How did you all choose your paint colors?

Okay, next question.... I bought two paint wheels from Benjamin Moore and there are like 3500 colors out there!!!

Was there a method that you had for choosing your paint colors? Samples? A friends color? How did you even begin to organize/narrow down your search in the exhaustive selection? TIA

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

well- it all started w/ the color of my couch.
I needed a color that was going to go w. that.
We picked BM's November Rain- a mix between gray/green/white- it's very light- and subtle- and warm.

We then used that color as a jumping off point- all the other colors in the house stayed "warm" so that when you went room to room the palatte sort of "went" together.

Oh- and DH insisted our bedroom be blue....

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

I am a very earth-tone kind of person. So I love the taupes, browns and greens. When it came time to repaint our place I went to BM and found myself gravitating towards those colors. But this time I went darker than I usually do - I was dying to have the bathroom a khaki green color but my fear of it not being perfect always keeps me at taupe This time I just did it.

I like to look at magazines for color ideas and then see what I can match up.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

I liked Sage green for the BR b/c it is a relaxing colour & goes with so much more. (accents are gold, slate blue, smoky mauve & burgundy).

The living room & really wanted something that made the fireplace pop, so I got a butterscotch to compliment the fireplace without drawing from it. The floors are a light beech wood.

The kitchen I like an Itallian Villa feel, so we have plaster walls in a burnt spice colour. The countertops are green, but soon they will be a grey granite with peach accents. The floor in there is also a light hardwood, but this floor is more grainy). The other rooms I just played with colour until I found a combo that I liked.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

DH & I bicker at the paint chips for a while until one of us conceedes or find a compromise.

Seriously though, we'll usually have something we are trying to match or coordinate and go from there.

Our bedroom is a lt mocha colored suede textured paint from Ralph Lauren that I love! The living room is a warm golden color. The bathroom is this odd green color but works for a bathroom.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

I went to home depot and took the little cards of all different colors that I liked....tons of them!

Then...I sat on my couch with all the fabric swatches from each room and went through and picked ones I liked and didn't like. I did this several times weeding out ones I like and didn't. Once I had 3 choices for each room...I showed them to DH and then we picked the ones we wanted. I will tell you...it took me a couple of weeks to do this because I looked at them in the daylight, at nighttime, trying to make sure I would like it. Once I made the list of what I wanted...I didn't dare look at them again, for fear of changing my mind

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

We took tips from friends houses and when buying furniture, the sales person. What is your decor? If you are neutral and more of a cozy/french country, check out benjamin moores HC (historical colors) collection. NICE! I always go on benjamin moore's website and play around with the colors. Also, go through catalogs and get ideas.

Message edited 5/22/2006 1:30:20 PM.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

The benjamin Moore website has a tool that lets you look at their colors together on walls in different rooms and I used that to get an idea of what combinations would look good together. One thing to keep in mind is that lighting and the time of day can vary what a paint looks like. Personally I like ceiling white in flat finish for the ceilings and super white in semigloss for the trim. So for us that part of the decision was really easy. I had a harder time choosing the paint color and finish. Ultimately for the walls I used an egshell finish and I like it a lot.

As for color, I think it depends upon the look you want. I personally do not care for homes where every room is a different color, but others might think that a home with all one color walls is really boring.

I would look to see if you have things you are keeping in the home like carpeting, tile floors, cabinets and countertops. I would look at colors that compliment those.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

I personally love earth toned colors, everything in my house is basically taupe, beige, brown, and a little bit of khaki green but mainly (taupe and brown) so I try to stay with those colors and they all blend in so well. Benjamin Moore is my top choice, they have the best paint!!

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

We used ALOT of Benjamin Moore Color samples

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

IT WAS A VERY LONG PROCESS!
I RECOMMEND BUYING COLOR SAMPLES AND PAINTING THEM ON YOUR WALL NEXT OT EACH OTHER TO SEE WHAT LOOKS BEST



FOR MOST OF MY HOUSE I MATCHED MY LIVING ROOM SOFA TO A BENJ MOOR COLOR-AND I STAYED WITH THAT COLOR THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE

ONLY IN MY BEDROOMS AND BATHROOM DID I ALTER FROM THAT COLOR (ADOBE BEIGE)

THE BEDROOMS I JUST COPIED A POTTERY BARN CATALOG
AND THE COLOR I CHOSE I WOULD BUY THAT COLOR PLUS ONE SHADE LIGHTER AND ONE SHADE DARKER IN COLOR SAMPLES AND PAINT AL L3 ON THE WALLS..WHEN I DID THAT, I USUALLY ENDED UP PICKING THE LIGHTEST COLOR

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

I actually picked all my colors from the BM "Historical" colors booklet. I loved all the tones and they all work together very well.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

Well we painted before we had furniture so we didn't match the color to the furniture, but I kinda had an idea what color furniture I wanted anyway... I just picked color families that I liked. I liked greens so I went through several different green swatches and samples paints (BM) before I found one that I wanted. I just went with my instinct. Go with a color family you like! Beige and taupes are always good to chose from cuz they are neutral and go with everything! Good luck!

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

Colors of the furniture we bought...also for the kitchen we are doing it around these towels and other basket of goodies that had a wine theme that we got from our engagement party...we are doing like a very creamy beige color to compliment that theme

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

I picked out the colors for our two downstairs bedrooms and the downstairs bath when we moved in. (Different shades of blue in the bedroom; lavendar in the bathroom) I never tested them out, and I am very happy with the colors.

I left the living room the same color because I liked it. But we put a touch up coat on and we changed the finish from satin to flat enamel.

Right now I am contemplating changing my kitchen color. I want to keep it yellow but want to change the tone to look more provincial. (It's a little too lemon right now.) I'm going to have to do the paint samples for this change. I have this huge paint wheel my sister gave me and I am having soo much trouble figuring out which one to choose.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

white came with the house. If we wanted specific rooms to be painted a color it was an upgrade and would have costed over 500 dollars per room. So we said we'd keep the white and paint when we wanted too.

When we do paint, I want a nice purple for our bedroom and a light neutral color for the guest room as that room will eventually be a nursery when we have kids.

For the living room we still havent decided. But we're in no rush.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

I also did mostly BM historical colors. They tend to be classic and timeless colors. Also alot of bringing to colors into the light, matching them with fabrics etc. If you have a curtain or a couch fabric some sort of basic to start with then it makes the choice alot easier.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

aside from the kids rooms, which they picked. I used BM historical colors. I had a lot of existing furniture to match & I had a certain look in mind for the guest room. We have a lot of neutrals-putman ivory, wilmington tan, roxbury carmel but we also have more bold colors like audubon russet (terra cotta-red).
I think we have a nice flow, but it doesn't feel oridinary either.

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

i married an artist and let him pick out the colors

Re: How did you all choose your paint colors?

I picked colors to complement the largest piece of furniture in each room.