The way designers work

I watched a number of designers select colors for a room. The most successful designers did not labor over small differences in hue or tone. They were talented, and had an easy time of it due to that talent. But they were also aware that there was a lot of leeway in hue and shade. As long as you abide by a few flexible rules, you don't need to be color perfect.

Here's something else designers do, they buy samples and put a good sized patch on several locations. This is a very smart exercise. Buy a quart of a color you think will work, and a cheap brush. Put a few patches in different places in the room, and see how it looks. I can do this for you, or you could save some money and do it yourself. People that do this seldom go with a color they regret. (Throw the cheap brush away.)

Start here

The first consideration in choosing a color is the quantity and quality of natural light the room will get. Quantity is easy to understand, quality refers to natural, incandescent, or other sources. The colors that you see change in different lights. A way to think about the color on the wall, is that it subtracts from the light that is in the room. Designing in consideration of light is where homeowner/designers get into trouble. They don't consider it. I can help you with this.

Next, identify colors that will be part of your design. An oak floor is yellow/orange/brown. And it is big. So you need to plan for it's contribution. This could be color wheel work. Or, use manufacturer's palettes. They all offer them now. Benjamin Moore has a very good design tool in their website. The difficulty in assembling a palette is the enormous variety of colors and shade to choose from. You can narrow your search by writing down the colors you like and dislike. It doesn't matter that green works if you don't like green.

Resources for color design that I've used, beginning with theory and ending with picture books.

Colorist, Shigenobu Kobayashi

Color In Interior Design, John Pile

Interior Color By Design, Honathan Poore

The Benjamin Moore website is BenjaminMoore.com.

Perfect Palette, Bonnie Krims

Mediterranean Living, Lisa Lovatt-Smith

Italian Country, Fitzgerald

I can't tell you how to put a room and its furnishings together. But if you know what you like, and are somewhat conservative, I can help you get to a color that you'll appreciate for many years. Give me a call.