Are you one of the 59% of Americans who are still busily engaged in home improvements this year? If so, you’ve probably considered a fresh coat of paint to showcase all your other DIY projects. Picking a paint color is fraught with difficulties. If you choose something a little too bold, you might tire of it soon. If you go with a color based on your preferences, it may clash with the rest of your decor. When in doubt, it’s best to paint light colors to broaden your options for mass appeal and demure design. Here’s how to pick the perfect light paint for your interiors.
Understanding the Impact of Different Colors
Brushing up on the principles of color theory helps take the guesswork out of choosing paint colors. These are the basics:
Primary Colors
There are only three primary colors, namely, red, yellow, and blue. When mixed in the correct proportions, you can create any color from these main players.
Secondary Colors
Secondary colors are what you get from mixing these primary colors. Orange, green, and purple, are secondary colors.
Hues and Tones
Hues and tones describe varieties of a common color like aqua is a hue of blue. A tone is a hue produced by adding gray pigment to a primary or secondary pigment.
Tone also refers to the brightness of a color. Soft tones have more gray pigment, while bright tones fall closer to the primary colors on the spectrum.
Tints and Shades
Tints occur when manufacturers add white pigment to a primary or secondary colored pigment. The more white, the lighter the tint.
Different shades come from adding black pigment to primary or secondary pigments. More black produces a darker shade.
Warm Colors and Cool Colors
Red, yellow, and orange hues invoke feelings of coziness or excitement since they represent the color of fire. Cool colors, like blue, green, and purple refer to natural elements and can create a sense of calm relaxation.
The Role of Colors in Interior Design
Interior designers classify colors according to mood. These moods refer to how color is likely to affect the viewer’s emotions.
Passive colors, like green, blue, and purple, have a calming effect and can enhance relaxation and focus. Most passive colors are cool, soft-toned colors.
Active colors stimulate and excite the mind, they’re usually warm, bright colors like yellow, red, and orange.
Neutral colors don’t fit into the above categories. Any color can fill this role if it’s less eye-catching than the dominant colors in a room.
Stick to a Color Scheme
A color scheme helps guide the overall impression created by your room and helps unify your design efforts. It’s best to start with three colors you like for your color scheme and take it from there.
You should use these colors to guide your choices for wall paint or paper, furniture, artworks, and rugs. It makes sense that your light paint choice must serve as a suitable background for this palette.
Looking at a color wheel can help you understand which color families work together. You’ll find colors that work well together across from each other on the wheel.
You can also look at some of your existing upholstery or other soft furnishings to see which color combinations you enjoy.
Paint Finish Matters
Matte colors always seem more muted than their glossy counterparts. That’s because paint with a sheen reflects more light.
Matte paint usually comes out lighter than the color represented on the swatch.
Other common paint finishes include:
- Eggshell paint has a soft, smooth finish, and a matte finish that closely matches the relevant color swatches when dry.
- Satin paint has a pearl-like glow and a soft finish
- Semi-gloss paint appears darker than a swatch and has a sleek, shiny appearance
- High-gloss paint is best reserved for accents
Bear these effects in mind when choosing the ideal finish for your chosen paint color.
There’s an App for That
In modern times, technology comes to the rescue in most situations. Computers read light as a series of RGB, HEX, and CMYK values, so nifty programs can help you figure out the best matches according to well-established design rules.
So, you can also take a shortcut to find an appealing shade of paint by downloading an app from the internet.
Color Matching Apps
Do you love your current paint color, but it needs a touch-up?
Paint fades over time depending on its exposure to light. So, that color you painted years ago might differ from what you get out of a new tin, even if it’s the same make and color as the original.
Both app designers and paint manufacturers offer color-matching apps to help you precisely match the existing colors on your walls. Using a good-quality photo of your wall, these innovations can help you find the perfect match.
Color-Sensing Devices
Spectrometers are the industry standard when it comes to measuring color. These use complicated processes and usually have bulky designs.
Now, color-sensing apps can help you enjoy the benefits of a hand-held spectrometer for a fraction of the price. These applications send a reading to your phone via Bluetooth.
You can use these readings to match dozens of paint brands across North America.
Virtual Design Studios
Some major paint manufacturers feature tools on their website where you can upload a photo of your room and ‘paint’ on it.
This system isn’t ideal, as your computer monitor’s settings play a role in the final effect. Yet, it can give you some ideas to use as a starting point in your quest for the perfect paint color.
Go With The Latest Trends
Are you considering selling your home soon? A trendy wall color could work in your favor.
When you pick one of these favorite shades, you create a subconscious modern, upmarket feel in your home. This can attract more buyers.
Pantone went all out by selecting two colors of the year this time around, namely Ultimate Grey and Illuminating.
Some other trendy shades for 2021 include:
- Neutral, light gray paint
- Cool, pale teal
- Warm, sophisticated bronze
- Earthy olive green
- Rich, light caramel
- Pretty, pastel pink
- Almost all white
If all this seems a little complicated, you might decide that white paint’s the simplest option for you. Wrong! Making the best use of white paint involves considerable thought too.
Making White Paint Work For You
When you head to the hardware store to pick up your white paint, you’re in for a surprise. Nowadays, white isn’t one color.
These paints offer a whole spectrum of design choices too. You can get white paint in gray, chalky, cool, or icy blue tones.
In the simplest terms, you can choose from warm or cool shades of white. These undertones work best with your spaces depending on the light aspect of your room, your preferences, and the overall tone of your room.
That’s because the contents of your room and the lighting will highlight the undertones of your white paint. This may result in an effect that isn’t quite what you imagined it would be.
Testing, Testing
It’s best to test your chosen paint coloring a room before you go all out.
You can do this by buying tester pots and painting a small section of the room, to see how it appears alongside your other decor items. Remember to look at the effect under natural as well as artificial light.
Finding the Best Shade of White
To help you avoid buying test pot after test pot, we’ve compiled this guide to set you on the right track when it comes to selecting a shade of white. Check it out:
Brilliant White
Brilliant white is a popular choice among decorators.
It has no pigment, so it reflects nearly all the light that comes into contact with it. In this way, brilliant white automatically brightens dark corners by bouncing natural daylight off your walls.
This kind of light white paint is also a good choice when paired with woodwork and creates a fresh calming look when used on ceilings.
Thanks to this, it’s a good option for small rooms that have ample natural light. Beware, it can create a cold atmosphere in the blue tones of north-facing rooms.
Warm White
North-facing rooms get less sun during the day, so they’re often dark and prone to shadows. Due to this, they reflect more blue and great tones from these shadows.
Pure white looks darker when used on the walls of these rooms, creating a dismal aura.
To counteract this, you should use yellow-based whites to create a warmer, cozier appeal, especially when combined with red or yellow decor elements.
In a south-facing room, these paints appear more cream than white.
Diversify Your Whites
When you use only one shade of white or any color in a room, you could create a dull, flat appearance. Instead, combine different shades of white in one room to make the most of its natural attributes.
Try using bright white on the ceiling, with warmer shades on woodwork, walls, and cornices. This creates the impression of height while emphasizing unique features in the room.
If you’re painting the floorboards, look for coordinating colors.
Shortcuts to Choosing Paint Colors
Setting up a mood board eliminates a lot of trial and error when choosing white paint. When you combine colors and textures in this way, it’s easier to get a feel for the final effect of your paint colors.
You can use a paint color palette to help you choose a shade of white too. Simply pick a color strip featuring the shades you prefer, and work your way up to see which white goes best with these colors.
Light Up Your Interior Design (Literally)
Lighting paint, also known as electroluminescent paint, works like EL panels except it has many more applications. EL paint combines both the benefits of lighting and paints to bring luminescence and a unique aspect to your interiors.
This paint glows when it’s charged with an inverter, presenting a wide range of opportunities for eye-catching designs. You can apply this type of paint to a huge range of surfaces, including:
- Wood
- Cement
- Drywall
- Plastic
- Vinyl
- Acrylic
- Metal
The use of transparent paints and different colors for light painting creates impactful results to suit your design aspirations.
Click here to look at light paint and find out more about this unique decor idea.
Is Light Paint Ever a Bad Idea?
Light-colored paint doesn’t work equally well in every room, so consider the following when choosing paint colors.
Avoid using light paint in very large rooms with a lot of exposed wall spaces. In the same way, light colors helped cramped spaces appear larger, they can cause large rooms to appear cavernous. A darker shade will help create a cozier, more welcoming feel.
Light paint colors introduce energy into the environment, which is the last thing you want in a bedroom or other area set aside for relaxation. Rather go for darker shades in these places to create coziness and comfort instead of a high-energy vibe.
Pale shades will also show off dirty marks quicker. So, unless you want to spend many hours washing your walls, avoid using them in areas that attract scuffs and dirty marks.
White paint doesn’t work well in home offices either. Too much white can lead to eye strain, fatigue, and increased anxiety.
More Bright Ideas For Your Home
A coat of paint is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to change the look of your entire home, offering endless color schemes and design possibilities.
Now that you’re up to speed with the latest ideas and innovations regarding the best light paint for your rooms, why not explore some more decor ideas?
Browse our blog for more highlights in the realm of interior design.