How to Choose the Right Paint Colors When Decorating Your Home
If you have made the commitment to spruce up the interior decorating of your home, adding fresh, new paint colors to the walls will be one of the most important factors to consider. The decor of your home is the first thing you see every morning and the last thing you see every night. When people come into your home, it sends a message about your style and personality. The wall colors will be the most important factor in setting the mood for your decorating and style. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Focus on one room at a time, which will make it easier for you to get started. Determine the color or colors that you think you want to use in that room. The colors you choose should reflect your lifestyle, personality and coordinate with other accessories and furniture in the room.
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Sample the colors. If you want to avoid one of the biggest mistakes people make when decorating their homes, take your colors for a test drive before committing. Just because a paint color looked great in your neighbor's house doesn't mean that it will look good in your house. There are many factors that can change the look of paint from room to room, such as natural light, room dimension, trim and flooring colors and fabrics used in the room.
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Test the colors that you have chosen. You can purchase new, innovative tester sets and minipots at many stores that carry paint products. They can also be ordered online.
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Paint the test paint directly onto the wall or use the preferred method of plastic or foam sample boards made for sampling paint. These posterlike plastic sample boards can be picked up at most paint stores. You can cut them in half to be able to sample more colors, but the larger the sample is, the easier it is to visualize in the room.
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Analyze one color at a time. Don't hold up multiple sample boards to begin with when comparing. Look at each sample individually and compare with how it looks in the lighting of your room. Look at it during different times of the day as well -- in natural lighting during the day and in the evening when you have the room's lamps turned on. After looking at each individually, then tape your favorites to a wall to evaluate, using the same method. Ask a friend or relative for a second opinion as well. Ultimately, you will be the one to have to live with it, so take their opinions in stride and go with your gut feeling on the best choice for the room.
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