The art of choosing colour

First, Pick Your Style

Think about the styles you like and how you want each room to feel. Different colors can evoke different emotions. Purple is historically linked to royalty, whereas greens and blues are known for their calming effect.

Also, consider the architectural style of your home. A modern, minimalist design may benefit from clean lines and neutral tones like whites, greys, and blacks. But Victorian or rustic-style homes may call for intense darker paints like burgundy or forest green.

Consider the Room's Purpose

Think about what you'll do in each room before choosing paint colours. Use soft colours like light blue or soft green for bedrooms to help you relax and sleep peacefully, and choose warm colours like yellow and red for rooms where you might be active – like kitchens and study/gym rooms.

The architectural style of a room may also influence your choices. Rooms with high ceilings will require a darker colour near the ceiling and a lighter one on the lower walls to create a cozy yet spacious look. Small rooms may also benefit from a lighter touch like soft blues, greens, and lavenders to appear bigger.

Choose a Colour Scheme

This entails selecting a colour palette for each room to establish the desired mood. Your options include:

Monochromatic: Variations of a single colour

Complementary: Colours that oppose each other

Analogous: Colours next to each other on the color wheel, like green, blue, and blue-green

Start by choosing a dominant colour to set the main tone for each room, depending on how you plan to use it. Once you've selected your dominant colour, it's time to pick two complementary colours to add depth to each room. For example, if you choose blue as your dominant colour, you can then pair it with two lighter or darker tones such as sky blue and azure. We recommend using your dominant colour for approximately 60% of the room, the supporting colour for 30%, and an accent colour for 10% to balance all the colours together.

Choose Trim and Accent Colours

In painting terminology, an accent refers to a single element painted in a bold colour to stand out and draw attention to a specific place or fixture in the room. This can include a single wall, often referred to as an "accent wall," a piece of furniture, or a distinctive architectural feature like a fireplace or an arched doorway.

Trim, on the other hand, refers to the decorative woodwork that frames windows, doors, and floors, including baseboards that run along the bottom of walls. You can apply various colours to trim, but there are still rules to consider. Trim is typically painted in a colour that contrasts with the main colour to add visual interest to the room. Common trim colours include crisp white or a shade slightly lighter or darker than the main wall colour.