I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve attempted to select a paint color and it has ended in either tears, drinking or both.
Usually both.
Throwing of hands in the air, slamming of fists on tables and/or walls is typical as well.
Obviously, buying sample pots of paint and testing those out on your walls is the way to go, but if I bought a sample pot of paint for every color I thought may work, I would have a closet full of sample paint pots.
One of my biggest challenges is often coordinating paint colors throughout my house – thus why there is a lot of black and white in my home. However, a few months back I went to a meet-up at the Behr paint headquarters in Atlanta and had an ‘Ah ha’ moment.
Also, Behr isn’t paying me to tell you this, I just think that everyone in America should know this so we don’t all spend a combined $1 trillion dollars on paint samples and/or doctor’s bills that resulted from hitting walls after still not being able to find a paint color after 20 freakin’ samples.
How to Coordinate Paint Colors
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Seriously, you’re gonna love me for all time after I tell you this.
Ok, this is the Behr color center at Home Depot.
The color center is broken down into eight horizontal rows.
Rumor has it that every paint color within rows one and two coordinate with each other. The same is true of rows three and four, rows five and six and rows seven and eight.
Therefore, if you select paint colors from within the same row group (i.e. rows 1 & 2 or row 3 & 4 or row 5 & 6 or row 7 & 8), then all those colors will coordinate or harmonize well throughout your house.
I know, right, mind blown. Or at least mine was.
So I tested their theory. I went to Home Depot and randomly grabbed paint chips from the various rows, noting what rows they came from. These are all paint chips from rows one and two:
Y’all. They weren’t lying. The top picture consists of all the color cards I got from those two rows and the bottom images are just cards I pulled out to show that the theory really is true.
Now, not everyone loves that much color. Here are paint chips from rows five and six – more muted tones:
Once more, they all harmonize well together.
I also grabbed some color cards from rows seven and eight:
And those worked too! As you work your way down the color center, the colors tend to get less bright. I failed to get color cards from rows three and four as the employees started looking at me a little funny, so I just took what paint chips I had and ran.
Isn’t that so cool? While I will always love a good black and white paint combination, I am so glad to know this little trick because it will come in handy at the 70’s Landing Pad since I haven’t figured out all the paint colors there just yet.
Did you know about this? Please don’t tell me I’ve been living under a rock for the last 10+ years of my painting life!
Here are more home decorating posts you’ll find helpful too…
How to Make a Moodboard for Room Designs – making these boards are easy and they are great for helping you determine what will and won’t work in your design!
Decorating on a Budget – 5 Ways for Decorating Your Entire Home on a Tiny Budget!
6 Decorating Ideas to Distract from Popcorn Ceilings – before you make a mess and go scraping them off, read this first!
Free Printable Project Planner – a printable planner that will help you plot out your next room makeover and stay on budget.
You know you don’t wanna miss any of this crazy.
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