Paint Swatches - The Secret To Successful Decorating!

Paint swatches are your best friend when it comes to choosing paint colors to decorate the walls, furniture and other items within your home. A paint swatch has been designed to show you the many shade possibilities you have if your focus is on one particular color.

For instance, if you wish to paint your room blue possible shades that await you include: azure, cerulean, periwinkle, denim, navy blue, cobalt blue, sapphire, ultramarine, light blue, indigo and hundreds of other hues.

Something else you will notice when looking at blue paint swatches, for example, is that you can choose blue hues that feature tones of green, purple and gray. Therefore, you have plenty to consider when you go color hunting.

The only problem is, with so much to choose from, finding the right shade can be both a difficult and tedious task.

To help you narrow down your decision making when it comes time to stare at the wall of paint swatches at your local paint or home improvement store, the following are some helpful interior painting tips you can keep in mind:

Warm or Cool – Think of the room you will be painting. Is it an area where you do most of your relaxing, entertaining or eating? For instance, if you are painting your bedroom it’s a good idea to choose a cool color such as blue or green that encourages relaxation.

On the other hand, if you are painting a kitchen or dining room you may want to use a warm red or orange to help increase appetite and conversation. Warm colored paint swatches include red, yellow and orange, while cool colors are blue, green and purple.

Light - Medium -Dark – Once you select the main color, you need to decide if you would rather a light, medium or dark shade. Light shades are a good choice for rooms that are small such as bathrooms, or for rooms that have few or no windows. Light colors also create a more subdued look.

Medium tones provide a more dramatic look and are a better choice for kitchens and large open spaces such as the family room.

Dark tones are not typically used for walls and are more commonly used for painting room accents such as furniture, trim or cabinets. However, dark walls may be desirable in bedrooms or to compliment a theme.

When looking at paint swatches you will notice that the colors featured on each swatch move from dark to light. Notice how different the darkest shade is to the lightest. Depending on if you use the dark or light shade will create an entirely different affect on the room you are painting.

Theme – Do you have a theme that requires certain colors? For instance, if you are doing a country theme, light yellow and blue are ideal choices. On the other hand, a Mexican theme would require spicier colors such as cinnamon and terracotta. This is something else you need to keep in mind when looking at paint swatches.

Neutrals – One of the biggest problems with adding color to walls is the color you choose may limit your ability to keep a space versatile. In other words, it is more likely for you to grow tired of a room that has a defined color on the walls than one with a neutral shade. There are plenty of neutral swatches you can consider.

The more specific you are with your color preference the easier time you will have selecting helpful paint swatches.

About Author:
Michael Holland is the creator of home-decorating-made-easy.com. Visit his site for more great information about interior paint colors
Article Source: http://www.isnare.com/

Featured Video:
How to Choose a Color Scheme & Paint: Interior Design & Painting Tips : Pt. 2 - Making a Color Diagram: Interior Design & Painting Tips



Part 2 - Learn how to make a diagram of the color scheme for your home. Get painting tips for walls & ceilings in this free home improvement video.

(Part 1 is featured on Monday, March 24, 2008)

WallDreams Paint Ideas!
What's in a paint chip name, anyway?
You've seen them:
Sherwin Williams' Bagel, Loveable, Elation, Impetuous, Sequin, and Spun Sugar.
Benjamin Moore's King Arthur's Court, Cat's Meow, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Fun 'n Games.

What color is a Cat's Meow anyway? The name doesn't give us a clue as to what it really is but it sounds kind of cute, right?

It's all about the marketing and naming something so that it sells. Whether the name sounds tantalizingly delicious, catchy, or quirky the name doesn't matter a hoot once it's up on your wall. It will still be a form of red, blue, green, yellow, white, black, purple, pink, beige, etc. Don't let a name detract you from your color choice.

A "Lemon Chiffon" at one store will not be the same at another store.

There is no standard color naming scheme across the different paint manufacturer's nor are their sheen levels exact. If you try to match a color from one paint or home store, at another paint shop you probably will not match the color precisely.

Tips:
If you find you are running out of paint, stop at the nearest edge or corner, even if you are buying more paint from where you purchased the original color. Slight variations can and do occur.

When using more than one gallon of the same paint, box them. This means get a large bucket and pour all the same paint together, mixing well. This eliminates any color discrepancies. Keep the pail covered between paint tray pourings as it is air's job is to dry the paint wherever it finds it.

Paint Your Home With Color!

Tired of those boring white walls? Looking to give your home some character? There’s no better way to give your home a face lift then to paint your home with color!

Painting is affordable and quite easy to do. And changing the color in a room changes the atmosphere. For years white or cream paint where common wall colors throughout the house. But finally people have realized how boring that is and have turned to color for their walls.

Choosing the right paint can be a bit overwhelming if you aren’t use to working with color. Choosing the right color for a room is not as difficult as you might think.

Your paint, furniture fabric, window coverings, rug, and accessory colors will play a large role in what color you can choose. If you have your heart set on a certain color you can always change out some of the other items in your room.

One of the best clues you can have for choosing the right color is knowing what colors make you feel relaxed and happy. You’ll probably already find these colors in your home because they are the colors you’ll be drawn to.

Not sure what’s your best color? Look at the color of your pottery, your home accessories, your jewelry, and the clothing in your closet. You’ll quickly know what your color is!

Now that doesn’t mean that you have to choose that color but it does make you aware of what colors work best for you. Different colors elicit different feelings and moods. If your color isn’t appropriate for the living room it doesn’t matter. Chances are there is a room that it would look really good in. Don’t be afraid to mix colors. A yellow kitchen, a blue living room, and a red den will all look great. You do not need to use the same color throughout the house.

Feature walls always look great especially if the color you have chosen is too dark for an entire room. You can do one or two walls in your color and leave the other two white or cream. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

You should also make a trip to your local paint store. Pick up sample cards of colors you think you would like to use, or you can also pick up a color wheel. Grab as many samples as you like. That’s what they are there for. Then when you get home you can see how these colors look. Don’t forget to try them in different lighting and at night. Colors can look really different when sunlight hits them and when the lamp is their lighting. Make sure you like both affects.

Take your time choosing the color. Make sure after a week or so it’s still your favorite choice. It’s much easier to change your mind prior to painting the walls.

Here’s some color tips that will help you understand how color works. Complimentary colors are colors you will find directly across from each other on the color wheel. Harmonious colors are colors that are each side of the main color. Tint is color that is added to white and shades are colors that have had black added. Saturation is the amount of color. The more color the more vibrant the color.

Let’s say you are going to paint all four walls – two a dark blue and you want the complimentary color on the other two walls. You would take your color wheel, look straight across from your dark blue and have your complimentary color.

Let’s say you want one wall to be vibrant and bold then you would have a deeper saturation in the color. Perhaps you are going to paint the top half of a wall blue and you want to have a harmonious color for the bottom. If you looked on your color wheel you would see that purple is a harmonious color for blue.

How you use the color in your room is as important as what color you choose. Too much color or the wrong color can leave you feeling stressed and overly excited all the time. Too little color can be dreary and unmotivated.

Never be afraid to experiment. If you really hate the color you can easily change it with more paint. When it comes to painting nothing has to be permanent.
So isn’t it time to paint your home with color? Bring your home to life and give it a character all of its own!

About Author:
Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.

Featured Video:
How to Choose a Color Scheme & Paint: Interior Design & Painting Tips : Pt. 1 - Making a Color Diagram: Interior Design & Painting Tips



Part 1 - Learn how to make a diagram of the color scheme for your home. Get painting tips for walls & ceilings in this free home improvement video.


WallDreams Paint Ideas!

Rarely do I see a room done in a white paint on purpose that truly works. Many of our homes and apartments are quickly painted in a white or offwhite to give it a "clean" look, but for me a white wall is just waiting for the right color, it is a blank stretched canvas, unfinished or even begun. A basic white wall feels unwelcoming and cold. Outside of our door, in nature is every color imaginable - the color of sky, earth, water, stone; every growing thing; flowers, trees, animals. There are colors and combinations of colors that you love.

If you can put together an outfit that makes you look and feel great, you can pick a wall color!

For some help in understanding color better, here are some very helpful links.

http://www.writedesignonline.com/resources/design/rules/color.html

http://interiordec.about.com/cs/artic12/a/des_decordos.htm

http://www.interior-design-it-yourself.com/decorating-with-color.html

http://www.makedecor.com/

Now, get a bucket of paint and get started!

Taupe -- A New Neutral and Tricky Wall Color

Page through home catalogs and you see taupe. Check out the latest fashions and you see taupe. Cruise new neighborhoods and you see taupe. This brownish-gray color is the darling of the home and fashion industries. The popularity of the color is surging because there are so many shades of taupe. Do-it-yourselfers have picked up on the trend.

In response to customer demands, many paint companies have come up with shades of taupe. Behr paint, for example, has its White and Light Collection. This collection includes shades of taupe that go from Parisian Taupe, to Indulgent Mocha, to Pale Bamboo. Some shades have more brown in them, while others have more pink.

Glidden also produces various taupe colors and, like all paint companies, the colors have fantastic names like Meditative Moment and Bistro Beige. As descriptive as the names are, they may not help with your color choice. How can you find a shade that works for you?

Find the brightest spot in the store and look at a color swatch. Flourescent lighting changes colors, so take the chip outside and look at the color again. Bringing fabric and carpet swatches will also help you find the right shade. Buy a small can of paint and try it on a small section of wall. Since changing light changes the color, look at your sample paint job during the day, at dusk, and at night.

Your paint homework may not keep you from disappointment. The Home and Garden TV Web site has a message board and one home owner pleaded for help. He painted the walls of his renovated bathroom taupe and was dismayed with the result. "Every color I put up against the walls makes taupe come across as slightly mauve," he wrote. The home owner repainted the walls.

The Garden and Hearth Web site discusses taupe in an article titled, "Interior Design Colors: Taupe," by Sarah Van Arsdale. She describes taupe as a neutral color and a good choice for walls, but you have to choose the right taupe. "Be careful not to make a room too dark, " warns Van Arsdale.

A dark shade of taupe will make a small room appear smaller. Taupe also darken angular spaces. While taupe can be the basis of a neutral decorating scheme, Van Arsdale says you don't want your scheme to be bland. Adding textue with pillows and upholstery, plus colorful accessories, will keep this from happening.

Taupe is really a family of colors -- beautiful, rich, adaptive colors that go with all design styles. It's a great color choice if you're planning to move and a great color choice if you're planning to stay. With a little detective work you'll find the right taupe for you.

About Author:
Harriet Hodgson has been a freelance nonfiction writer for 29 years. She is a member of the Association of Healt Care Journalists and the Association for Death Educaiton and Counseling. Her 24th book, "Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief," written with Lois Krahn, MD, is available from http://www.amazon.com You will find a review of the book on the American Hospice Foundation Web site and the Health Ministries Association Web site. Copyright 2008 by Harriet Hodgson

Log onto http://www.harriethodgson.com to learn more about this busy author and grandmother.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

WallDreams Paint Ideas!

Live with a color before making a final decision. You may be able to buy a small color sample (available from some paint manufacturers) and paint an inconspicuous wall area or sample board then live with the color for several days. A sample board should be prime base coated in a background as close as possible to the wall you are painting over to get the true color. Look at the sample at different times during the day. Notice how it changes in varying lights. See how it looks with how the rest of the room is decorated. Always remember the best time of day that you will be using the room the most also.

If small paint samples are not available, perhaps buy the smallest amount available to mix of that color, perhaps a quart.

Other colors that are "difficult" to work with as far as coverage and "getting it just right" are yellow and red. Yellow is one tough color, as it usually comes out far brighter than you will be comfortable with. Red can be difficult to work with as far as coverage and coats. A primer tinted in a similar color will help here.

Color Schemes For Interior Decorations

It is often easier to decorate around the house; there exist some amount of spontaneity inspiring you to plunge into your own styling. When it comes to wall color schemes, things turn the other way. For amateurs and enthusiasts and homemakers too, this field appears a bit risky, with lots to lose— time, money, and efforts to start with, not to mention the redoing it requires.

You don’t need to feel overwhelmed with the ordeal. To plan and co-ordinate color scheme for every room in the home, you can take one step at a time. Assess each room individually and make notes as to the amount of natural light it receives, the kind of lighting you have used and the color that will best compliment the natural architectural features of your home. It’s easy to estimate these details, if you have lived in the house for some time.

Before you decide, take a closer look at the existing carpeting, flooring and woodwork and it will allow you to make a safe choice. On an average, color scheme on the walls will helps you to determine the harmony between colors to be used throughout the décor. Color wheels are often used to determine the complimentary colors; you can do the accents furnishings (rugs, lamps, paintings) and furniture in the complimentary colors. Some common schemes for selecting the best color for a space,

• Monochromatic Color Scheme: The most common one, it uses a single color in different shades, tints, values, textures and hues to bring the harmony and flow, a sense of uniformity to a place.
• Analogous Scheme: This one uses adjacent colors on the color wheel, allowing you many possibilities within the warm or cool color category. Plan the colors diligently, for it is important for the colors to come out as a great combo.
• Complementary Scheme: Here, one can use the colors opposite each other on the color wheel, again a difficult task as the balance of colors will take some careful thinking. Considered bold and modern.
• Triadic Color Scheme: This one uses three hues. Each is placed consecutively or at equal distances from each other. For example, yellow, green and red, this scheming uses their tones, shades and scales in three hues placed at equal distances from each other.

On studying the color wheel and looking up different color scheming, get a practical view and start planning. Here are a few steps for your consideration,

• When you have decided on the color palette for a room, start with the lighter shades for walls, medium for furniture and windows (or contrasts), doors etc. If you don’t want to change the furniture, work around a wall color that is a shade lighter in the same order. Accessories may look great in the darkest of shade on your color card.
• Lighter shades like cream, whites, lemon, Ivory can make a big difference in making a space look larger. You can use a lighter shade as the base or neutral color; play with contrast and bolder shades for rest of the décor.
• You need to have ‘eye resting point’ where all the colors break even. Nothing big or too loud, a great complimentary colored vase or bowl or art piece or painting that highlights the accents, and harmonizes the interiors in a balancing art.
• Usually, people use boldest of colors on fabrics like cushions, curtains and mats. You can use harmonize fabrics by using colors as accent fabrics on chairs, decorative pillows, tablecloths and mats.
• Repeat each colors in an equal proportion throughout the room, and in at least 3-4 places. The best color ratio: Divide color use to approximately 60% of the room in the background (lightest) color, 30% in the mid-tone color, and 10% in the brightest, accent colors.

Play within the color rules, but when it comes to creativity, don’t overlook your own power. You can do wonders with pieces and bits within the arena and create a space that reflects your taste, your individuality.

About Author:
Amanda Somers is a free lance writer who writes for on-line design magazines and furniture retailers. For more reference log on to: www.spacify.com/interior-decoration-color.htm

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com