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If anyone out there has suggestions on how to choose decent paint colors for our living room and dining room, I'd really, really love to hear them. I've been staring at paint website color-picker tools for a while now, and not only are my eyes beginning to bug out but I keep feeling irritated when the user interfaces don't work quite the way I want them to. (Of course, what I really ultimately want from them would probably require black magic.)
The thing I really lack is a good way to make sure that I pick colors that look good together (including our existing dark blue couch). Kim and I would rather not default to generic neutral beige walls: we actually want some sort of color if we can manage it, though nothing too bright and bold.
Ideally, what I want is a tool that will let me build a palette one color at a time and gradually restrict my choices as I add additional colors to the list. I'd start with the couch color, which by itself probably wouldn't narrow the possibilities much, and then once I picked a second reasonable color (the main wall color, say) I'd be left with a much shorter list of possibilities for an additional accent color or two. Once I had a complete list, changing any one color would simultaneously update the others if necessary to keep the set looking good (unless a color was "locked", like the couch). In a perfect world, I could watch the effects of these changes in real time on a sample picture of a room similar to ours.
As noted, a tool like that probably doesn't exist, so at this point I'd be content with just general ideas on how to avoid major blunders while choosing colors by eye. I don't really trust my sense of style enough to risk a major painting excursion on it without some sort of outside support. (Kim has a better sense of these things than I do, but I very much want to be able to contribute intelligently to the conversation.)
The thing I really lack is a good way to make sure that I pick colors that look good together (including our existing dark blue couch). Kim and I would rather not default to generic neutral beige walls: we actually want some sort of color if we can manage it, though nothing too bright and bold.
Ideally, what I want is a tool that will let me build a palette one color at a time and gradually restrict my choices as I add additional colors to the list. I'd start with the couch color, which by itself probably wouldn't narrow the possibilities much, and then once I picked a second reasonable color (the main wall color, say) I'd be left with a much shorter list of possibilities for an additional accent color or two. Once I had a complete list, changing any one color would simultaneously update the others if necessary to keep the set looking good (unless a color was "locked", like the couch). In a perfect world, I could watch the effects of these changes in real time on a sample picture of a room similar to ours.
As noted, a tool like that probably doesn't exist, so at this point I'd be content with just general ideas on how to avoid major blunders while choosing colors by eye. I don't really trust my sense of style enough to risk a major painting excursion on it without some sort of outside support. (Kim has a better sense of these things than I do, but I very much want to be able to contribute intelligently to the conversation.)
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being too lazy to read this whole thread, I will jump in with too sense and you can decide if it is helpful.
1. The big box home improv stores have little color books that give you a dozenish color palettes. If you are willing, you can probably just pick one and be assured it will look 'good'.
2. Being in a northern clime, might I suggest warm colors, light colors, and bright colors.
3. Some stores (Home depot I think) sell a little baggie of the paint that is cheaper than buying a pint yet enough to do a few sqft on a wall so you can get a feel for the color. If memory serves, this is Ralph Lauren brand. the baggies are also a limited color palette (they don't stock baggies for all bazillion chips), but I'll guess the baggies match up with their fancy books with prepicked color combos.
Good luck!
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