When painting your room or your entire house, there are some general guidelines that are ubiquitous for all traditional homes. These guidelines include simple things, like not painting your floor an outrageous color, to more hard-to-understand things, such a: avoid painting your trim and wall the same color.
Here are some general guidelines for what not to do with paint when painting your home.
Trim
The trim and the wall color should always contrast. Many amateurs paint both the trim and the wall the same color. It is easier to use the same color, but it downplays the trim. After all, having trim in a home is a very highly-sought-after prize that most people like to accentuate.
When painting trim and walls together, make sure that your border is neat and that the colors do not blend or overlap. Having a crisp line to separate the trim from the wall helps to make your room pop and have added interest.
Many people, especially beginners or those working with an inexpensive or ineffective brush, like to use painter’s tape to protect either the trim or the wall as the focus on painting one or the other. You can simply remove the tape at the end of the project and have a perfectly straight line. The tape should not stick to the wall or interfere with the border in any way.
If you would like some added color in your trim (other than the traditional white) consider a metallic paint. Metallic trim was popular in the 1920’s when tin ceilings were the height of decoration. In recent decades the style has made a major comeback, especially in southern US states.
Too many colors
Many people simply love color. They enjoy painting vibrant colors in different rooms of their homes and live by the philosophy that there should be one color per room.
While this philosophy works if you have a sprawling mansion with very clearly delineated spaces, most modern home have one room that flows into another and are not as large as a mansion. Therefore, it is recommended that you paint with colors that blend well and are consistent. Many people even choose to use the same color (or color family) on one floor of their home. For example, if your hallways is yellow, your living room and dining room should also be yellow.
If having one color throughout your home is too bland for you, then consider painting one floor with colors from the same family, such as the pastel or the nature family. In doing so, the eye will not be distracted by one color or another, but rather, they will all blend together to create a cohesive masterpiece.
Floor
Many people choose to paint their floors to create interest and a protective layer. Painting floors is especially useful if you have an old home with old hardwood floors that are well beyond gloss and protective coats of polyurethane. If you are painting your floor, it is suggested that you choose between a shade of brown that closely resembles wood grain or that you select a nice, country white.