Paint Colors

She has some wonderful advice on paint colors.
http://theletteredcottage.net/frequently-asked-questions

A nice, warm or cool soft white works well to add a clean and larger feeling without looking to 'stale'. I personally love the rice grain she has in her kitchen, here is what she says about it.

"It’s painted “Rice Grain”, but I had the folks at Sherwin Williams cut it in half by 50%, to brighten it up a bit. If you love a certain color, but want to lighten it, you can always cut it by 25%, 50% or 75%."

Darker colors tend to make a room feel smaller.

I wouldn't worry too much about choosing colors good for resale. Chances are that no matter what colors you choose they may not match the next owner's decor anyway. The people that we bought our house from had the rooms all painted nice colors but they just didn't match our furnishings so we ended up eventually painting every single room except for the master bathroom. Also, darker colors don't always make a room look smaller. The following factors can also affect how big or small the room appears; how much natural light you have, the color of other furnishings and decor, the size of the furniture and how much furniture you have in the room. Pick colors you like and enjoy your house for as long as you live there. :)

I was told my an interior decorator to only use 3 different colors throughout your house ~ you can have any of those shades lightened for a different hue, but stick to 3 colors. I can't remember the reasoning tho :)
We have red, blue and brown for our 3 basic (and of course white, but that doesn't count as one of the 3) colors so each room is one of those but master bath blue is a lighter shade of the blue in my son's room.

Darker colors always make rooms look smaller. I would take the colors of your current furnishings and choose the lightest colors from that pallet. Take a pillow and a tile to the hardware store and use the scanner in the paint area. That will tell you what colors will go with your furnishings. I think you can use up to 3 items to scan. Have fun.

We actually hired a color consultant to choose our paint colors. We ended up with a darker khaki on our walls than I would have gone with and I love it! We have high ceilings and a lot of windows, so the darker color works great and warms up the house a lot.

She also told us to go dark with our small downstairs bath. She made an interesting point: It's a very small room anyway, so white won't suddenly make it look twice as big. We went with a terra cotta color in there and get compliments on it all the time. Gives the room a cozy feeling and doesn't make it seem any smaller because it's small to begin with.

Her tip was also to have fun with the kids' bathroom. We could always repaint when it's time to sell since it's a small room anyway and not much work. We went with a fun lavender shade in there.

Have fun choosing colors!

Buy some decorating magazines, and get colors from there.

Don't worry about resale, nobody has the same taste and most people will want to repaint anyway. Have fun with the colors now.

OOH! I love this question! Get this book, even if you never do any painting. It's worth owning just for the daydreaming alone! It's called "House Beautiful Colors for Your Home". It's collection of all of the favorite, go-to colors of actual interior designers. Each page has specific swatches with it's specific brand and name along with the designers' reasons for choosing them. It's awesome!!

You're welcome! ;-)

A really good neutral is Dunn Edwards Jakarta - it is a neutral beige but it's not too yellow, not too pink, not too light, not too dark. If you do not have Dunn Edwards in your area, Benjamin Moore can match the shade.We always do the woodwork in Benjamin Moore Cloud White. I also like grey as a neutral. Benjamin Moore has a grey called "Nantucket Gray" that is subtly green - even though it is a little on the darker side, it does not look dark in the room, just very peaceful. As far as what makes a room look smaller, some people say light colors make a room bigger, some people say dark colors make the walls recede and make the room look bigger. I think it's personal taste and how you use the room. Have fun!

A shade of gray is a nice neutral that, to me anyway, doesn't seem as boring as your traditional neutrals. Generally dark colors make small rooms look smaller. If you are painting a large room, a room with high ceilings or a room with a lot of windows then a dark color should be fine.

I would go with neutral earthtones. I have chair rails so the top is a cream color and below the chair rail are khaki in my entry, great room and kitchen with sage in the dining room. I would recommend pastel blue or green in the bedrooms. Under no circumstances use red in a bedroom. It is too stimulating. I would choose your colors and work your accessories to give a punch of color if you want it. Accessories are easily changed while painting is more involved. Dark colors will make rooms look smaller and close you in. Lavendar is a nice color or light yellow. They aren't obnoxious to home buyers. I have been in some homes when we were looking to buy that had horrible flowered wallpaper all over the kitchen. It was too busy and just plain gastly! Enjoy your home but don't go wild with the colors. Good luck.