Do you always have to choose decor before you paint?
Most people I know struggle with choosing a paint colour. It’s also the most common interior design mistake we see around. The reason most people get this wrong has to do with when they choose to do this rather than the colour itself.
You see, most people choose to paint well before they have purchased any furniture or decor. This is how we end up with rooms that have white, grey or beige walls – because when you choose to paint first, you have to play it safe.
If you choose a bold colour to paint first with, then you have just limited yourself in your choice of furniture and decor. Now you have to furnish with items that work with your wall colour. That’s much harder than the other way around.
So what if you feel you have to paint first because you don’t want to deal with the mess that comes with painting once you have stuff in your room? Does that mean you are doomed to have a room that doesn’t quite look that nice?
Not at all! Or at least it doesn’t have to be thatway. If you choose to paint first, you have to find a colour that will work with pretty much anything that you decide to put in the room after.
This is why the safe neutrals make a great choice when you’re looking to start your decorating journey with painting.
I always feel like this is a bit of a chicken and egg situation. What comes first? I believe that whether you choose to paint first or paint later, you can still create a beautiful space. It’s all about understanding what the trade offs are and what you really want.
Especially, when you have open concept floor plans, you want to play it safe, right? I totally get that but for those types of open spaces, you can do one of two things.
First, you can create a single colour palette for all the spaces in the open area.
The other option is creating individual colour palettes for the various spaces and choosing 1-2 accent colours for each room that compliments the colour palette of the adjacent spaces.
What the heck do I mean? Check out these combinations for an open plan living and dining and kitchen area where we keep most of the colours consistent and accent colours that coordinate.
However, you should understand that when you start with painting your walls first, you are limiting your design options, unless you’re open to painting again once you’ve finished decorating. This is why many design pros favour leaving painting to the end. We just think that there’s a way around it to still get to a room that will look beautiful.
At Daakor, we are fans of having a design plan that articulates everything from paint colour to the throw pillows so that there is no guessing when it comes to furnishing and decorating your space.
Our designers almost always start with a colour palette based on what we see in our client’s Pinterest board but it then gets tweaked once we start shopping for the concept.
If you love neutral walls and you dress them up using art work or think of other ways to add interest to them, then you can get away with painting first. This is also perfect for someone who appreciates a space that comes together over time and has a well curated look.
If you are after a dramatic feature wall and you’re looking for a perfectly coordinating space that is all about perfect style, you probably should wait to paint. This will mean you will have the opportunity to figure out nuances and undertones in your overall colour palette and you can pull a paint colour out of that colour palette.
If you need a little help figuring out a paint colour or even a whole colour palette for your home, check out our online colour consultation service.
If your home is already furnished, we look at what your space looks like and we’ll make some recommendations on paint colours that are part of a colour palette and we’ll share tips on additional ways to introduce more colours from your palette into your space to make it really come together beautifully.
If you’re in an empty space, we’ll look at your Pinterest board for inspiration and create a brand new custom colour palette for you based on your preferences and share some tips on how you can bring that colour palette to life in your space.
Either way, you deserve to live in a beautiful home, even when you choose to paint first.
