Picking the right color for your space

Having trouble picking the perfect color for your space?

Picking the paint colors that will define your space for years to come can seem like a daunting task. Here are a few handy hints to help you pick the perfect color:

1. Find Inspiration
You can come up with ideas by creating a portfolio of what appeals to you: a favorite painting, the color of the flowers and trees outside your house, or an amazing landscape scene that you photographed in Mexico.
First, take into consideration your inspirational image's common denominators in terms of color. Do you like a variety of colors or particular shades and tints of a specific color? Do you like them bold or muted? Digging deep in the well of inspiration plays an important role in selecting and whittling down your choices.

2. Define the Mood
Secondly, is there a mood or theme that you would like to achieve in a particular space? Do you want a restful feel in the bedroom, or an energizing feel to the family room? The mood will lay the groundwork on the desired visual impact of a chosen paint color palette.

3. Use Key Elements in Your Home
Last but not least, take stock of all the key elements in your house. Do you have carpeting, hardwood floors, modern or antique furniture? The color of the flooring is an important consideration when you choose colors because it anchors the room and can impact the color on the wall due to reflections.
Furnishings also play an important role in determining the perfect color scheme for your house. Since these are usually the most expensive and not easily replaced items in the house, they tend to suggest a coordinating color scheme that ties everything together. An invaluable heirloom dining table, for example, will never be discarded because it doesn't match the wall color of the dining room.

Choosing paint colors is a very personal decision. Whether your selections are based on inspiration, a particular mood, or key elements in your home, using these tools you'll be sure to find perfect colors. Check out these amazing tools to help you pick colors;

"Choosing Your Perfect Color": Filled with illustrations and helpful tips, this flipbook is an excellent step-by-step guide to selecting paint colors for any room.

Design seeds blog - This blog has thousands of color charts matched to your favorite items, beautiful scenery and excellent color pairings. Take a look to give you a better idea of what inspires you.

Color Calculator - This site allows you to select a color you like and find out it's complementary colors, analogous colors, split complementary colors and will teach you which colors will work well together in a space.

Fun Facts About Painting

1. The color purple became associated with royalty because at one time only aristocrats could afford the expensive pigment. During Roman times, it took 4 million crushed mollusk shells to create one pound of purple pigment.

2. The White House is white because of the original lime-based whitewash that was used to protect its porous stone surface. It gets painted every year.

3. The Greek philosopher Plato is credited with the discovery that you can mix two different paint colors together to produce a third color.

4. The first interior painting was done roughly 40,000 years ago in what is now France by prehistoric cave dwellers, who employed stencils in some of the work and even “spray-painted” by blowing paint through hollow bird bones.

5.Various paint colors can help the body heal itself. For example, red can often help depressed people regain vigor, while green has been shown to relieve stress.

6. In the Middle Ages, manuscripts were “illuminated” with paint made from ground semi-precious stones and egg yolks.

7. By the time the Sydney Harbor Bridge has been painted end to end the process must be started again.

8. Among the Aztecs, red pigmented paint was regarded as more valuable than gold.

9. The Golden Gate Bridge has always been painted the same color since it was completed in 1937. The name of the color is International Orange.

10. Many Native American tribes used black paint to signify life and yellow paint to signify death.

11. It took Michelangelo only four years to paint the famous ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the 1500s, but it took 20 years to restore it in the late 1900s.

12.The “color wheel” is older than the United States. It was developed by Sir Issac Newton in 1706.

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