The Daunting Task of Picking Colors
Picking colors can be the hardest part about painting a house. There are literally a million choices. I’m not a professional interior designer but I’m the next best thing and will be happy to help you choose colors for your project.
Resale Value
One key thing to consider is the resale value of your home. While you might like bright and bold many buyers for your home won’t. They will be thinking they will need to have the house painted as soon as they have possession and that might be overwhelming with everything else they need to do to move. Including getting their old house painted so it will sell. Not painting your home or painting it colors that few people can live with will eliminate most of your potential buyers.
In short, keep your colors neutral, if not boring. Avoid primary colors. If you’re painting your interior, keep you colors as light as possible so the house won’t seem dark.
Feel free to run your color ideas past me. You could also do the same with your listing agent. Realtors have a good handle on what colors are turning buyers away from homes.
Color Coordination
If you’re painting your exterior, be sure to notice the color of your roof. Black is a neutral color that goes with anything but there are other colors on roofs with which the exterior colors need to coordinate.
Also notice the color of the brick if you have any. Some brick has many colors and picking any one of them will usually work.
Make Use of Your Paint Store
If you have some idea of what color you want visit a paint store which has a wall full of paint chips to see and grab a handful to take home and see how they look up against your brick, your carpet, or your tile.
Most companies that specialize in paint like Sherwin Williams, Benjamin More, or Rhoda can match the colors of any other paint brands sold in your city, especially Behr. They most likely already have your colors on file, that is, they are already matched and entered into their computer database.
Those stores also are more likely to have someone there who can help you with picking colors and the type of paint you will need compared to the big-box stores like Home Depot and Lowes or stores that have a small paint department like Ace or WalMart.
To assist you in your search for just the right color here are some online sources that may be helpful:
Online Help for Choosing Colors
Selecting Colors for Your Home Sometimes choosing colors can be the hardest part about painting a house. Here is some help. Please keep in mind that...
Light Can Play Tricks On You When You Finish Painting
It's Not Your Fault If you or your painter paints a room and you discover it's not at all the color you expected it may not be due to poor color...
Why Not Paint Your House Red?
I just got through painting my second red house. For my first red house, the owner already knew he wanted it red. It was an assisted living facility...
House Paint Jobs that Would Only Fly in San Francisco
San Francisco is certainly a unique place with lots of character. The folks there don't seem to mind standing out in a crowd. That and maybe they...