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You may not know this about me, but I have had my real estate license since college. I haven’t done a lot with it (hence why I have a full-time job in another field), but it’s come in handy both when I was shopping for a home myself (knowing the ins and outs of the process certainly eased my nervousness and expectations) and when friends have shopped for theirs. The extra (and often unexpected) influx of cash really helped when it came time to start on the remodel for the Ugg-Duck, too.
All too often when I’ve shown a house, I’ve heard things like “Ew, what an ugly paint color!” and “Which house did you like best? The one with the tile, or the one with toothpaste-colored walls?” Lesson learned: paint colors leave a lasting impression on the feel of not only a room, but an entire house. And why wouldn’t it? The color of your walls covers a lotmore square footage than a table, so it only seems reasonable that it be one of the top ways to define a space. But given the options (and there are thousands of them), how do you choose? What can you do to make sure that the blue you’re choosing is “soothing” and not “childish”?
In my experience (both in choosing the wrong color and the right one… eventually), the best way to go about choosing a paint color is by taking inspiration from your surroundings. Instead of looking at six swatches of virtually the same color (which let’s face it, can often change depending on the light source or color they are held up next to), taking a favorite photo or fabric swatch and deriving the color from it is much more effective. For example, I took the below photo from the mums I planted back in 2010:
The My Image Inspiration tool allows you to upload a picture of something you like and think would work for your space—whether it’s a piece of art, furniture, fabric—anything really. You’ll get a selection of color palettes to browse through, print, share and paint. If I plug the mum photo into the tool, here’s what the results look like:
Just like that, I have a yellow that is sunnyand not glaring. And instead of just selecting a color out of the tool with a magic wand (like you’d do in Photoshop), the colors selected are actual paint colors. It basically takes the guesswork out of the color game.
But let’s try a color palette that I use more often in the Ugg-Duck: gray. Gray can be an especially difficult color to use since blue- or purple-grays tend to look purpleand not gray. But by using a photograph (one I took in Germany back in 2010 – a picture I’d like to call Scary Ass Cherub), I have a palette that is much more of a stone gray – because that’s exactly where I got it from.
If you’re having an especially difficult time finding the right color, try using a photograph and the My Image Inspiration tool to point you in the right direction. Struggling to find the right color and you have no image? There’s an inspiration gallery. You may not need it for every room, but it sure is nice to have when you get stuck. Go ahead and give it a try. Were you happy with the results? Did you discover colors that you didn’t realize were in the photo to begin with? Feel free to share your results in the comments below.
Disclaimer: I have partnered with Glidden/Akzo Nobel Paints to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
