Creating a Perfect Palette: How to Choose Paint Colours for Your Home

 

When choosing a colour palette for your home, consider the colour temperature in relation to the room's orientation. 

 

 

A north-facing room typically results in a cooler and more shadowed environment. Therefore, this type of room would benefit from warmer colours like soft yellows, oranges, pinks and creamy whites. 

 

 

South-facing rooms are usually flooded with natural light. To avoid overwhelming the room, it's best to go with cooler colours like mint, light blues, lilac and light grey to maximise the brightness and create a calming and airy ambience. 

 

 

East and west-facing rooms benefit from varying light intensities throughout the day, experiencing brightness in the morning or evening, respectively. Therefore, neutral colours that can shift under different lighting conditions, such as off-whites, duck eggs, blush pinks, sandy beiges or soft greys, can adapt well, maintaining a harmonious ambience regardless of the time of day. 

To enhance natural lighting, prioritise light and reflective hues. 

 

Undertones such as yellow, orange, or red should be added to walls that receive limited sunlight to intensify the light's natural warmth and create a warm glow. This can give a space an energising, more inviting, and cosy feel. 

 

To balance natural lighting on walls that receive a lot of sunlight, consider using cooler tones like blues, eggshells, and greens. These tones will give the space a serene and refreshing vibe without overpowering it. 

 

Integrate a glossy finish on warm or cool walls to reflect natural lighting further and help bounce light around the room. 

Choosing paint colours for your home with high or low ceilings can be challenging without hiring a professional interior decorator. Their expertise ensures that the selected colours effectively enhance the perceived space and proportions. However, the following suggestions may help. 

 

 

Add a wall trim to draw the eyes upwards and highlight it with a contrasting dark, bold colour. An alternative approach to emphasising the height would be to paint the entire wall length with glossy vertical stripes, either with deep blues, greys or forest greens. To lower the ceiling to make the room feel more intimate and homely, consider painting the ceiling a darker shade than the walls. 

 

 

Go for soft whites or very light pastel colours to make the ceiling appear higher and the space more expansive. Consider painting the walls slightly darker than the ceiling to draw the eyes upwards and create a vertical lift. 

Choosing paint colours for a home with traditional and modern room decor involves subtleness that respects both aesthetics. 

 

 

To emphasise elegance, timelessness and sophistication, go for rich, deep hues like burgundy, navy and forest green or classic neutrals such as beige, taupe and cream. These colours will complement the rich texture furnishings typically found in traditional settings. 

 

 

Neutral colours like white and all shades of grey form the perfect backdrop for a contemporary space. These colours create a sleek, uncluttered look. Consider a featured wall that pops with colour and adds visual interest, such as vibrant orange, lime green, hot pink or purple, to bring energy to an otherwise neutral setting.