choosing a paint color

is it just me or is it really overwhelming to pick a paint color!

I have to paint an entire house but right now I am starting with 4 rooms (3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom) any tips on how to start narrowing down choices for colors ???????????

and the bathroom is already yellow tile with black and white accents-----any suggestions on what would compliment those colors on the wall would also be appreciated

TIA

Message edited 8/31/2005 5:25:12 PM.

Re: choosing a paint color

what furniture do you have?
what are your tastes in furniture?
what colors do you like?
do you like a lot of color?
how big is the room?

after thinking about all of those things, chooisng colors should be a little easier (it's never easy - that's why i married an artist
)

Re: choosing a paint color

also pick colors that will flow into each room if you are choosing different colors for different rooms.
It is frustrtaing but take your time, and remember it is ONLY paint, you can always go over it if you dont like.

Benjamin Moore has the the paint samples, so you dont have to buy the whole gallon and see if you like the color.

Re: choosing a paint color

part of the problem I guess I should have said was that we really dont have furniture right now.
One room is going to be a computer room and the table we have is silver and glass.

the masterbedroom furniture is brown with black accents and the bed frame is black rod iron.

and the guest bedroom is completely empty---no furniture to put in it at all yet

I think this is part of the problem but we cant afford to buy a ton of furniture yet. so we were trying to make the rooms look nice and neat by painting them and finishing the floors.

sorry so long

Also the rooms are all hard wood floors

Re: choosing a paint color

If you're not sure which colors to go with, and don't have furniture yet, I'd suggest softer, lighter colors, like creams and taupes....to keep it neutral and allow you to have open options in furniture choices

Re: choosing a paint color

We had an interior decorator come in and help with the colors, it cost about $100.00 but within an hour or two we had all our colors picked out and loved them. She came with all color swatches and suggested looking at the color on all walls in the room as all rooms are lighted differently. She also helped us with some furniture selection, definitely worth the money as it would have taken us weeks to choose colors and the aggravation

Re: choosing a paint color

choose colors that you like and will blend easily w/ your style of furniture. we painted prior to purchasing furniture as well an did not have any problems matching fabrics to the wall color. we are in the process of painting the "office" now (again, no furniture) and i choose a burgandy color for the walls and beige for the trim. i plan on purchasing dark wood furniture and curtains/drapes w/ earthy tones.