Painting Small Spaces Right the First Time!

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Painting small spaces is a little less forgiving than choosing paint color combinations for a large open space. When you�re choosing a paint color combination for a small room, you need to get it right the first time. You have more to do with your precious time than repainting and repainting right? Here are a few tips to help save your time and your budget.

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Design your room around a �color focal point�. It can be a painting on the wall or even a few throw pillows on the couch. If the color focal point is not to big, take it to the local paint supply store. If it�s too large, you�ll have to do your best at remembering the color or find smaller items of similar color to take with you. Choose lots of paint chips in coordinating colors and take them home to study. When painting small spaces, it�s important to remember that cool colors such as greens, purples and blues push the walls out and give a feeling of more space while warm colors like oranges, reds and yellows bring the walls in for a feeling of cozy warmth. Hang on a minute, before you decide on a cool color read on because if you have a lot of natural light in your room, it may make it feel too icy, in which case a warm color like a terra cotta or yellow would be more beneficial.

Before painting small spaces, you may want to decide on window treatments before you choose your paint. A paint color can appear to be a lighter shade with more light in the room or darker if the room has little light. Sheer window treatments are great for small spaces. Natural light always makes small rooms feel larger. Also take into consideration that if you choose to paint all four walls the same color, the overall effect will seem much darker than on the paint chip.

Paint dark trim a shade of your chosen wall color. This will create the eye to flow nicely across the room without being drawn to the boxiness of the outlined windows and doors. You may not like the shade of paint you choose for the trim. What I mean is, it may not jump out at you. That�s the point. You want the eye
to pass over the room without getting distracted. When the eye gets distracted, you�ll automatically lose the continuity and start to feel cramped. You�ll just have to trust me on this one. Take a deep breath and just do it!

One last thing, use patterns sparingly. They�re distracting too. It�s best to keep a tone on tone or monochromatic color scheme when painting small spaces. Use shades and tones of one color. To get shades you add black to the base color. To get tones of the base color, you add white. Gently splash a little color with a few throw pillows and maybe a rug. Use similar colors on the color wheel to use as accents. Use the rose bouquet below as an example. Notice the reds, pinks, dark pinks and yellows which are all next to each other on the color wheel.

Above all, think of the room and its furnishings as a whole. Just because you like a color on paper doesn�t mean you�ll like it on the wall and likewise even if you can�t stand a color on the paint chip doesn�t mean it won�t have just the right effect and tie the entire room together in a beautiful right out of a magazine composition. Painting small spaces becomes easy when you follow these guidelines!

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