Colour is clever. It can uplift, invigorate, soothe, intrigue â basically itâs a mood-changer. The best thing is that boring old magnolia is losing some of its attraction with more people willing to experiment with different hues from dark to bright. I ran a poll across my social media channels recently and Iâve highlighted some of your favourite hues, which pretty much mirror my own, yay hey to that! Check out the slide show to see more!
Doing my own personal poll I would say I get asked more about paint and colour than anything else. So Iâve put together my ultimate tips for paint to save you time, frustration and spondoolies!
Figure out your finish
I gravitate towards chalky, flat emulsions with deep complex pigmentations because anything you put against them looks and feels grander and artier than it really is. Having said that you can go many different ways. If youâre thinking of glossing things up remember surfaces have to be in perfect nick, because every little imperfection will show up!
Test, test and test again
When it comes to trying out new colours paint out the hugest area you can with a sample tin.  Unless you live in a palace or own a whole skyscraper itâs relatively cheap to test out and those swatch cards never do the colour justice!
Paint it out dark
I say this all the time I know but when you convert across to the dark side there really is no going back. It changes not only the way you think about your space but also the way you feel about it. It TOTALLY makes everything look cooler, edgier, more sophisticated than it really is.
Break some rules
Go out of your comfort zone when selecting paint your spaces will look far more intriguing. Ignore all the stuff about a rooms orientation (drives me bonkers). You can paint small rooms in dark colours, period! if a room is small its small (get over it)! Painting it white wonât suddenly make it look 12 feet bigger! You can also paint rooms that face north or south (depending on where you’re located in the world) in dark hues. South Pole, North Pole, in the country, on the coast. It’s what you put with it that’s the important thing. Talking of rule breaking I pass you across to Sir Richard Branson who says âYou donât learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling overâ.
Donât cheap out
As tempting as it sounds to cheap out on paint it really is a big no no. Expensive paints are made from natural pigments and the spectrometer can never match them. Might look so to the naked eye but the minute you slap that paint up on the wall it will disappoint. Synthetic paints just donât have the same layers of depth and complexity that the luxurious paints do, period!
