The human eye can distinguish about 7 million different shades colors, so how are we supposed to choose which ones should go on our walls? The trick is finding a base color or palette and combining it with colors that mix harmoniously.

Here are some tips for choosing colors:

You can select a favorite color from an artwork, a rug, dishes, an accessory, furniture, etc., use that color as main or accent, and build on it choosing colors that compliment it.

Think about the mood and feel of the room. Keep in mind soft, cool or neutral colors create a quiet, restful, and soothing feeling while stronger, more vibrant and brighter colors can make a room feel dramatic or intimate, sociable, and stimulating.

Pay attention to the room’s lighting because it might end up looking different depending on the light. Natural daylight shows the truest color, incandescent light brings out warm tones and yellows and fluorescent lighting cast sharp blue tones.

Walk into another room to see how the painted one interacts with the rest of the house when viewing it from the next room.

Play up the room’s architectural features such as molding, mantels, bookcases, doorways, windows, and more to add more layers and depths of colors.

There are three primary colors: red, yellow and blue; and three secondary colors: orange, green, and purple. All the remaining colors are tertiary colors, which are mixes of secondary colors. This is important to keep in mind when using the color wheel method, this is a tool that can be used to compare the relationship between different hues. The basic rule for using this method is to keep in mind that opposites attract and using colors found on opposite ends of the color wheel can bring out the best in each other.

http://www.housebeautiful.com/room-decorating/colors/g627/paint-color-ideas/?slide=4

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http://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/color/10-tips-for-picking-paint-colors

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