15 Lessons: Choosing Paint Colors

One of the things I hear most often? People are terrified of selecting paint! It can feel very overwhelming for lots of reasons:

• paint has a huge impact on the feel of a space

• colors can be polarizing - landlords/business owners/homeowners don’t want to create a space that tenants/customers/friends and family will hate!

• folks are worried about “resale,” or what others think, or that they will choose wrong, or that it won’t “go” with their furniture/decor

• it’s expensive to paint a whole building, even if it’s just the interior or the exterior or even just a few rooms

• folks are paralyzed by infinite choice

So…this is why a lot of buildings get painted white, beige, or gray. There’s nothing wrong with that - these are great colors to use, and there’s a reason they’re called “neutral.”

And while I’m often encouraging folks to explore beyond the white-gray-beige palette, I also understand the power and usefulness of those colors. It’s *ok* to use neutrals!

And…it might be fun to spice things up in a few places, too.

This post, however, is less about which colors you *should* pick, but more about how to make sure you’re making good decisions. There are many rules of thumb and best practices I’ve learned over the past two decades…here are 15 of my favorites: