The Easy Way To Incorporate Multiple Paint Colors In One Room

A lot of homeowners planning a painting project have questions about a somewhat delicate subject: incorporating multiple paint colors into one room.

More than one paint color in a single room adds depth and interest, but it’s possible to take this too far – to go from depth and interest to chaotic and stress-inducing.

There’s a great solution to this problem for homeowners who are interested in building in multiple colors but want to do it well: use a monochromatic color scheme.

What is a monochromatic color scheme?

“The basic definition of monochromatic color is to use a single base color and shades, tints and tones of that hue.” [source]

But how do you apply that to incorporating more than one color into a room? Here are some really good tips from an article in SF Gate, “How to Use Dark & Light Shades of One Color to Paint a Room”:

1. Pick up paint swatches in that color family from a paint store or home improvement store. Select one of the palest shades and two of the medium shades to be your paint colors. Save the darkest shades on the swatches for accent colors in your upholstery and accessories.

2. Look at the amount of natural light in the room. If the room gets lots of light, select the palest shade in your color palette as the primary wall color. If the room is naturally dark, select the darker of the two medium tones as the primary wall color.

3. Choose the opposite extreme for the trim, which includes baseboards, door frames and window frames. For example, if your room is naturally bright and you picked the palest shade for the walls, pick the darker of the medium tones for the trim; if you use the dark shade for the walls, use the palest shade for the trim.

4. Use the middle color for any molding on the walls, including wainscoting and chair rails. If the walls have panels, paint the surfaces that extend farthest into the room in the middle color and the flat surfaces inside in the same color as the walls. This heightens the three-dimensional effect.

5. Paint high ceilings one shade darker than the walls. Paint average ceilings slightly lighter than the walls.

Read the article for more tips.

Wondering what this looks like practically?

Here are some great examples of this monochromatic approach to interior paint color in real life:

See if you can spot how each example dealt with the different aspects of the room – primary wall color, ceiling, molding, trim, and furniture / accents.

Source: Laura Lee Clark via A Blissful Nest

Source: Freshome

Source: Jeff Andrews Design via Freshome