4 Room Painting Tips for Every Space

Painting your home's interior can give it an updated, refreshed aesthetic. According to House Grail, after having a room or more painted inside their home, 88% of respondents disclosed wanting to spend more time at home to enjoy the results. Working with professional painters can help you transform how your home looks and feels. Here are a few tips for painting any space.

1. Create a Cohesive Color Palette

The first step for any painting project done right is to choose a cohesive color palette. Typically, most rooms require a primary, or foundation color, a supplementary color, and then two accent colors. Your furniture, carpets, and wall hangings should all adhere to the palette. You don't need to paint something with every color, but the paint colors you choose should definitely be a part of the overall color scheme. For example, if you want a coastal feel in a room, you might have sky blue as the primary color, sea green as the secondary shade, and raspberry and white as the accent colors.

Using our palette example, you might paint the walls sky blue, and the baseboards white, with some raspberry trim in the mix. The same holds true for darker or neutral palettes. A darker palette might be olive green with brown and tank and a lighter shade of green as accents. Of course, there's no limit to the number of accent colors you can use, but two should be the minimum. This will ensure that your room has a lot of depth. Multiple colors also provide you with more options when it comes to selecting other decor items and wall hangings.

Design websites are a fantastic resource for getting ideas for your room's palette. And your painter will be able to offer some assistance, too. In fact, think of them as a helpful resource that can provide insight into the current trends and popular colors in your area. In the end, the palette you choose will come down to personal style and preferences. When it comes to selecting the interior paint for your home, there's no wrong answer.

Another decision you'll need to make as part of your palette selection is the paint finish. From flat to eggshell and gloss, the finish makes a significant difference in the end result. Many people love gloss paint for door and window trim and eggshell everywhere else. Satin finishes are also worth checking out. If you're not sure which finish is right for the room you're painting, your painter can provide additional information and examples.

2. Consider the Amount of Natural Light the Room Gets

Natural light has a significant effect on the way a color looks throughout the day. If you have a room that gets a lot of sunlight, you might want to consider painting a few test blocks. This will let you see how the color will look during different times of the day as well as at night when the lights are on. Color blocks are also an effective tool when you're not sure what color you want. Choose a few that interest you and paint squares side-by-side to see how they look on the wall, and which one you like best.

Natural light can be tricky to gauge. One rule of thumb is to choose your colors with it in mind. If you're painting your den or other spot in your home where a lot of relaxing occurs, you'll probably want darker colors. For kitchens and bathrooms, bright colors are great. Bedrooms and living spaces can go either way, depending on the look and feel you're trying to achieve. Don't shy away from bold colors as they can really make a statement and create an elevated sense of design and elegance.

At night, the type of light bulbs you use will have an effect on the way a paint color looks. The softer your bulbs, the warmer your walls will look. Cooler colors will look better with corresponding bulbs. For many people, the difference isn't very noticeable, but it's a factor worth considering. You don't want to choose a color that you love during the day and intensely dislike at night. A few moments of consideration can help you avoid this outcome.

3. Create a Sense of Flow from One Room to the Next

If you have an open floor plan and want to paint certain areas different colors, be sure that they all work well together. The same is true for adjoining rooms. You don't want a jarring effect when going from one room to the next. For example, if your dining room is a deep, dark blue, painting the adjacent living room bright orange might not work as well as a muted pumpkin or salsa color. Each color should have the same or similar undertones in order to look right when painted in the same room. The more time that you take to select the colors for your project, the happier you'll be with the results.

You'll also want to consider the undertones of your paint colors. A blue with a lot of purple undertones is much different than one that contains a lot of brown or gray undertones. This is another situation where test blocks also come in handy. But, when two colors don't work well together, it's usually apparent by looking at the color strip samples. Another option is to create one expanded color palette for the entire house. This will ensure that all the colors work well together and nothing clashes. This will also make your home feel larger and more spacious.

Many homeowners separate their houses into public and private spaces when they're creating their design plan. This means that family bathrooms and bedrooms have one palette or overall color scheme, and public spaces another. Public spaces in a home would be your kitchen, dining, and living rooms, and the guest bathroom. Laundry rooms and other utility types of rooms don't really need to be taken into account when developing your color scheme.

4. Always Work With Professionals

The most important tip to follow is to always work with professional painters. From any necessary prep work to clean-up they'll make sure that the job's done right. They'll also know the most appropriate paint to buy for your type of walls and for achieving the look you want. Additionally, painters work with all types of clients and in many different styles of homes. Their experience can be helpful when you're unsure of what color is right for a room, or when repairs need to be done before the painting can begin.

A fully qualified painter is the only way to go when you want to update the interior of your home. Painting is too important of a project, with long-lasting effects to leave to anyone else. The right painter will create an interior space for you that turns your house into your dream home!

When you need to hire professional and skilled painters, we're the team to call. Our painters are fully trained, courteous, and respectful. Get in touch with our team at Arclight Painting today to learn more about our services and to get an estimate for your project. We look forward to hearing from you soon!