I Want to Paint My Walls in Colour… But I’m Scared
So, you’ve decided it’s time. Paintbrush in hand, you’re ready to bring a little more colour into your life, but the truth is, you’re a little nervous.
Welcome to Your Design Problems Solved, a series where we dive into all those common renovation and styling dilemmas. From “How do I paint my home for sale?” to “Where do I even start with kitchen design?”, we’re here to guide you through it all, with expert insights from ISCD educators, tips from real-life renovators, and a healthy dose of design encouragement.
First off, we’ll be starting with a little series within the series focusing on paint and colour.
Painting your own home is always a big task. Whether you’re tackling it solo or contracting professional painters to do the job, you’ll have plenty of decisions to make even before you open that first paint tin.
If you’ve decided now is the time to be bold with colour, then we’ve got a few tips to help make it less daunting.
Are you ready to start introducing more colour to your walls? Image by Spacejoy on Unsplash.
1. Start Small: Introduce Colour in Measured Doses
Yes, we’re talking feature walls… but not the 2000s kind.
A single painted wall in a hallway, bedroom, or dining nook can create just enough visual interest without overwhelming the space. It’s the colour equivalent of dipping your toes in the water.
Feeling braver? Try a painted ceiling instead. This lets you keep the white or neutral toned walls that let artworks and other features shine while introducing the bold colour statement that you crave. Just remember that ceiling colours reflect onto your walls, so consider the overall effect on the space.
“If it’s an old home, and you have really high ceilings, and you want that sense of something different, it’s a wonderful way to use colour, because it doesn’t overwhelm the space,” says Andrea Lucena-Orr, Colour and Communications Manager at DuluxGroup.
“Years ago, it was done all the time. In the seventies and the sixties, it was a really common thing to have coloured ceilings, but from sort of the eighties onwards, we’ve started going white, and didn’t sort of ever get it back – but we’ve seen some fantastic examples of how it really works!”
WATCH: ISCD Webinar Series: Colour with Dulux
2. Tone It Down: Use Lighter Strengths of Bold Colours
If you love the idea of colour but want something more subtle, ask your paint supplier to mix your chosen shade at half or quarter strength. This softens the tone while still giving your walls personality.
This is a popular option when people are colour drenching, and they want to choose different strengths of the same tone for their walls, ceilings, doors and trims.
READ: What Is Colour Drenching?
But you can use the same trick to try out colour on your walls without going for the full monochromatic look. Choosing something with just a hint of colour doesn’t take you too far from tried and tested white walls, and lets you keep white for the ceilings and trims (just match the undertones). The white will set off the colour without creating too much contrast, giving you a lovely soft way to introduce colour to your home.
Subdued hues can give you a subtle way to introduce colour to your home. Image by Julia on Unsplash.
3. Live With It First: Test Drive a Colour
Whether that’s blu-tacking paint samples to the walls or introducing colour through cushions, throws, or artwork, make sure you like living with the colours you have chosen.
This lets you see the colour in changing lights, and against other features of the room. You might never have noticed the green tint to your couch’s grey fabric until it’s sitting against pink paint.
An alternative way to try out a colour could be to get a blank canvas and to cover it with a sample pot of your chosen colour. Hang it on the wall for a month, and when you take it down to start painting, you have a canvas ready to fill with anything you like, and a colour for your walls that you know you love.
There are plenty of ways to test drive a colour before you commit with paint. Image by Aleksandra Dementeva on Unsplash.
Let Colour In, One Step at a Time
Bringing colour into your home doesn’t have to be a dramatic, all-or-nothing decision. Whether it’s a whisper of blush on a bedroom wall or a bold green ceiling in the hallway, every small step is a chance to make your space more you.
Painting the walls might feel like a permanent decision, but it really isn’t. Give yourself some time to see how you like the bold new look, and if you’re still not convinced, you can always paint again.
And remember, there’s no such thing as perfect. There’s only getting it closer to the home you love being in every day.