How to Choose Paint Color

• Learn how colors relate to one another: The color wheel is an interior design tool that shows 12 colors spread evenly around the perimeter of a circle. The colors next to each other on the wheel are called analogous and are thought to work well together. Colors opposite each other on the wheel are called complementary and are considered contrasting colors.
   
  
• Know warm colors from cool colors: Warm colors, such as browns, reds, oranges, and yellows, tend to make rooms feel more inviting. Thus, they’re popular choices for kitchens and dining rooms. Cool colors, including the numerous shades of white and beige as well as greens, blues, and purples, are considered quiet and tranquil. They’re often used to make small rooms appear bigger and warm rooms feel cooler.
• When in doubt, choose light colors: Light colors are a safer bet than dark colors, especially on walls and ceilings and in public rooms, such as living rooms, dining rooms, and kitchens.
• When in doubt, choose light-colored trim and white ceilings: The consistent look of light or white trim and ceilings unifies a multiroom color scheme, especially if you use a number of different wall colors.
• Pick accent colors: Often bright and deep, accent colors are used in small doses, as highlights. They’re generally not meant to dominate large areas.

How to Test Colors

• Fan decks: Most hardware stores and home centers let you borrow or buy fan decks, or paint fans. These color-selection tools consist of a thick stack of cardboard strips containing hundreds, even thousands, of paint options grouped according to color family. The strips, which fan out for convenience, each feature anywhere from three to seven shades of a color, graduating from dark to light.
   
  
• Paint samples: Many paint manufacturers, such as Benjamin Moore, now offer 2-ounce paint-sample jars. These samples allow you to paint a small swatch of color on your wall and live with it for a few days before committing to a whole gallon. Other companies, such as Glidden, sell rectangular, self-adhering paint swatches, which you can remove and restick easily without damaging the wall.