The Best Interior Paint Colors
Choosing Interior Paint Colors
The best interior paint stands up to wear, complements your furnishings and makes a statement about your personality and taste. No wonder people spend so much time choosing interior paint colors.
When choosing interior paint colors, think about your personal preferences, how you use the space and the physical properties of the room, such as light and size. You can find interior painting suggestions in home magazines, online and by consulting with interior designers.
Unless you plan to completely change your furnishings, consider your existing furniture, artwork and other belongings when choosing interior paint. The best interior paint complements your furnishings.
Interior Painting Trends
Interior painting goes through style changes and trends as time passes. If you like the current trends in interior painting, by all means use them. Don't, however, let interior designers, painters or friends talk you into color choices and finishes that you don't like. The best interior paints are colors you can live with; even if yellow walls are the hot trend, they're a terrible choice if you hate yellow.
Interior Painting Tips
Colors have psychological and physiological effects on people. Understanding how the brain and body react to colors helps when choosing interior paint. Consider matching a color's effects to the room's purpose:
- Blues lower body temperature and slows the pulse rate, making blue a good choice for bedrooms.
- Greens have a soothing, calming effect.
- Orange increases energy.
- Purple is thought to stimulate brain activity.
- Red is stimulating and energetic.
- Yellow causes the brain to release serotonin, improving mood.
Black is best used sparingly in interior painting. When used as an accent color, black suggests elegance and formality. White creates a feeling of spaciousness, so can make a small room seem larger.
Color choices can change a room's feel. While blues and greens can make a bedroom seem peaceful and calm, adults may prefer a bedroom with warm, sensual reds.