Why you should pick your paint colour last

This is a fool-proof guide to the order of decisions when decorating a room. It seems the natural thing to do to decide what colour you want the walls to be as the first point of call when redecorating, but this causes a minefield of problems for the rest of the room.

 

You are then trying to find all the other elements to go with the paint colour, and once you’ve found that cushion which has just the right shade in the pattern, you realise it doesn’t go with the curtains and the rug! More often than not you end up with everything neutral because you are scared to get it wrong. Having a room with one colour dominating the walls and everything else is shades of bland is rarely a good look. Simply put, fabrics and wallpapers come in limited colours but paint comes in any colour imaginable, so don’t limit yourself by picking it first. Here’s how to do it right. 

 
  • Look at the existing things you have which you are keeping. Not just the big things, but also the artwork and ornaments. This is how you start to pull together a colour scheme. Is there a lovely combination of colours in a patterned fabric or painting that can inspire the rest of the room? Also look at what style and patterns you have got as a starting point – is there a strong theme such as Art Deco or Scandi? If there’s a stylistic clash, what are the elements you want to use in this room and can the other bits go into a different room in your house? 

3 art prints and coordinating rug
  • Make a decision about the most expensive and/or largest things in the room. This includes sofas, curtains, rugs or flooring, beds, kitchen cabinets and large artwork. You need to consider these first because you will have less flexibility with these items – either because of cost or lack of choice. I always source the most expensive element of the room first because that tells you what budget you have left for everything else. When it comes to upholstered items, there are limited colours available so this can dictate the direction the rest of the décor takes. You can always recover or reupholster a sofa or chair, which is well worth it for good-quality items that are a bit tired. However, bear in mind that if you are reupholstering mid-to-low quality items (i.e. DFS) it’s likely to cost more than buying new. 

  • Get your patterns and textures sorted. Pattern happens in rugs, tiles, wallpaper, curtains or blinds, upholstery, cushions, bedding and other textiles. If you haven’t got any pattern, you probably need to reconsider some of these elements! You need to ensure your patterns sit well together, but this doesn’t mean they all have to match. A Persian rug goes with pretty much any style, but the colour will dictate what it looks really good with. I could (should!) write a whole blog on choosing patterns, but the rule of thumb is to mix scale and intensity. Be aware of when you need to edit your taste – you may like both Orla Keily and WIlliam Morris but they don’t look good together! You also need to ensure you have a variety of textures in your textiles – I tend to default to velvet so I have to remind myself to include other fabrics such as linen and woven textiles. 

3 patterns of different scales and intensity
  • A word on window dressings – although these are both large within the room and expensive, I usually pick these in tandem with the paint colour if buying new. Because it’s such a big visual feature in the room, you need to decide whether to make it into a focal point (which requires visually balancing it with the rest of the room) or to choose something simple or that blends in with the wall colour. With a Victorian bay window you’re pretty much guaranteed that it looks good as a focal point, but with newer properties and smaller windows you need to plan more carefully. Full length curtains create a colour block in the room – imagine if the window wasn’t there but you painted that section of wall in a contrasting colour or wallpapered it. Would it look right? That’s the decision you need to make about curtains. 

  • Now that you have all the details sorted, you have a colour scheme and a cohesive look so you are ready to pick your paint colour. You are usually looking for something that shares the same character as all the elements in the room, and it can either contrast or match. For example, you can draw a colour out of your patterns or artwork. 

Luke Edward Hall is a master in using bright colours as a background and this example shows you how it doesn’t dominate if you have worked out all the other elements first. 

In a small space it works really well to match or tone with the largest item to make the room feel bigger, as contrast is what makes a space feel smaller (it has nothing to do with dark or light colours). 

If you have lots of bright elements such as a mid-century style it is common to choose white as a background colour, however, an architectural neutral looks much more sophisticated and highlights bright colours much better than white as shown in the example below. Sophie Ashby and Brandon Schubert are really good at this if you need some inspiration.  

When it comes to doing the actual decorating, wall colour seems scary in an empty room because it’s not dressed so the other layers are missing. You’re seeing the wall colour as the focal point when it’s really the background, but hold your nerve! If you’ve followed the plan it will all come together. All of my Monday Moodboards have a suggested paint colour to go with a mixture of patterns. If you’d like more inspiration, they can be found on my Facebook page – please like and follow to keep up to date!

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Say No to Novelty this Christmas

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One Scheme, Two Ways