Paint series part 3

So you have decided to paint .. now what? If you're not sure where to begin using color, experiment in a powder room or bathroom, a small hall, or an accent wall. Pick an area that's small so you can see your results quickly.
Once you decide what to paint we need to pick a color. Colors are often referred to as "warm" and "cool." Oranges, and reds, are considered "warm" colors, while blues, greens, and violets are thought to be "cool." Knowing what you are naturally drawn to, either warm or cool is helpful. 
Lets look at the color wheel for a minute: Color schemes fall into three categories: complementary, analogous, and neutral. Complementary schemes combine a primary and secondary color from opposite sides of the color wheel (red and green). Analogous colors are either warm (reds, oranges, and yellows) and cool (greens, blues, and violets). Neutrals are colors not included in a color wheel, such as browns, whites, and blacks.



While this color wheel info is helpful for many,  I find it easier to start first by looking at colors I am drawn to naturally. Look around the room, What color is predominate? What color may there be just a hint of ? The very easiest for me is to grab a throw or a pillow, or look at the area rug and start my color selection from those items. For example I have a hallway runner that is in browns, golds, greens, camel color, and burgandy

I wanted to paint the stairway entry wall a color that  would pop and still work with my color scheme, so I picked paint samples in all of the colors in the rug

brought them home and picked this one

It actually photographed a bit more red than it really is but you get the idea.

The wall behind is going to be painted the Camel color very soon.

 See how easy it is to pick color using things you already have and love.

Many paint companies have visualizer tools now that let you upload a picture of your room and "try" different colors on the walls. This is a great tool and fun to use.

Another thing I like to do when starting from scratch is get an idea what color scheme I want to use. For example, in my home I am using greens, golds,carmel and a hint of red. So decide on that first, then go to different paint stores and pick colors in those catagories from each paint brand, come home and compare them and 9 times out of ten, I will have picked the same exact colors (although the names are of course different) from every store. That is a pretty good indicator of what I like and what will go together in my home.

Many paint companies will help you in the selection process also by having brochures with preselected color combos as well. 

This is a lot of information to take in so I will pause now and follow up with more in a day or two.