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Many people get stressed about choosing paint colors because they think they will make some awful decorating faux pas, and end up choosing boring off-white. Take stock of your home, taking notes of what decorating colors you have chosen over time. Chances are, they are predominantly either warm or cool, muted or vivid, conservative or adventurous. Go to a paint store and pick all the free color swatches that appeal to you.
Consider them in your kitchen and dining room. Choose colors that make your cabinets and counter tops pop and pull together other colors in the room. If your house has an open floor plan, make sure colors you choose don't clash with colors in adjacent spaces. If using different paint in the adjoining dining room, make sure the colors flow and avoid jarring contrasts.
Before purchasing the paint, get some testers or quarts of the colors you've chosen and paint large samples--about 3 feet square--directly onto the walls. It is impossible to accurately predict how colors will look in your home, with your lighting conditions, from the tiny swatch. Live with the colors for at least 24 hours so you can assess how they look in both daylight and artificial light.
Don't forget that your ceilings can be regarded as a "fifth wall" and there is no rule they must be pure white. Ceilings can be painted a lighter version of the wall color, or can be a subtle echo of the cabinet or counter top color. Imagine French blue walls paired with light oak cabinets and a very pale beige ceiling. If you have a large and well lit kitchen, a deeper color on the ceiling can look stunning: Light maple cabinets, deep brown patterned granite counter tops, caramel colored walls and a deep brown ceiling. -
Kitchen paint needs to be washable and durable, and you often get what you pay for. Continually evolving paint technology means modern paints are better and more versatile than before. You are no longer limited to semi-gloss paint in kitchens. Spotlights and under-the-counter lighing creates a lot of glare on shiny surfaces. Consider one of the newer scubbable flat or matte latex paints, which rival the best oil-based enamels in durability, but impart a softer glow. Another growing product line are low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) "green" paints, less toxic for your family and gentler to the environment.
It is also worthwhile to invest in high quality painting tools. If you own your home, you have many painting projects ahead of you. Invest in good tools, take good care of them, and they can last you a lifetime.
