwork and part science. Let's focus on the science part first. The Color Wheel The color wheel arranges the color spectrum in a circle. It really is a sensible way to see which colors work very well together. It includes primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (green, orange, violet), and tertiary colors (red-blue, blue-red, etc). Secondary colors are created by mixing two primaries together, such as blue and yellow to make green. A primary color such as blue and a secondary color such as green can be combined to make a tertiary color--in this circumstance, turquoise. Now that you've got a color wheel in front of you, use it to help you envision certain color combinations. An analogous scheme entails neighboring colors that share an underlying hue. Complementary colors lie opposite one another on the color wheel and often work well in concert. For instance a red and green living room in full strength might be hard to stomach, but look at a rosy pink room with sage green accents. Similar complements in varying intensities can make attractive, soothing combinations. A dual complementary color plan involves yet another group of opposites, such as green-blue and red-orange. Alternatively, you may choose a monochromatic scheme that involves using one color in a number of intensities. This ensures a harmonious color plan. When developing a monochromatic design, lean toward several tints or several shades, but avoid too many contrasting values, that is, combinations of tints and shades. This may make your design look uneven. If you need a more technical palette of three or more colors, look at the triads formed by three equidistant colors, such as red/yellow/blue or green/purple/orange. A split complement comprises three colors- one primary or intermediate and two colors on either side of its opposite side of the wheel. For example, instead of teaming purple with yellow, change the mix to purple with orange-yellow and yellow-green. Lastly, four colors similarly spaced about the wheel, such as yellow/green/purple/red, form a tetrad. If such combinations seem a bit like Technicolor, understand that colors designed for interiors are hardly ever undiluted. Thus yellowish might be cream; blue-purple, a dark eggplant; and orange-red, a muted terra-cotta or whisper-pale peach. With less jargon, the color combinations get into both of these basic camps: Harmonious or analogous; strategies, derived from neighboring colors on the wheel less than halfway around. Contrasting or complementary; strategies, derived from colors that are directly opposite on the wheel.

2. Interior Color Schemes Don't just choose one color; think in terms of picking a color structure. Study your furniture, curtains, draperies, and rugs, and notice which colors might supplement them. Next, be aware of just how many colors you think you might be using. Will the baseboards be a different color than the walls? They usually are unless the trim is in bad condition and you do not want to call attention to it. Similarly it will additionally apply to other trim, such as windows casings and chair rail. How about where the walls meet the ceiling? Will you install crown molding or various other kind of cornice treatment there? Or are you considering painting the walls and demarcating the ceiling and wall junction with a color change? In addition to paint colors, you will also need to look for the level of surface finish or sheen the paint will have. The options range from the most shiny (high gloss and semi-gloss) to the dullest (eggshell and flat). These designations change with paint suppliers, but they are essential because the sheen of paint affects the color. A guideline claims that walls usually receive flat or eggshell surface finishes whereas ceilings are almost invariably coated with a flat finish. Trim is normally painted with a semi-gloss or high gloss. These surface finishes are more durable and easier to clean than duller surface finishes. Think in terms of groups of colors. Paint manufacturers group like colors together like below: Interior Color Chips All paint stores can provide color chips of the paints they sell. Color chips will provide you with a small scale idea of what the actual colors will look like once applied. You will need to do more than take a look at color chips to get a true sense of your colors... but they are a good place to start. Actually, a seasoned sales person at your local paint store can help you decide on color chips in a scheme. If you choose a buttercup yellow for the walls, the sales person can suggest color chips that are typically associated with a scheme that has buttercup yellow as its anchor color. When you yourself have whittled down your color options, go through the color chips or swatches in different types of light including natural light at different times of the day and in varying degrees of artificial light. Even then, this color chip process is just to get a concept of paints that you will sample in much larger swaths of color. Very few professional designers select from chips, even though they could start their color selection from chips. If indeed they do examine chips, they examine them individually over a white background. Color Changing Take into account that large surface areas make any paint color show up darker than the color chip. The degree of variance is usually equal to two shades. In the event that you pick the color chip you desire, step "back" two shades darker for a true representation of what the color will look like when dried out. Also, paint always looks darker once it dries. So, when you finally apply the paint, don't stress if the color doesn't look right at first. Wait around until it dries.

3. If you are zeroing in on your final colors, paint a 2 x 3 ft. poster board or cloth material with the anchor color and place it throughout the house so that you can view it in various light and near different colored carpets and rugs and furniture. Size and Color Colors can affect how you perceive the size of an area. Warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges can make a space seem smaller because they can offer a cozy feeling to the space. The so called cool colors like blues and greens may actually recede from you, making an area appear bigger than it really is. If you really want to make an area seem large choose an old standby like a shade of white (there are dozens) or a neutral color. Estimating Room Size When you get closer to buying paint, determine the square footage of the area you will paint. Multiply the length of each wall by the width. Subtract the area occupied by the entry doors, glass windows, and other openings. Add every one of the measurements together to obtain a total square footage of the area you must paint. If you're applying two layers which is normal for some paint jobs, you'll be painting the area twice. Sound Quality Painting 824 90th Dr SE suite B Lake Stevens WA 98258 (425) 512-7400 https://sites.google.com/1upserve.com/painter-lake-stevens