Room Painting Ideas

Creating an interior color scheme from scratch is not an easy task! The keys are inspiration and planning.

Contrary to popular belief, paint colors should not be the first thing to choose when planning your interior color scheme. The right paint color has an awesome way of pulling everything together and completing the story - or, on the other hand, making everything look disjointed when it's wrong.

There are a few steps you should take when creating an interior color scheme..

Finding Your Color Inspiration - Discover what inspires you and create a 'mood board'. Start collecting visuals of color combos that you are drawn to, pics of furniture you love, style vignettes from magazines - anything that captures your attention and conveys the mood you want your space to convey. Add these to a foam core board or paste them in a scrapbook. The important part of this step is to see everything together so you can start to find a theme to guide you. It doesn't have to look like a professional design board, this is just for you.. :)

Choose Finishes For Your Bigger Pieces - Your 'mood or inspiration board' should help you recognize the style you want in your space(for example: warm & welcoming or cool & refreshing) and a general palette for you to start committing to purchases of your big ticket items, such as flooring, kitchen and bathroom cabinets and countertops. If possible, get samples of all these elements before you buy and lay them out in a similar fashion to the inspiration board. Don't forget to add to this collage photos of existing pieces that you want to keep. To create color flow, you want every finish to harmonize with the next, even if they are not in adjacent rooms.

Select Colors For Soft Finishes(eg. Drapes & Upholstery) - This is where you will want to be a little more adventurous in your interior color scheme. You may not have the budget or the desire to change your flooring every five years. But you can change the more decorative items like rugs, drapes, and pillows more often without a lot of disruption, so have some fun!

Complete The Story With The Addition Of Paint Color - It's always a good idea to have a floor plan when it's finally time to choose the paint colors for your wall. You can overlay your color options on the floor plan to see how one color relates to the next. Compare your color choices to your finishes board to ensure the colors coordinate. Add accent colors where appropriate, and don't be afraid to use a strong color on all four walls of a room if it works with your plan. Add various shades of one neutral for interest. Don't forget about ceilings—they can be a great place to add harmonizing color!

Always Pick Up Paint Color Samples - Actual pint samples of your paint colors or large 18 x 18 inch color chips are really helpful. Put them on your walls and view the colors at various times throughout the day to see how the lighting affects them. Color samples are a small investment to make when the result is finding the perfect paint colors for your home.

Our Room Painting Ideas app offers room design & paint color ideas plus simple ways to create stunning changes in your home, regardless of your budget or personal style..

Are you thinking of updating your home this year? Just download the app and prepare to be inspired.. we've included plenty of brilliant color and paint ideas!

Happy Painting! :)