There’s an interesting phenomenon in psychology called decision paralysis. When my friends and I go to restaurants, we like to point it out to each other when menus are overlong. If you’re a restauranteur, don’t pile items onto your menu, please! It signals two things to the astute diner: there’s no way you can cook 100 quality items fresh, and you don’t understand how overwhelming it can be for a diner to look through 100 items. We like to think more choice is better, but it can actually overload our capacity to make reasonable decisions. That’s what it can feel like when you’re choosing interior paints; so many colours, so many rooms, how to decide?
Well, the first thing to do is narrow down what colours you actually want to use. You can select your favorite colours to decorate your rooms, and if you want to narrow it down, you can use our two-part guide to colour psychology to find out which colours best suit a particular room; for a brief overview, bathrooms and bedrooms should be in softer, calming colours while kitchens and dining rooms should be brighter, hunger-inducing colours.
When you’re painting a room that already has quite a few furnishings, you can use colour theory to help guide you. You’ll find a primary colour, a secondary colour, and maybe an accent colour; no more than three should be used, and you’ll usually be fine with two colours. You might not know a lot about colour theory, but that’s okay; there’s plenty of online tools to help you find the perfect colour match. Check out our guide to choosing a palette for a list of some of our favorite tools!
The other way to get yourself out of the decision rut is to look for inspiration; you can find it in pretty much anything! Look at a bold print you have, for example; if you want a really bright colored room, take from the bright colours in the print and accent with the subtler colours; for a toned-down room, do the opposite! You can also take inspiration from the colour schemes of other homes; there’s so many home improvement blogs online, you’re sure to be able to find something that catches your eye and inspires you. Two other places you can find inspiration: in artists, and outside. Look at a painting in your home and draw from the colours in it; artists understand colour theory like almost no one else. The only person they’re second to is Mother Nature, which is why drawing from natural colour schemes is such a great idea!
If after all of this, you’ve narrowed down your selection but still can’t decide, not to worry! The high-quality house painting provided by Madani Group can come with a colour consultation, so we’ll help you pick out of the options you’ve narrowed down using our years of painting experience! We’ll help you avoid what’s just trendy right now, so you can get stylish colour that stands the test of time. You’re in good hands!
