Step-by-Step Guide to Choosing Paint for the Whole House

Choosing paint for the whole house has, by far, been the most stressful part of the bungalow renovation, and as much as it pains me to relive those all-too-recent feelings of frustration, I know that someone out there is just about ready to unleash her fury on the confusing and hysteria-inducing world of paint, so if that person is you, then you can sigh a big sigh of relief, because the information I'm about to share with you will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Whew, that was one exceptionally long sentence! Apparently I've got a lot of feelings about choosing paint, and I’m not afraid to show them.

Choosing paint colors before having any idea of the color of the floors, or the furniture – or any other detail, for that matter – brought out my worst indecisiveness. Then there was that minor detail of making sure the entire color palette looked cohesive... 

But before we can dive into the process of choosing the colors, however, let’s go over a few terms first, because you'll need to understand some basic color theories and concepts when deciding just which of the three thousand available shades of gray you are going to choose.

Paint Deck

A paint deck refers to the handy-dandy little notebook of sorts that showcases a particular brand's available paint colors. The pages are arranged by color family, with each page showing a range of shades from the same color.

Shade

Shade refers to the lightness or darkness of a particular color. Technically speaking, a shade is the darker version of a particular color, and a tint is the lighter version of that color, but to make the step-by-step guide a little less confusing, I used the term to refer to any version of a particular color found on a particular page of the paint deck.

Undertone 

Undertone refers to a subtle hint of an unexpected color within another color that becomes more or less prominent based on the colors that surround it. Makes a lot of sense, right? Basically, every color has a dirty secret, and it’s called undertone. It’s what’s to blame when gray paint suddenly appears brown or the perfect white is all-of-a-sudden light green. Everything from the floor, to the ceiling, to the color of your couch, to the amount of natural light in a room can bring out surprising undertones in your painted walls – and that is what makes choosing neutrals so tricky. To make matters even more complicated, cool undertones like violet, blue and green help a room appear larger. Warm undertones like yellow, orange and red help a room appear smaller and cozier. If this paragraph alone isn't enough to send you over the edge, then you're in a much, much better place than I was when trying to choose paint for our little bungalow.

Natural Light

Natural light refers to the amount of light from the sun. The more windows you have in a room, the more natural light you will let in, and the more accurate your paint colors will appear.

Now that we've covered the basics, let's move on to the fun stuff – a step-by-step guide to help you choose paint for the whole house. By no means do I claim to have discovered a one-size-fits-all approach to coordinating your paint options or creating a seamless color transition from room to room. You can go in a million different directions with paint, depending on your tastes and preferences. But if you're ready to end the agonizing indecisiveness and create a cohesive color palette for your whole house, then this simple step-by-step guide is the perfect place to start.