How to avoid the seven deadly sins of room painting

Dear Gail: We’re done with our white walls and ready to paint. We’ll do the painting ourselves to save money. Over the years we’ve stayed pretty neutral, so don’t want to make any mistakes with choosing colors. Are there any things we should be aware of? Thanks, Bob and Lisa

Dear Bob and Lisa: Paint is one of the best decorating items you can add to any room. Changing a color and adding an accent will give any room a whole new look. It’s also the least expensive item you can add since it is something you can do yourself. But paint and your time is still money. So here are my seven deadly paint mistakes to avoid.

1) Selecting the paint color before the other things in your room. You just want the room painted, you want some color, but you haven’t picked your new carpet, upholstery or fabrics. I had a client that did this. She hired a painter who suggested this neutral color he used many times. When he was done, it looked nice in the room and now it was time for new upholstery. But we struggled to find anything that worked with the paint without the walls turning pink. The paint had a pink undertone that jumped out with everything because she wanted white. The room was large, with vaulted ceilings and she didn’t want to pay to have it repainted, so we had to take the upholstery in a different direction. It looked great when we were done, but still not what she originally wanted.

2) Not looking at the paint color with all of the items in the room. Flooring, cabinets, window coverings, upholstery, wall units, stone and artwork. Paint absorbs and reflects the colors around it. So a color may look perfect with your upholstery but oddly orange next to your cabinets.

3) Not looking at the paint color across from each window and during the four times of day, morning, noon, dusk and night. Paint is a living color and reacts to all the things around it. Direct sunlight is constant and keeps a color consistent. In the morning and as the sun sets, the colors will appear more golden. Paint in north-facing windows will bring more of its blue and green tones out since those windows receive less direct sunlight. Whereas, south-facing windows get more sunlight so colors will pull the warmer tones of yellow and orange. Because of this, your colors will look different in every room. Also notice to what is directly outside your windows and any window tint. The colors of those items will affect how your colors look inside each room because sunlight is coming through them.

4) Painting samples right on the wall. When you paint samples right on the wall, all you’re doing is giving yourself extra work. You’re excited, you bring a quart home, get out a brush and start painting. But you don’t like the color, so you go out, buy another color and paint more. Now you’ve picked your favorite and want to see it over the sofa, so you paint some more. But you don’t like it there, so on and on it goes until you find the right one. But now you have different color stripes on the walls ranging from yellow to red to green and it’s time to paint. Unless you want the paint to look different over each color sample, you’ll need to possibly apply multiple coats of primer to get back to a single color, so more work.

5) Picking a paint color from the small sample on a paint strip. Paint colors do appear different from small to large samples. This is why you need to buy that quart of paint and four pieces of regular poster board. Paint all four and now you have a wall size sample. Interior designers are fortunate to be supplied with “color or chip boxes” by paint manufacturers. Along with a fan deck we also have access to larger samples ranging from 3-by- 5 to 5-by-7 and it does make a difference. Many times I’ll think the color on the fan deck is it, until I pull out that larger sample. Even then, I always suggest my clients paint those poster boards. Much cheaper than repainting the whole room.

6) Not taking a color sample home. Along with the reasons above another is that the artificial light in your home will change colors. Incandescent gives off a yellow light, so they’ll make your colors warmer and golden. Warm fluorescent bulbs bring out more reds and warmer colors. Cool fluorescent bulbs bring out cooler tones; color-corrected provide a more accurate color. Halogen bulbs give a crisp, white light that affects your colors the least. So since the type of bulbs will change your colors, keep that in mind when changing your light bulbs.

7) Not allowing yourself time to get used to the color. If you’re not used to having color on your walls, it will be a change. It’s like getting a new hairstyle; it sometimes takes time to get used to.

So paint those walls and make your rooms pop, but remember the seven deadly mistakes.

Gail Mayhugh, owner of GMJ Interiors, is a professional interior designer and author of a book on the subject. Questions may be sent by email to: GMJinteriors@gmail.com. Or, mail to: 7380 S. Eastern Ave., No. 124-272, Las Vegas, NV 89123. Her Web address is: www.gmjinteriors.com.