Selecting Paint Colors for Your Luxury Home
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There's so much hype on the web today about styling your home. Endless Pinterest and blog posts on decorating for the holidays, and the overall theme of your house, are becoming the norm of interior design. But often times, people forget to place attention on how the color of their walls can affect the overall look and mood of their house. In fact, we would go so far as to say the paint color you choose far outweighs the importance of decor when attempting to change the mood of your home.
2 Approaches to Selecting Paint Colors for Your Luxury Home
If you are looking for an update to the interior design of your home, we suggest you look into a repainting project. If you need help with selecting colors and theme, here are a couple of our recommendations:
Painting Thematically
When we use the term "theme" in this context, we are referring to elements that are stylistically cohesive. This includes everything from color, temperature, texture, brightness, and gloss. But here’s what’s different:
Many people make the mistake of assuming "theme" implies "similar". This is where we recommend you break the norm and have some fun! A house can be painted thematically without using similar colors. Pinks, grays, blues, reds, and so many other colors can be represented from room to room while still working thematically.
If you want to paint your house thematically, we recommend focusing on between 1-4 colors. The biggest trick is selecting paint that has the same texture, matte/gloss, and brightness level. Bring the more neutral colors in areas such as the kitchen and living room, while leaving the larger statement colors for bedrooms, bathrooms, and laundry rooms.
Painting Representationally
Another (less-popular) form of painting would involve what we refer to as "representational painting". Another way of looking at this is painting a home to represent the colors of the earth from the ground up. Here's an example:
Homes can be painted representationally by painting the lower levels (basement) with more earthy textures (browns, golds, and darker colors). The middle levels are painted with more lively colors (greens, yellows, oranges, reds, etc.) And finally, top levels (upstairs or attic) are painted to represent sky-like colors (blues, whites, and purples).
Why would you paint a home this way? The emotional impact of the color differentiation can make a house feel taller than it truly is. Color theory proves that humans associate colors to things we are familiar with, and in the case of a home painted to represent colors from the ground to the sky, we subconsciously acknowledge a home as being "tall" based on its interior colors. We unknowingly associated browns and darker colors with the ground, and whites and blues with the sky, which alters our perception of a house’s actual characteristics. Thank you, science!
Conclusion
Painting a home is daunting! While many people are scared of taking on the workload, I think most of us can agree that color selection is the most intimidating part of the process by far.
If you are looking to paint your luxury home this year, we recommend taking one of two approaches: thematic painting, or representational painting. The former refers to selecting a couple of color groups that are consistent in brightness and texture. The colors can be similar or wildly different! So long as the overall exposure levels and reflectivity of the paint match, you can tame down some crazy colors and get a beautiful theme throughout your house. The latter refers to painting a home to represent the earth - from the ground to the sky! Paint lower levels with darker colors and upper levels with lighter colors such as blue or white to represent the sky. The emotional impact of the colors makes people assume the house is taller than it truly is.
Regardless of if you've made your mind up on what you want, we recommend getting over to your local paint store and starting to browse! When you see the right colors in person, you'll know which ones are best for your home. And of course, don’t hesitate to give Tony McClung a call if you want to bring in a professional designer!