Because your home should be as unique as you are
Your home is a reflection of your personality, but it can sometimes be hard to narrow down exactly how to translate your personal style into your space. While pulling together the perfect outfit may be a no-brainer, when faced with a rainbow of beautiful paint colors, you may be left scratching your head.
We’ve got you: Choosing paint colors can be a fun way to alter your space without breaking the bank, and with a few steps, you can choose a palette that reflects your personality to a tee.
To help narrow down your search, there are a few questions you’ll want to ponder:
Are you ready to update your entire home's color schemes? Or do you want to just take it one room at a time?
What kind of vibe are you going for—dark and moody or light and uplifting? Are you a risk-taker or a calm, careful thinker?
What furniture do you already have? Will you be keeping it? What colors would complement those pieces, if so?
Once you have those factors in mind, you can get to the fun part and consider these color families for a few unique personality types.
If you’d rather be out on a hike than cooped up inside, bringing the outdoors in is one way to appeal to your nature-loving soul. Your personal style is likely unfussy and minimalist, with a lot of live plants and natural light. Earthy shades in color palettes of sage, hunter green, and moss will give you the illusion you’re out in the woods—or bring back memories of a favorite trip to a national park, rainforest, lakeside cabin—while giving you a wide range of colors to consider.
If you love nature, but aren’t super into painting your interior green, you might look into having a local interior painter pick a wall color in a shade of gray instead. A stormy gray or dusky blue will give the soothing appearance of a sky even without you ever opening your blinds.
Recommended Colors: Benjamin Moore Olive Moss (2147-20), Sherwin-Williams Unusual Gray (SW 7059), Sherwin-Williams Lemon Verbena (SW 7726), Sherwin-Williams Dill (SW 6438), Benjamin Moore Cedar Path (454), PPG Olive Sprig (PPG1125-4)
If you consider yourself an introvert or would rather be home than any other place on earth, you’ll likely be drawn to calming paint colors. Paint color options for the homebody include cool colors like blues, subtle aquas, or deeper greens that will boost your mood and provide a safe haven for when you want to escape the outside world.
Other Recommended Colors: Sherwin-Williams Stardew (SW 9138), Sherwin-Williams Secret Cove (SW 9058), Sherwin-Williams Evening Shadow (SW 7662), PPG Moonlit Snow (PPG1041-1), PPG Night Watch (PPG1145-7)
If you’d rather be barefoot on a beach or living that van life out west, it’s likely you’re a free spirit at heart. Free spirits are often extroverts who are drawn to colors that reflect their big personalities; they love wildflowers, retro design, and eclectic pieces of clothing—and are equally happy exploring an art gallery as they are kicking it by the pool.
The free spirit is one of the more diverse personality styles in terms of paint colors because they love everything—soft, warm colors like yellow and orange and bright peaches and muted pinks—and aren’t exactly known for their careful decision-making.
If you consider yourself a free spirit, narrowing in on a shade or color palette might prove challenging for you, in which case you’ll want to consult an interior designer near you who can really dig into your personal color psychology.
Recommended Colors: Sherwin-Williams Coral Clay (SW 9005), Sherwin-Williams Daisy (SW 6910), Sherwin-Williams Thermal Spring (SW 6761), PPG River Rouge (PPG1187-4)
If you consider yourself a classic—someone who doesn’t want to have to change paint colors with the season and errs on the safe side of a timeless paint palette—then neutrals are for you. But neutral paint colors don’t have to be boring; there’s a whole wide world of paint colors out there that spans hundreds of different shades of whites, creams, beiges, light grays, and other traditional colors. Pick a handful you like and paint a few swatches on your wall before you commit to one hue.
Recommended Colors: Benjamin Moore White Dove (OC-17), Benjamin Moore China White (OC-141), Farrow & Ball Clunch (No.2009), Benjamin Moore Gray Owl (2137-60)
Creatives thrive on pushing boundaries and incorporating dark colors into their home that others wouldn’t dare. A big trend within creative personalities over the past few years has been jumping in headfirst with a bedroom color in a moody shade like Iron Ore or Urbane Bronze. If going all-out with all black walls intimidates you, start with an accent wall and see how you like it before committing to an entire room color.
Other Recommended Colors: Sherwin-Williams Cyberspace (SW 7076), Sherwin-Williams Moscow Midnight (SW 9142), Behr Beluga (770F-7), Magnolia Blackboard
Are you that friend everyone else calls on for both home design and personal style advice? Consider yourself at the forefront of any trend? Then using the Pantone Color of the Year for 2021 is a perfect pick for you.
In past years, you may have found yourself drawn to bold colors like jewel tones—ruby, emerald, sapphire, amethyst, topaz—as you crave something that makes a statement. And the most recent Pantone Color of the Year, Very Peri—a soothing periwinkle that really pops—is just that. It also can be used in so many different ways, from an accent wall to an entire bedroom.
If Very Peri just isn’t the perfect fit for you, we’ve rounded up some similar paint colors in shades of periwinkle that you might like as an alternative.
Other Recommended Colors: Benjamin Moore California Lilac (2068-40), Sherwin-Williams Perfect Periwinkle (SW 9065), Farrow & Ball Graupel (No.G10)
If you’re still stumped on an exact shade, and you live near a paint store, the next step for your research process will be to stop in and sort through paint chips to see what color family catches your eye.
If after reading this, you already have the perfect paint color in mind for your space, you’ll want to buy a quart to paint a large (2 foot by 2 foot, minimum) sample swatch. A rule of thumb is to go a shade or two lighter on the color wheel as paint always goes on darker than it appears when applied to an entire wall.
If you’re still totally in the dark about what direction to take, most paint stores will have a color consultant who can help you sift through the thousands of different shades out there to settle on the perfect paint color for your personality.
