How To Pick The Right Paint For Your Home
In order to add depth to your home, you’ll need to do more than just contrasting the color, you’ll need to contrast the textures too. There is a little room to experiment here, but not as much as with color. You’ll want to stick to the set standards like high glass for trim and wainscoting, flat for the ceiling, and eggshell or satin for your walls.
What types of paint finishes are there?
• Textured – good for ceilings and wall designs
• Flat/Matte – Marks easily, no shine
• Eggshell – semi resistant to marks, low shine
• Satin - demi resistant to marks, semi-shine
• Semi-Gloss – highly resistant to marks, high shine
• High-Gloss – very resistant to marks, shiny
What paint finish should I use for trim?
The purpose of the trim in your home is to protect the corners of the walls. It receives a beating over the course of the life of your home. Trim paint colors also don’t change often, you’ll usually find that most trim is either wood, white, or off white. As a result, you won’t need to paint them very often, however, you will need them to be very durable. You’ll need to use a high gloss finish for all of the trim in your home. The same rules apply for wainscoting, doors, and chair rail, which exists to protect the walls of your home. Avoid dark colors as it will make your home appear darker and smaller than it really is.
What paint finish should I use for furniture?
Furniture is in the same vein as the trim and wainscoting in your home. Due to its use, it is highly susceptible to scuffing and marking. As a result, you’ll usually see furniture in semi-gloss or high gloss. Unlike trim, the color can vary from white to charcoal, or semi-transparent varnish, if it is real wood with a nice grain. Additionally, if you are looking for an accent piece, a single brightly colored furniture can add energy and focus to a room.
What paint finish should I use for my floor and stairs?
Although uncommon, we can sometimes find ourselves needing to paint our floors. Floors can be tricky since they receive an exceptionally high amount of wear and tear. For basements and garage floors, epoxy paint can look very sharp. The high gloss keeps the scuffs to a minimum, however, it is important to note that epoxy paint will yellow in the sun, so if you are choosing to use it in your garage, make sure to choose a dark color that will show the yellowing less.
It is common to paint stairs with latex paint, but keep in mind that you will need to use a high gloss so that the paint is more durable and avoids scuffing. However, we don’t encourage this, since high gloss paint is slippery when wet, so make sure you are comfortable that no one will slip before going this route.
What paint finish should I use for my walls?
Walls can be any color you choose, typically you would pick an eggshell or satin finish, however, a flat finish can give great texture to an accent wall. Keep in mind that if you choose a flat finish, you should choose a dark color, as flat finishes scuff easily. We recommend also only using flat finishes on walls that don’t receive much traffic, to avoid scuffing.
If you are going to go with a bright color, try just making one of your walls bright, this way the entire room won't throb with colour. The other walls should be neutral so that your room isn't too busy.
Finally, if you are selling your home, make sure to return all the walls to a neutral color. People prefer not to see your personality shine through (as lovely as it is) as they try to visualize their future home.
What paint finish should I use for my ceiling?
Your ceiling is simple. It should be a flat pure white. This will make the ceiling seem higher and the room brighter. You’ll certainly be able to find examples on Pinterest of rooms with painted ceilings that are not white and even bold colors like red and blue. However, keep in mind that the darker the color is, the small and shorter your room will feel.
You may also choose to use a textured finish to mimic a stucco ceiling. This can be an easy way to capture the same effect, but keep in mind that only stucco truly looks like stucco.
What paint finish should I use for the exterior of my home?
In the 1970’s and 80’s it was common to paint the brick on your home. This was partly functional and partly trendy. The functional part was to protect brick homes that were built around the turn of the century. Aged brick will flake and fall apart, and the paint was to help protect the brick from further weathering. This, however, also caught on as a trend as homeowners started painting the brick on their homes. Lately, this trend has returned with a tendency to paint houses darker colors. If you decide to make this bold statement and paint your home black, make sure to use 100 percent acrylic latex. This paint will be durable enough to withstand the weather and fading from the sun. You’ll want a flat finish so that your home doesn’t shine on bright days. Especially if you are painting your home black, you’ll want to highlight the deep elegance with a finish that doesn’t glisten.
What types of colors for each room?
There is a method to every madness and paint is no exception. The best way to start painting your home is to start simple and build slowly. Starting with a foundation of neutral colors and building from there. Designing your home is a marathon, not a race.
What color should I paint my bedroom?
Your bedroom is the place where you should be most comfortable, and the colors you choose for the walls should make you feel relaxed. Walls should be painted warm neutral and darker shades that make you feel calm. White can also be used if you need to contrast against darker bedsheets or accent walls. Most bedrooms are low traffic areas of the home and flat paint finish will work well.
What color should I paint my bathroom?
Bathrooms are notoriously the smallest room in the home. For this reason, keep your bathroom paint light and bright, not bold. light colors will make the bathroom look larger and appear more relaxing. This study by Zillow is proof. Zillow analyzed 32,000 photos of sold homes and the results illustrated that a light blue bathroom increased the sales price of a home by $5445
What color should I paint my living room?
Your living room should be where your personality shines through. The best way to achieve this is by starting with neutral colors, like grey or white, and building your theme on top of that. If you love red, consider red accent furniture or if you love blue consider a blue accent wall. Keep in mind that intense colors can be overbearing if you use them too much. In the case of bold colors, less is more.
One important design tip to keep in mind with your living room is, if you have dark couches, you should have light walls, and vice versa. You'll want to create contrast while not letting your room become too busy or dark and heavy.
What color should I paint my dining room?
This is where you can turn up the contrast a little bit. Consider using contrasting colors with bold accents. This will create vibrance for when you are entertaining and require a lively atmosphere. A dramatic room creates excitement and keeps your guest’s attention.
What color should I paint my Kitchen?
This is your most creative room in the house. This is where you provide for your family. You’ll need a space that is uplifting and inspiring for your most creative juices. Neutral colors with bold accents can help you feel creatively inspired. However, don’t go overboard, there is usually already quite a bit happening in the kitchen, so keep your paint scheme simple or you may overwhelm the room.
What color should I paint my House Exterior?
It is a common theme to create a dark facade for new homes or old ones requiring a facelift. Dark siding or brick and dark eavestrough and soffits are the trends. For some added contrast, add wood or concrete accents.
Picking the right paint for your home or apartment is important, but in all cases, properly cleaning the walls and corners of your home will make your paint looks crisp and new. If fumigation is required, you can check out our post on fumigation.
