Decorating your home is more than buying new furniture or splashing new art on the walls. Any novice designer can bring individuality to a room with the right mix of paint, furnishing, and flooring. Many times, homeowners don’t know how to use bold paint colors. It’s a universal problem. Do it right and you’ll wow all your friends and family. Do it wrong and you could end up the laughing stock of the neighborhood. So where’s the fine line between tasteful and tacky? It’s all about how to use bold paint colors. Here are some useful tips on how to use bold paint colors to bring a new and exciting look to any room in your home.
Tip #1: Check the mood of the color. When learning how to use bold paint colors, you’ll find that every color brings a mood with it. Cool blues bring a sense of calm and relaxation while warmer reds bring passion and heat and sunny yellows bring happiness. What’s the mood you want to set in the room? Some experts warn against using a heated tone like red in the bedroom because it could disrupt your sleep patterns. Others encourage it if you’d rather use that room for passion noting that it can breathe fire back into your relationship.
Try Something New with Bold Paint Colors
Tip #2: Use the contrast. If you’re painting your walls or ceiling a bright or rich color, make sure your furnishings, upholstery, or flooring remain neutral tones. If you have competing colors in patterns on your sofa pillow or area rug, your bright colors on the walls could actually muddy the waters instead of bringing the drama you wanted. When learning how to use bold paint colors, try imagining you have a beige sofa and you decide to paint an olive green on the walls. The pair can pop with a clean contrast and offer you the attention you desire.
Tip #3: Never underestimate the power of an accent wall. Learning how to use bold paint colors means learning the different functions of bold colors. A really rich color can pop by using only one accent wall, or painted recessed nook. Bold doesn’t have to cover square footage. If you have a stand alone wall with a focal point that’s not your biggest focus, a strong color choice on that one wall can change the whole dynamics of your room. And, if it doesn’t work as an accent wall, you can always break out the paint again and finish the rest of the room in the same strong color or lighter shades from the same color family.
Tip #4: Don’t be afraid to try before you buy. If you’re nervous about painting a bold color on your wall, give it an honest try before totally committing to the idea. When learning how to use bold paint colors, try painting a large piece of cardboard and hang it on the wall in order to help you get the feel of how the color compliments the room. Or maybe you’re ready to semi-commit and painting a larger area of the wall itself. Just know that primer and paint will be your next project whether you like the color or not.
Don’t Be Afraid to Be Bold With Bold Paint Colors
Tip #5: Go big or go home. Maybe you’re in a transition in your life or maybe you just love color. Mixing strong walls with even stronger furniture could spell disaster for novice interior decorators, or it could scream brilliance if you can somehow figure out how to pull it off. When learning how to use bold paint colors, you’ll be warned not to overdo your color palette, but there’s something to be said for a room that’s so rich in strong colors that it punches you in the face. If your personality is “go big or go home,” you might consider hiring a professional decorator to help guide you into the right direction on the color wheel and then go for it.
Tip #6: Use rich colors to highlight architectural details. If you’re blessed with great details in your historic home or newer details added through recessed features or fancy trim, color can really help those perks stand out and get the recognition they deserve. When learning how to use bold paint colors, you’ll find that your eye is drawn to color. Adding a bright color to a recessed nook or a built in ceiling will draw attention. You could also use bolder colors to paint in details framed in fancy trim work or vice versa. Instead, paint the walls a rich color while leaving the trim a bright white or lighter neutral color.
These are just a few tips on how to use bold paint colors in both large and small spaces in your home. One misconception is that rich colors will close in a space and made a tiny room feel smaller. Interior designers say the opposite is true. Bold colors actually recess and make the room feel larger. If painted on the ceiling, bold colors can make it feel taller because of the optical illusion.
One word of caution. If you’re planning on using bold colors with a mixture of more neutrals to create a pattern or graphic shape, make sure you invest in good tape. Richer colors are harder to mask if they bleed under inexpensive tape. You could spend lots of time re-taping and repainting your project in order to create the cleaner look you might want.
Hire the Experts In Bold Paint Colors
To ensure you don’t waste your precious time, you could simply hire a team of professional painters, like the ones we have here at Romanov Painting. Our services are your solution to any painting need either big or small. We specialize in exterior and interior painting solutions and can help you learn how to use bold paint colors with ease. Instead of spending your time worrying over the details of prepping, painting, and cleaning up your project, let Romanov Painting to the dirty work. Just pick your color and let us get the job done.
