Asubdued dove grey was recently named 2019 Color of the Year by Benjamin Moore.
Pantone predicts a palette of “Classico” for interiors: “camel-colored tan, swan white, caviar black, burgundy red, gray flannel, gold, and apricot brandy.”
Pick Your Palette
So many choices, especially when you’re covering every wall of your new dream home.
What mood do you want to convey? Bold and bright, soft elegance, coastal relaxation? Start with your home’s center. Perhaps a massive country kitchen or great room with cathedral ceilings.
Consider what you already love when choosing your colors. Perhaps the woodwork on the ceiling, the French doors leading out to a private garden, a grand sofa, a magnificent chandelier, or a hand-carved coffee table. Choose a color scheme to complement those special features.
How does one room connect with the next? Let the architecture guide you. Look for corners and transition areas for natural places to stop and start a paint color or wall treatment. Pick a self-contained wall to paint with an accent color.
Let The Sun In
Any color with white in it will take on the reflections from carpeting, ceiling color, and even furnishings. Light affects colors, so test every selection by painting large swaths on the wall, checking them at different times of day and with different lighting features.
Natural light changes from sunrise to sunset, with daylight considered the perfect light source because it has nearly uniform intensity over the entire visible spectrum of colors. A room with only northern exposure receives less daylight than other rooms in the home. For a room used primarily before sunrise or after sunset, choose colors that work well with artificial lighting.
Color on your walls can unify disparate styles of furnishings, enliven traditional styles, and manipulate your sense of space. A small room can seem larger with light colors; a large room will shrink with a darker shade on the walls. You can visually lower a ceiling with a dark color and raise it with a light one.
Finish With a Flourish
- Paint your walls and trim the same color. Trim with oil paint and walls with water-based paint makes the light reflect off the surfaces differently so your trim pops a little more even though it’s the same color.
- Paint your trim darker than your walls for a bolder way to play with neutrals.
- Paint a feature wall with oil-based paint. Try it on a wall with a lot of paneling, or stairwells and chimneys.
- Paint your trim the same color throughout your house but vary wall or casement colors. Typically you want your trim and your doors to match throughout the home, whether the doors are wood or painted.
- Paint your ceiling the same color as your walls. Especially for any white room, but it also works great in a master bedroom or nursery. With a dark color, you’re better able to control light and mood and sleep. Being surrounded in the same dark hue feels like being wrapped up in a blanket.
