Thursday, December 6, 2018

Whole House Color Inspiration And How The Sun Plays A Part

Tomorrow is closing day for our new house and I've been busy these past few weeks narrowing down my color choices. I really want to do the main floor and hallway leading upstairs all the same color. This can be SUPER tricky because the light in one room will be different than the light in the other rooms.

The direction your house faces plays a part. You may get direct sunlight in one room and then on the other side of the house not get any sunlight. Of course we can't forget how the lights you use in your home can affect paint color as well.

Our last house faced North and South with the front facing South and back facing North. I never had any direct sunlight in the back of the house and I really hated it. That's pretty much where we lived all day long. And there was only 1 small window in the front of the house so natural sunlight was super minimal. There were many windows in the back so that helped keep it not so dreary but I missed that sunlight! 


The window to the left was the only good window facing the South and the only one that let in direct sunlight. Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Wordly Gray

Our new house faces North (2 front rooms and 2 bedrooms will face North), with the back facing South (living room, dining room, kitchen, and 2 more bedrooms). So we will have more sun in the back of the home where I will be spending a majority of my day (aka the Kitchen of course).

It's important to keep in mind that paint colors also change tone during different times of day. In the morning it's bright and airy. In the evening the color will look different. And here in the midwest, the winter months are overcast and dreary and will also change the color of paint. 

Basically all this to say, you can paint your whole house one color but keep in mind, every room may look different just because the sun, dreary weather, lighting, and time of day all play a factor.

In my last house I chose to do a medium color, a greige called Worldly Gray by Sherwin Williams. I chose this color because we had off-white IKEA kitchen cabinets. The darker color of the wall helped to "lighten" the creamy color of the cabinets and tricked your eye into thinking they were white.

In these 2 pictures you can see how the darker walls really make the cabinets POP and you can't even tell they're more of a creamy color.



The wall to the left and the wall to the right are painted the EXACT same color. The left gets a lot of natural light from a huge window while the right wall is a hallway and is darker. The paint color looks completely different in both spaces even though it's the same. 

What's on trend now for houses is a very light, almost non existent color. Some people even opt for an all white interior to give it that modern, minimalist vibe. I am really hoping to have a super light gray/greige color that's warm and inviting but you're almost asking yourself if there's actually color on the walls. Here are some examples of what I'm crushing on.


 Source: Google

 Source: Google

Source: Google

Source: Google

Source: Google

This coming week we will be installing new lights in our house and I will be putting color samples up on the walls. I will keep you updated and give you a step by step guide to choosing the perfect paint color!

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