Vancouver Colour Designer on The 5 Designer Secrets that will Make or Break your Paint Colours

Question: When will you [or your client] really second guess your colour choices?

Knight & Day – Denman Street

Answer: When the colour doesn’t relate to anything.

For example, in the above image, the client had chosen black and beige striped fabric for the banquets in addition to black carpeting and black leather seats. When the wainscoting was painted in the Lenox Tan (below), it was perfect because it matched the stripe in the fabric [I was a star!]. However, when the red went up, the client called me immediately to come down and take a look to discuss whether it was the ‘right’ red for the space. Was it dark enough? Did I think it was too orange, and so on. In the end, we kept the colour but it didn’t look ‘right’ to my client, until the artwork was installed.

Here are the 5 steps to achieving perfect paint colours every time:

1. Pick your tile and/or granite first. It’s the fixed finishes like these where your selection is the most limited. Or even worse, you select the tile and then when it comes time to order, it’s gone! It’s much easier to get excited about the wall colour when you can see how beautifully it relates to the tile or granite you have chosen.

2. Select your fabrics and finishes. It’s much harder to run around and try to match a $4,000 sofa or custom drapery to a $50 gallon of paint than the other way around.

3. Buy the bedding. This way you will just love the master bedroom colour! Otherwise you will stare at it--convinced there is something wrong with it--because it doesn’t go with your bedding or you haven’t purchased bedding that relates with the wall colour.

4. Buy the art or shower curtain for your bathroom. Unless you can pick a colour that relates to the tile, you are back to wondering if it really was the right choice.

5. Hire a designer to pick a colour palette that flows throughout your home. Sometimes, clients do not have a choice because they need to paint before they have even thought about buying new furniture. If you hire a colour professional to pick a palette of colours you are happy with, it makes it easier to pull the space together later. Just remember you won’t initially be as happy as you would be, if your finishes were already chosen.

Related posts:

Best way to prepare for a Benjamin Moore Colour Consultation

Hiring a Designer: Luxury or Necessity

Three ways to beat the High Cost of Buying a new Paint Colour