Muted colours work the best
When you see a collection called ‘Designer Colours’ they are almost all muted colours. Muted colours are not necessarily as attractive on a paint chip as they are on your walls. You tend to pass them by when you are looking at paint colours and go to the brighter, bolder, more pure colours.
This is a big mistake. Muted colours are colours with other colours in them (for instance olive green is green with red in it). Muted colours work best with traditional or contemporary rooms that have a variety of colours in them. Most of the time you want a muted colour!
Pure, saturated or bold colour works better in modern, clean-lined, minimally decorated rooms.
q If you want your baby or small child to sleep better, stay away from bright, pure crayon colours. These colours are very stimulating and not conducive to sleep. Evidently babies find any yellow stimulating and therefore it is suggested that you avoid yellow paint for a newborn’s nursery.
People tend to be attracted to the heavier, bolder or livelier colours when they are looking at paint chips. These colours usually end up being too strong and overwhelm the room once they are up on the walls. Even if you choose a lighter tint of the colour it is still too pure to be used in most rooms.
Designers use soft colours, muted colours and coloured neutrals to provide a background to showcase the room. Even when using dark colours, the colour itself will be muted. Strongly coloured paint can end up saying, “See my Paint” not “What a beautiful room”. Instead of making the room feel finished, the room feels uncomfortable and you never really figure out why.
Strong, pure or bold colours work well when used as an accent, or a feature wall to create a focal point where none exists, especially in minimalist, modern style rooms. Use strong colours when you want the paint job to be the main feature in the room.
Most of the time paint colours should feel light, not heavy. Think of paint colour in the terms of fabric. A colour looks much ‘thicker’ when it is used on velvet or corduroy than it does on a semi-sheer drapery fabric. Most colours that you pick from a chip should resemble the colour as it would appear on the semi-sheer fabric, not the velvet.
q Paint colours that do not look strong on the chip often do look too strong on the wall. If possible, test your final choice on the walls. You can by testers at some paint stores or big box stores for as little as $4.00
