3 min readPictured above: The billiards room of this Wisconsin family home by designer Emily Winters Posselt of Peabody’s Interiors is painted in Sioux Falls by Benjamin Moore.
We’ve all seen the memes. You’re standing in your home, 10 different shades of white paint samples dutifully swatched on the wall, trying to make the painstaking decision among them all. Or maybe they’re shades in the green, blue, red, or beige family—all nearly identical. Whatever the case, the monumental task of committing to just one comes with a mighty pressure to get it right.
Interior designers are all too familiar with this choosing process, but they’ve figured out how to land on the best paint color without as much hemming required. How? By following one simple rule.
The #1 Rule Designers Follow When Choosing Paint
Designers recommend finalizing everything else before choosing your final paint color to eliminate decision fatigue and headaches.
“Paint colors are almost infinite, but rugs, curtains, upholstery, and art are not,” says interior designer Dana Arazi Levine. “If you commit to a wall color too early, you can end up limiting every other decision or spending more on custom pieces just to make everything work together.”
Lisa Quinn agrees that picking the paint color last is the way to go. She says she always finalizes anything you can’t paint or easily swap, including flooring, counters, cabinets, and large furniture pieces.
“Colors that might seem eerily similar in the store only reveal themselves when they sit against these surfaces,” Quinn notes. “A color that looks neutral on a chip can clash the very second it meets honey oak flooring or cool marble.”
Locking in other details first naturally eliminates some of your paint choices. Then, you can select a hue that complements everything you’ve selected. Levine adds that this process also requires an open mind. “The color that works best might be a total surprise,” she says.
More Paint Rules Designers Swear By
Once you’ve chosen the finishing touches in your space, follow these designer tricks to further narrow down a paint color.
Don’t Be Too Swayed by the Chip
The right paint color for your space is not always the prettiest chip. Interior designer Lauren Grant says that when she’s choosing paint for a room, she selects a color that’s more subdued or neutral compared to what she envisions as the final result.
“The color of the paint tends to be exaggerated or higher in contrast due to the other walls in the room reflecting the light and color of the walls back onto themselves,” Grant explains. If you let the chip decide, then you may end up with a “this isn’t quite right” feeling when all is said and painted.
Look at the Undertones
Especially when choosing colors that are very similar, take care to examine the undertones of each. “You’re not asking ‘Is this brown?’ You are asking ‘Does this sample lean towards yellow, pink, purple, or green?’” Quinn says. That question alone is how you narrow down six near-identical shades.
Sample It in the Space
All paint colors that make it into your final round of edits must come home with you. Viewing them in the store won’t give you the most accurate picture of how they read in your space. From there, paint the swatch onto your wall and sit with it for at least 24 hours to see how it shifts in the light, says Lindsay Atapattu of LEB Interiors.
“Factors like lighting, room direction, and existing decor can significantly change how the color appears in a space,” she notes. “Sometimes it helps to put up the samples and walk away.” A fresh set of eyes on paint colors can be the difference between picking in haste and making a mistake, or basking in a showstopping room.
