Does picking paint colors, especially for the exterior of your home, give you major homeowner anxiety? Are you worried that you won’t choose the right paint color for your home or that it won’t look as good in your home as it does in the store? Nobody wants their Pinterest-perfect paint inspiration to turn out looking like a nightmare. Plus, nobody wants to have to pay to paint their house twice. If this decision is weighing on you and keeping you from saying yes to a color, read on as we share tips for how to choose interior and exterior paint colors that you love, and that fit your home perfectly! These tips will help you combat some of the most common challenges homeowners face when picking paint colors so you can feel confident in the color you choose.
How to Choose the Best Paint Color for Your Home
As you begin to consider the best paint color for your home, whether on the interior or exterior, it’s important to get inspiration and look at different colors to see what you like and don’t like. Create a mood board on Pinterest where you can gather inspiration. You can also get ideas from Instagram, Google Photos, or other people’s houses that you see.
However, it’s important that you choose a color that feels right to you, your family, and your style. Just because something is trending or everyone in your neighborhood is doing it doesn’t mean you have to. This is especially true with exterior paint jobs, as they are long-term, so you want to make sure it’s something you love, and that will be in style for years to come.
It’s important to keep in mind that choosing an exterior paint color for your home is not like choosing a color for an accent wall or smaller space on the interior of your house. The surface area of your exterior is much larger and is the main focus that you will see from the outside. Therefore, you may not want to choose the brightest, trendiest color. Instead, save those colors for an interior paint project.
Once you get inspiration for your home’s paint color, you can begin collecting paint color samples to look at and test in your home. We recommend that all of our interior and exterior paint clients go through the Color Journey process before choosing a color and giving their painter the green light to begin the project. You can get a deep-dive of this Color Journey process in this blog post.
Tips For Choosing Interior and Exterior Paint Colors
As you move through the Color Journey process and begin picking exterior paint colors or interior paint colors, there are a few key things you want to consider to ensure you choose the best color for your home.
Check out these 7 tips for choosing a paint color for your home.
Tip #1: Look At The Lighting
When choosing an interior paint color, you’ll definitely want to look at the lighting and consider how many windows are in your space. Look at which direction the rooms face (north, south, east, west), and what type of light bulbs you have (warmer or cooler bulbs). This will greatly impact the way that paint colors look in your home.
Tip #2: Ask Yourself How You Want To Feel
Did you know that color actually impacts how you feel? There is a ton of psychology behind color and it’s quite fascinating. Whether you love light, airy pale colors, earthy neutrals, or moody dark colors, consider how the color makes you feel and WHAT feelings you want your space to evoke.
You’ll probably want to capture different feelings in different areas of your home as well as on the exterior. Learn more about the psychology of color and how to choose the right color to fit the mood of each space in your home here.
Tip #3: Consider Your Current Decor
Another thing to consider when choosing a paint color for your home is your current home decor. Assess what your overall style is and look at the decor you have on the inside of your home. Look at your couches, tables, chairs, wall decor, rugs etc. Then, use that to help choose a color that will fit with your inspiration and look cohesive in your space. If you don’t consider the decor, the color might not look harmonious. Now, if you want to change up your decor to match your new color palette, then don’t be afraid to dream big and get creative! Just make sure it’s something you’re going to love in the long-run.
Tip #4: Look At The Floor Color
Your floor color is one of the biggest factors to consider when picking interior paint, right next to the lighting. The color of your floor will alter how a paint color looks in your unique and individual space. Your specific flooring can pull different undertones out of the paint colors, completely transforming them into a different color that may lean warmer or cooler than you may have seen on the chip in the paint store. Don’t make the mistake of painting the entire space before you consider how it looks with your flooring!
Tip #5: Consider Exterior HOA Approval
If you are choosing exterior paint colors and you live in an HOA (Home Owners Association) community, you may have a limited number of options to consider when picking exterior paint colors. There are certain HOA approved exterior paint color selections that you have to choose from. There may even be entire sections of colors that are not even an option for you in your neighborhood. Before starting to look at exterior paint colors, be sure to check with your HOA or look into your bylaws and see what the limitations are in your neighborhood. It’s better to be safe rather than sorry!
Tip #6: Explore Exterior Color Renderings
For exterior painting projects, we recommend doing virtual color renderings. We get ours completed in Adobe for the most accurate results that show the color in its most authentic state. While they are not 100% accurate due to them being virtual and there is an unlimited number of phone, tablet, and computer light settings that can affect the color, these virtual color renderings are a great way to take a look at your finished home and see if you are on the right track with the colors you’re considering!
Tip #7: Use Large 8×11 Color Card Samples
When testing out colors, whether for your interior or exterior paint project, you can get a better idea of what the color will look like in your space with larger, 8×11 color cards, peel-and-stick samples, or “Color to Go’s.” These are a great way to test out colors on a larger scale versus the smaller 2×3 color cards you typically find at the paint store or in the colors from the fan deck. Once you have your paint colors narrowed down, these larger samples will help you see how the colors react to the lighting in a space, your decor, and the undertones in your flooring or exterior stone or brick.
With these tips in mind, you’ll be well on your way to picking the best paint color for your home’s next paint project.
Once you land on your final selection, be sure to check out these blog posts to help you choose the perfect paint product for the job!
If you’re looking for a professional paint company to give you the highest quality paint job that you can enjoy for years to come, we’d love to be a part of your paint journey and partner with you. Book a complimentary consultation call with our team to get started!
