Hello there! Dawn here, from DesigningDawn.com and I’m back again this month, but this time I’m switching things up slightly from my usual mood board contribution. (You can see all my past monthly posts by clicking here.) Instead, I thought I’d talk a little bit about one of the most difficult decisions in decorating any space: choosing the right paint colors.
One of the questions I hear most often is how to select paint for a space. Most people know what they like, but somewhere between the paint swatch at the store and the gallon on their walls, something goes terribly wrong. It seems like there is a lot of confusion over how to select the right paint colors, and in my opinion, it starts with confusion over how to describe color.
To help, I’ve created this handy visual guide:
This may seem like a simple concept, but you’d be surprised how convoluted it can get when you’re facing a wall of every paint swatch imaginable. Probably the mistake I see most often is that people confuse terms like light and bright. While light means that a color has a lot of white in it, usually making it soft in color, bright means that a color is very saturated, usually making it very vivid and strong. So if you’re looking for a soft, calming pastel pink for your nursery, what you want is a light paint color, not necessarily a bright paint color.
Similarly, dark and dull are often confused. A color can be both dark and bright, which a lot of people find counter-intuitive. However, when you remember that dull equates to desaturated or muddier colors, it’s easier to see how you could have a dark color that is also bright.
So how does this translate to room designs? I’ve found that if you can think of color in these terms, it helps narrow your focus when shopping for paint swatches. When I design a room, I like to start with the idea of the overall mood I’m going for, and then decide what tone will get me that mood: Dark, Light, Dull, or Bright?
For example, if you’re going for a room with a lot of energy, a bright color is a good choice, while a more dull color works better for a calm or relaxed vibe. A moody feeling is easy to achieve with dark colors, while a soft fresh feeling might require a light color instead. See what I mean? Although there are always other factors, like what accents you choose, it’s a much more effective way to select color than just saying “I want a blue room” and then getting (unsurprisingly) overwhelmed by all the blue paint in the universe.
If you’re still having trouble translating the chart above to actual real life examples, fear not. I’ve done the legwork for you. Here are a few beautiful inspiration rooms I’ve gathered to illustrate my point. I’ve kept them all in the same hue (turquoise) to make it easy to see how one color can be used in various tones with completely different results.
————————————————— LIGHT —————————————————
 Found on sandandsisal.com |
 Found on homebunch.com |
 Found on countryliving.com |
 Found on babble.com |
————————————————— DARK —————————————————
 Found on thefreshexchangeblog.com |
 Found on bhg.com |
 Found on centsationalgirl.com |
 Found on apartmenttherapy.com |
————————————————— DULL —————————————————
 Found on bhg.com |
 Found on thisoldhouse.com |
 Found on younghouselove.com |
 Found on justagirlwithahammer.com |
————————————————— BRIGHT —————————————————
 Found on settingforfour.com |
 Found on hgtv.com |
 Found on greatist.com |
 Found on onekindesign.com |
You can start to see from these examples, how each of these turquoise rooms gives off a very different feel. You could easily describe each by just saying they’re turquoise, but that’s not going to get you very far when you’re starting from scratch and trying to decide what shade of turquoise to commit to.
Obviously this isn’t a complete color theory course, but I’m convince that being able to accurately describe color and correlate it to the mood of your space is the first step to picking a color you’re going to be really happy with.
If you like what you see here, I’d love you to come visit me over at my blog, Designing Dawn, or join me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram. Have a great day, friends!
-Dawn
See more from Dawn:
 Exterior home makeover |
 Creating an open floor plan |
 Updating a small laundry room |
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More paint tips and tricks:
An EASY way to create a whole home paint palette
A still-easy way to create a custom whole home paint color scheme
Test out a paint color BEFORE you buy it
The post A Visual Guide to Describing & Selecting Paint Colors appeared first on Remodelaholic.
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