Top Tips For Choosing Your Wall Paint Colour.

Whether you are a first-time homeowner eagerly awaiting your BTO or Condo keys, you are in the middle of renovating your resale HDB or Condominium or you are looking for style inspiration for your Landed Property, the process of choosing paint colours remains the same.

Choose colours you love (and can live with).

Firstly, picking paint colours can be overwhelming. The main thing to keep in mind and the easiest way to choose your interior paint colours is to start with colours you love. If you don’t like green, to begin with, you won’t like green when it’s on your wall and you are staring at it daily.

If you start with colours you love, you help yourself by narrowing down the paint colours you have to choose from but also if you choose some of your favourite colours, your colour scheme can grow from that. Your favourite colours can be the perfect inspiration for your scheme.

Curate images and pictures that inspire you.

If you think you don’t have a favourite colour, spend some time on Pinterest saving images that appeal to you. you. Soon enough it will become clear that you do have some colours which you are drawn to. Don’t only rely on Pinterest, there are many other sources of inspiration. Magazines and catalogues have long been a source of design inspiration. There is something about seeing a picture in print that will grab your attention.

The internet is of course awash with billions of pages of inspiration. Paint brands such as Dulux, Nippon and Benjamin Moore have interactive websites which can allow you to imagine what your home will look like.

Social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest are great sources of inspiration. Pinterest will allow you to create boards which are collections of images that you like, ensuring you keep all of your ideas together in one spot.

Don’t rule out neutral paint colours.

Neutral paint colours don’t have to be boring or laid-back. In the context of interior design, neutral means without colour. Neutrals such as beige, black, grey, taupe, ivory and shades of white can appear to be without colour, however, many paints have undertones. For example, beige may have an undertone of gold, ping or grey. White may be somewhat yellow, bluish, peach or ivory. Neutral paints in Singapore may be used in a couple of ways, either to create a soft, neutral or quiet look or as a backdrop colour for more dramatic accents such as bold curtains, feature walls or art prints.

Paint colour inspiration can be pulled from other elements in your home.

Whilst your interior designer (ID) might be suggesting colours that work within your scheme, be brave and look at the other elements in your space for inspiration. You may have an art piece that you are planning to bring into your space, why not look to use some of the colours from this in your scheme? Fabrics such as curtains, bed linen or cushions can also be a great place to start. Pulling a colour from your favourite cushion cover can be a great way to find a paint colour that will bring your scheme together.

In Singapore, people tend to start with their wall colours and build up their theme or style from there, however, why not start with a piece that you love and draw your wall colours from there?

Shades of colour matter.

So you have created what feels like endless Pinterest boards, saved images from Instagram, pulled together your favourite art print and still something feels off and that your room is not quite coming together? Sometimes all you need is a little adjustment to find the right paint colour. Before you abandon your paint colour choice, (and all hope) too quickly, consider a lighter or darker shade of the same colour. Many paint colours appear on a paint strip in gradual shades, but you can also ask your paint store to customize it by percentages of light or dark shades.

Undertones can work both for and against you.

If you have ever found yourself in a situation where you have painted your bedroom in what you thought was the perfect greige, only it came out too pink (or green or blue)? Thank the paint undertones.

You can be unpleasantly surprised by the undertones when choosing your wall paint colours. Simply put, undertones are the colours hiding beneath your favourite paint color. A simple beige may not be all that simple if it has a strong green undertone. The only way to accurately tell how an undertone will appear in your home is to sample the color. Undertones from other surfaces in your room can also change the way your paint appears due to reflection, so sampling would be ideal.

Visualise the paint colour in your own space.

This is easier said than done in Singapore. Dulux have some paint testers available from Hardware City on Shoppee, however endless google searches haven’t shown up the same option for other brands.

That said, both Nippon and Dulux have their own apps where you can visualise your chosen colours within your own homes. These can be hit and miss, but worth using to give you some idea of what the colours will look like in your home.

Make sure you look at the colours at different times of the day and in differing lights. The last thing you want is for you to love a colour in daylight but as soon as the sun sets, you can’t stand it.

Do what works for you but be practical.

You might be getting the keys to your BTO, your very first home and moving in with your spouse, don’t forget that your family dynamic may change in the future. Whilst you may envision pure white walls sitting alongside your brand new white leather sofa when you move in, don’t forget your circumstances may change. Will you be able to maintain a bright white wall with a toddler? If you like entertaining, will bright white be able to withstand high traffic areas of your home such as your entrance hallway?

Paint colours can always be changed.

It can feel like a leap of faith to decide on what colours work for your scheme and your space. The silver lining is that its relatively easy to repaint and change the colour you have chosen. Unlike built-in cabinetry which is more permanent, you can opt to change your paint colour at a later time. Whilst this may send you to a cool airconditioned room to lie down in fear, its comforting to know that in all your. home renovation decisions that you are making, some things you settle on are less permanent than others.

Most importantly.

Have fun with your paint colours. Your paint can change the feeling of your room or your entire home. You can always use soft furnishings such as a rug to bring your room together, paint is just one element in a larger scheme.