If you are in search of the perfect paint color, look no further!  As a professional interior designer, I will tell you that paint, as simple as it sounds, is one of the most difficult things to choose when trying to update your space.  Maybe you bought a new house with horrid existing wall color, or maybe you have the perfect retreat but would like to tweak it a bit and you’re wondering, “where the heck do I start?”  Woohoo, start here!  Pick me, pick me!

In order to begin your super fun paint adventure, I recommend taking a deeper look at your space and defining what element it is that you love about that particular room.  If it’s your kitchen, you may be drawn to the beautifully crafted wood cabinets or the granite countertops.  If it’s your bedroom, it may be something as simple as your wood floors and your fancy area rug that you purchased overseas.  Whatever it is, let this element become your inspiration for this space.  If you can easily bring this inspiration with you to a paint store (i.e. a chip of the granite slab from the stone yard or an extra piece of flooring), I highly recommend this, as it is nearly impossible to choose the right paint color without considering the other design elements in a room.

I will begin by telling you that there are a ridiculous amount of paint manufacturers, the most notable being Dunn Edwards, Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Frazee, etc.  You may think that all paint is the same thing with a different name, but it’s not!  You may search one paint deck in its entirety and not come remotely close to finding the perfect color to suit your needs.  Trust me, I understand your paint anxiety and I sometimes want to paper cut my wrists too!  Keep your chin up and move on to the next paint deck.  You may be wondering why you’re experiencing this paint angst, and I’ll explain.

Look at a color wheel and your frustration will be put into picture form.  The color wheel is made from 3 primary colors:  red, blue, and yellow.  These primary colors cannot be produced from any other colors.  However, when we mix these primary colors, we get the secondary colors of purple (red + blue), green (blue + yellow), and orange (yellow + red).  This vicious (but amazing!) cycle is what produces the amazing rainbow seen as the middle ring of color on a color wheel.  The colors that make up the entire wheel are created by mixing a combination of these colors at various intensities.  Furthermore, as the color wheel expands outward, we see color as a tint (the color gets lighter as it moves to the outer rings) because white has been added to the main color.  As the color wheel moves to the inner point (black), we see shades which are produced by adding black to the main color.  Neutrals are produced by mixing the exact opposite of its friend on the others side of the wheel.  Are you thoroughly confused yet?  Let me break it down with an example of a simple color:  RED.  Red is a primary color, but PINK is a tint of red.  BURGUNDY is a shade of red.  So when you go shopping for paint, keep in mind that most colors may lean toward reddish-(insert color here), a blueish-(insert color here), a yellowish-(insert color here), etc.  Paint really isn’t as simple as just selecting neutral beige or a brown or green or red.

Now that you are super educated by Elizabeth’s  Color Wheel 101, I will tell you that the reason you may experience difficulty in selecting the perfect palette is because color has endless possibilities.  If we go back to the granite or wood example, your granite may look like it is brown with stupid gold flecks, but once you start looking at neutral “beige” or “taupe” paint, you may realize that your “earthy” color looks really PINK next to your granite because of where that color falls on the color wheel.  When selecting paint, it is also CRUCIAL to look at your paint chips in natural light.  I highly recommend going outside or near a window.  Also remember that light is highly reflective, and if you are sitting near a window in your existing PINK room, any paint you look at will have a pink tinge to it, so try to look at paint in a neutral setting, and preferably outside or where you get a good amount of natural light.

If you find 2 or 3 colors that you like and you can’t choose, ask the paint store for small samples or “draw-downs” (draw-downs are 8×10 paint chips that you can pin up on your walls for a better idea).  Leave the paint samples on your walls for a day or two and go into that room at different times during the day to see how it changes in the light and how it looks with your inspiration element.

Another tip to remember when looking at paint is that if you start somewhere like Lowe’s or Home Depot, don’t be disappointed if you feel like you haven’t found the perfect color.  You may not be crazy and you may need to look elsewhere.  If you are doing something a little more fun like a kid’s room or a vibrant bedroom with red walls, you may need to look at a manufacturer like Benjamin Moore.  Their paints tend to cost more per gallon, but it is not unwarranted.  They tend to have more pigment, giving you a much richer color.  My advice to you is to start at your local hardware store, and if you don’t find what you need, move along until you are in paint perfection land!