How To Determine If You Chose The Wrong Paint Color

You might be feeling like a room in your home needs to be refreshed. But rather than replace all of your furniture, you can redo the space with a new coat of paint. Don't underestimate the way paint can transform a room. As Red House Design Build explains, a few coats of light-colored paint can make a room feel larger or a darker shade can make it feel cozier. It can also elongate the walls to make the ceilings appear higher. Paint can also help pull your home's design together to be more cohesive.

But choosing a paint color doesn't always go right the first time. In fact, many people paint an entire room and only realize that the wrong colors might be on the walls afterward. And sometimes, it's not immediately obvious that you might have chosen the wrong paint color. Here are some easy ways to determine if you chose the wrong paint color for a room in your home.

Sometimes you can love a paint shade in the store, but once you see it in practice, it just doesn't work. Even if you love the swatch, once you paint the whole room, you realize the paint clashes with the rest of the features and details and simply is the wrong paint color for the room. It might not go with the floors, light fixtures, or even the furniture. The color just isn't quite right. That could be due to issues when swatching your paint colors.

It's always a good idea to ensure your paint matches the fixed elements of your space like the floor, tile, or countertops, says West Magnolia Charm. These are features that are permanent to the space, so it's better to make sure the paint looks good with these rather than only on the wall alone. 

Similarly, you want to make sure the paint matches your furniture. Of course, you'll want to move a sofa, chair, or bed, so you won't get paint on them during the painting process. But don't move these pieces away from the wall without testing what that paint color will look like against the furniture.

Another reason why a paint color could prove wrong for a room is because of the undertones. Colors aren't only the shade they appear; they also have undertones. If the undertone of the paint doesn't match your furniture or fixed elements, it's not going to look good. Colors can have undertones of any other color, so you might have blue with green undertones or even white with pink undertones.

Warm undertones tend to create a warm and cozy space, while cool undertones are more crisp and airy. And being able to identify the undertones of your pair options will help make sure the paint shade matches the rest of the room. Arizona Painting Company points out how important it is to also identify the undertones in the room before you start painting. It's often easier to use the darkest or boldest shade on a paint strip to find the undertones, but some employees at the paint store can also help you identify the undertones in the paint.