Color Selection Tips

Trying to pick a color? Many customers in my store, Turner's Paint Store, have difficulty selecting the perfect color for their paint projects. One of the biggest reasons is a conflict between the color they want (or the one that works best with their stuff) and their fear of it being too dark.

I hear it almost daily: "I'm looking for a light red?" When the fact is, based on Light Reflectance Value (LRV), there is no such thing as light red. When you lighten red, it turns pink. Same thing goes with green and brown. Brown turns into mauve. Green turns into lime, mint, or teal. Sure, they're in the "green family," but they have changed to something else from the baseline Forest Green or Thalo Green.

Note: I could apply this to more color options, but I'll keep it simple for now and cover more colors in another article.

The point here is: people are usually happier with 1-2 shades darker than their first color choice. That, or they just end up picking a safe beige out of frustration and cut their losses (which often ends in a "blah" result instead of the fresh new look they were looking for).

Here is a bit of "perspective" for your color pallet:
1) LRV is rated on a scale of 0-100, with 0 being black and 100 being white.
2) The physics of design state that light defines the space, while color defines the shape and form. So rely on your lighting to define the size of the room, not necessarily the color.

Lets take the room you're painting, for example. Assuming the floor and ceiling are not going to change, take a moment to calculate the square footage of "finished" wall space that will be changing in LRV. After you have figured the total square footage of wall space (multiplying wall height x wall length = square feet of wall), add all the walls together. Then subtract the windows, doors, art work, and furniture that will cover the walls. You are now left with the total square feet effected by LRV. This is usually between 25-35%.

This means that your gut-level attraction to a color which probably has a LRV somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 is only going to have a fairly minor impact on the total sum. This is because you are only reducing 25%-35% of your space by 50% LRV which can most likely be compensated by adding one 40 watt bulb to the average living room.

In kitchens and bathrooms this is especially true since they are almost always well-lit and have little finished wall space. So if you're itching to add some spice but are nervous about dark colors, these are your opportunities to turn up the heat.

If you haven't seen it, take a look at the Color Language brochure from Benjamin Moore. Read this and you will have an instant boost in confidence and inspiration.

Check out our website at VideoPaintGuide.com