Every home suffers a few negatives BUT not every solution requires an expensive and messy home remodeling project. Paint is an often-overlooked, low-cost remedy for common complaints regarding a home’s interior which offers a chameleon-like ability to lighten, warm, enlarge, erase, or attract attention. Paint has amazing transformation power when you use it to emphasize a room’s best features or downplay its flaws.

How to Pick the Right Paint Colors

• Always sample paint colors on a few walls. Don’t be shy about painting a few large swaths on the walls and trim to see the effect of natural and artificial lighting. Add samples to opposite sides of a room to judge the paint color from different angles.
• Check the space with the samples in place and watch how the paint color changes at different times of the day.
• Evaluate your reaction to the proposed colors – does the space feel cozy or is the space enhanced?

Enlarge the Space with Color

• Painting walls white, cream, pastels or cool colors create the illusion of more space by reflecting light. Painting the trim a similar color to the walls (or use white on trim) will ensure a seamless appearance that visually expands the space.
• Using white or light colors on walls lifts the ceiling. Darker shades can have a similar effect if a high-gloss paint sheen is used as it reflects light and enhances the space.
• To magnify the dimensions of a room, consider using a monochromatic theme. By selecting furnishings in one color and painting the walls and trim to match, it will make a room seem more spacious due to the lack of contrast.
• Vertical and horizontal stripes of alternating color can make a room feel “grand”. Vertical stripes enhance the room height by drawing the eye upwards while horizontal stripes pull your eye around the space, making the walls seem further away. Use similar light colors for low-contrast stripes and your room will look even larger.

Create Cozy and Calm Surroundings

• The right paint choice can offer serenity to a bathroom, master suite or other quiet personal spaces. Soft, understated color or muted tones help instill a calming mood. Consider using pale lavenders, light grays or greens, and wispy blues.
• When a room feels cavernous, draw walls inward and make it cozy with warm colors as darker hues absorb light. Similarly, using a dark or warm color, in a flat finish, helps make rooms with high or vaulted ceilings seem less voluminous.

Highlight the Highpoints

• “Dress” crown moldings and other trims in white to make them pop against walls with color. Make a fireplace or other feature a focal point by painting it a color that contrasts with walls.
• Using a higher sheen of paint on woodwork, such as baseboards and door or windows, creates a crisp edge and clear transition from the wall to the trim.

Downplay the Defects

• Selecting a low-sheen or flat paint color helps to hide flaws. Unless walls are smooth, avoid using high-gloss paint because it reflects light and calls attention to any imperfection or uneven surface.
• Using a low-contrast color palette is a great tactic to hide unsightly areas. HVAC grills, conduits, radiators and other components painted the same color as the wall will seem to disappear.

We hope you found this post to be helpful, informative and interesting … Watch for PART 2 of our Series on May 18th – Pick the Right Paint Finish So You Won’t Waste Money!

In need of a good painter or craftsman? Be sure to visit www.homesinthesunteam.com/trusted-vendors for our recommendations.

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