Choosing Paint Colors Without Stress!
A Starting Point...

We now know enough to understand that not everyone learns in the same way. You will make your decisions on choosing paint colors according to your own style. Some of you are taken by the emotion of the color, some of you are logical thinkers, and some of you yet are the scientific, analytical types. Whatever your personal approach, I have a method to help you get to “home base”.

Defining and Choosing
Paint Colors

It won’t be hard to figure out what kind of thinker you are, one of these three scenarios below will ring a bell loud and clear…these scenarios are frameworks around which you will apply a logical and methodical method of finding the best paint colors. No matter what type of thinker you are, there are some basic truths about color and optics which cannot be denied.

Use these as starting points, or concepts if you will. You have to start somewhere! Once you know your learning style, you can begin to build your color ideas based on the individual pages on the left menu. Each page is there to help you with the specific details which are part of your home's unique makeup.

1) You want your house to have a “look” or a “theme”...a country cottage surrounded by a perennial garden, or a stoic saltbox, or a seaside look done up in bright colors…or simply a palette that uses your favorite colors. You are a romantic. Gather magazine photos of houses you like, collect a boat load of them and place them in a folder. It doesn't matter if you think the photos are relevant to your house or not...simply collect them. After you get about 20-25 you will see a pattern develop of ideas/colors you are attracted to.

2) Perhaps you are driven by the style or type of the house. You might own an urban townhouse, a bungalow, a Cape Cod. It would only be logical to give each one of these homes a color scheme which is exactly what you might expect…ultimately sensible! You are pragmatic. Niche magazines such as Cape Cod Life or 1910 are style specific and a wealth of fabulous ideas.

3) You want to know which colors will be the best possible choices to react with each other under the ultimate tolerance. How can you scientifically choose a paint color palette which will maximize your home’s appearance? You are someone who knows which direction your house faces. You are analytical... you will use a color wheel to define your scheme 

I have found that visual references are most helpful for the majority of homeowners. It's only through creating thousands of color schemes that you would be able to predict what a concept will look like when applied to a 20 foot exterior. There is no substitute for experience so if you are truly stumped, then by all means consult with a knowledgeable color expert. Meanwhile before you get their input, educate yourself by browsing magazines...

Don't browse online because you will be subjected to the good along with the awful. Magazine content has to be filtered by the editors so you know that you'll be looking at something which will pass muster.