Choosing the Perfect Paint Color For Your Furniture
You’ve decided to paint a piece of furniture, but now comes the tricky part. How to choose the right color for your project. If you are an overthinker like I am, this can be hard! There are so many choices – do you stay neutral or go bold? A light shade or a dark shade? While there is no wrong answer, narrowing your choices down a bit is helpful. Whether you are painting pieces for a specific space or painting pieces to sell, I’ve outlined several things to consider when choosing a color for your furniture.
Think about the space and style
Consider existing colors
When choosing a color for furniture, the first thing you must consider is the space the piece will be going into. What colors are you already dealing with? Walls, rugs, other furniture? If you have a lot of color in the room then maybe a neutral is the way to go. I love to add a pop of color to a room with furniture – coordinating with pillows or other accent colors can make a great statement. Do you want all of your furniture to match, or is having complimentary colors/wood tones preferred? Painting two mismatched pieces in the same color is a great way to bring cohesion into the space. If you are doing a total redo of the room, then you have a bit more freedom, but often we are trying to fit a piece into an existing style.
Determine the mood
We are all drawn toward certain colors or color schemes. You can also think of these as moods. If you are designing a space from scratch, what feeling do you want when you walk into the room? Calming, light and airy? Dark and Cozy? Adding color to your furniture will instantly add to the mood of a room.
Remember your lighting
Lighting plays a huge role in how a color will look in a space. It’s important to consider how much natural light a space gets. Understand the colors will look different at different times of day and at night when you are using artificial light. I always suggest looking at a potential paint color in the actual space it is going in, and look at it during different times of day.
Consider the type of furniture
The type of furniture you are painting also plays a role in choosing a color. A smaller accent piece can be fun in a bolder color. It adds interest without taking over the space. A large bedroom set with multiple pieces is better suited to a classic neutral color. I love navy because it leans both ways. It is very classic, but often infuses just a touch of color into a space and is easy to decorate around.
Use test swatches or samples
When helping my clients decide on a color, I will give them a test swatch to bring home and use in the space. I find that most colors look lighter and more saturated (colorful) on a piece of furniture than they do on the swatch. I make my swatches myself, but you can purchase swatches or sample sizes from most paint companies. Don’t rely on online photos to give you a true representation of color. These photos can be really helpful in narrowing down a color family or “look” that you are going for, but they may end up looking different in your own space.
Start painting
While I’m hoping all of the guidance I’ve provided helps narrow down your color choice, the most important thing to remember is that it’s just paint! No need to stress over choosing a paint color for your furniture! If you put on a few coats and don’t like it, it can always be repainted. You’ve already done all the prep work, which is the hard part. I’ve had pieces that didn’t look the way I thought they would, so I repainted them. I’ve shown clients progress photos and we’ve changed direction. It happens, and you’ll get better the more you do it. I used to agonize over furniture (and wall) colors, but it gets so much easier, I promise!
Painting to sell
Most of what I talked about focuses on painting for a specific space or room. But what about when you are looking to sell a piece of furniture? I like to go through the thought processes above, imagining the piece in a space. And when I go to write up the listing, I will describe what I’ve imagined. For example, when I painted this yellow dresser, I thought about it as a focal point in a room with blues and whites. I shared that vision in my listing and it sold within a few days to someone with a blue and white room. She loved the idea of adding a pop of yellow (and ended up picking out a quilt for the bed with coordinating yellow in it).
Lastly, are there certain colors that sell better than others? Conventional wisdom says that neutrals will sell faster. And I think your market and the “look” you are known for also factor into how your pieces sell. I’ll be totally honest, I love painting in fun colors and couldn’t just do neutrals. Do my pieces take longer to sell? Possibly, but they all do sell. I’ve never repainted a piece. My advice is to paint what you love and adjust as necessary. Everyone’s market and client base is different.
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