How to Choose a Color Scheme for Your Home

If you have darker furniture, use a lighter paint color for the walls and vice versa with lighter furniture. When in doubt, go for whites and neutrals, which are the most common paint colors, because they make it easy to bring other colors into the space via decor.

You can also match the paint color to an accessory in the room, such as a pillow or your inspiration pattern (in that case, usually the lightest color in the pattern is used is a safe bet). Bring that item with you to the paint color and have the store clerk match it for color accuracy. If there is an adjoining room or hallway that you would like to coordinate with the room you are painting, we recommend you bring a paint chip of the existing paint color as well.

Remember to paint the ceiling before doing the walls to avoid splashing the new paint work. Lighter colors are typically best for ceilings. If you’d like the ceiling to match the wall color, we recommend buying an additional paint color one or two shades lighter than the wall paint.

We also advise that you purchase the correct amount of paint at the outset and select tins with the same batch number; otherwise there might be slight variations in the color. If the color is pre-mixed, recommend they record the batch number in case additional paint is required.