When you’re hard at work renovating your home, putting the pieces together often means trying to work out the puzzle of colour schemes and styling to suit the overall space. According to your taste and the area you’ve got to work with, the end result will always differ, but refreshing your home always starts with a good lick of paint that offers a fresh pop of colour – be it vibrant or neutral. The trickiest bit, though? Finding the exact shade or hue to go for.
Luckily, there are a few handy rules you can follow to help you get started, taking the stress out of finding a colour and getting those renovations back on track.
Get inspired
There’s no point going into renovations without a vision in mind. Professional painters or stylists will often tell you to pick your colour last, just in case your project begins to look a little different through the process. You may even find you become more inspired and motivated by other aspects or features that seem to spring to mind along the way.
No matter the phase of the process you’re in, though, drawing inspiration from sources like magazines, Pinterest or from others’ houses you’ve visited here and there can help you pull together a pretty nifty mood board. These then go along way towards helping you style your flooring, furniture and entire colour scheme, allowing for more cohesion.
Use lighting to your advantage
Flicking the switches inside your home won’t give you an accurate indicator of what the colour will actually look like. Incandescent light usually brings out warmer tones, while fluorescents can place an emphasis on blues. Opt for natural lighting to see what your chosen shade will really look like, once you’ve slapped on a coat.
Snatch up plenty of swatches
Residential or domestic painters (or your local shop) can provide you with swatches to show you various tones of the colour you’re interested in. WIth surrounding shades demonstrating cooler, warmer and darker variants, you can take time and consideration to experiment with them and your mood board.
Once you’ve got plenty of these on hand, work your way around each room with them by taping each to the wall. You’ll quickly be able to eliminate which ones don’t work, and narrow down your selection to the ones that will suit best.
Grab those sample pots
Painters will have sample pots on hand for the selection you’ve narrowed down to. A neat trick is to paint each of these onto a piece of white A4 card (you may need multiple coats) and tape them up around each specific room and live with them for a few days. This gives you the chance to see the colours in action during natural and artificial light, and at all times of the day. By the end of three or four days, you’ll know which ones you’re more than happy to keep looking at.
If in doubt, trust the experts
Beyond everything, it’s important to keep in mind bringing in professional residential or domestic painters for the job, if you feel it’s a little too overwhelming. As there are best practices and particulars to keep in mind, an expert can help you achieve the result you’re after without the fuss.