Huge thank you to Sherwin-Williams for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.
Life is full of complex decisions. Like when my hubs and I are at the neighborhood frozen yogurt shop and I’m staring at the levers for both strawberry and swiss chocolate – the struggle is real. Landon is stuck between the cake batter and the cookies and cream. Oh, the suspense… Or when I’m deciding between a salted or sugar rim for my favorite strawberry jalapeno margarita…do I really want sweet or salty?
Now imagine our trouble when faced with an actual difficult decision like what color to paint our new home. Believe me when I say it’s intimidating. There are thousands of different combinations between all of the types, sheens, colors, and shades that can make the process feel extremely overwhelming.
But luckily for you, we’re here to boil down that crazy process. For the frozen yogurt dilemma, just get both flavors and your problem is solved. For the paint decision, follow these simple steps!
Step 1 – Determine Your Color Palette
Selecting your color palette is the most important step in determining the perfect Sherwin-Williams colors to complement your home and decor. It sets the entire tone for your home and helps determine the mood and ambience that you want to create. Lighter colors can make a smaller room look bigger, while darker colors can make a room feel smaller but cozier. Do you want to create a peaceful and sophisticated tone? Consider blues, greens, or neutrals. Looking for a cozy and welcoming vibe? Consider warmer colors like red or yellows.
Landon and I wanted to create a spa-like oasis in our home, so I knew we wanted a combination of light grays and seafoam greens or spa blues. Okay, so that narrows it down to only about 458 shades. Great. Help hone in on a color family by gathering any fabrics you know you want incorporated in your home and using them as a guideline for matching wall color and furniture! I also created this handy inspo board, which really helped me direct my color choices!
Step 2 – Get Familiar with the Colors with the ColorSnap Visualizer
Y’all, if you’re not familiar with the ColorSnap Visualizer tool, drop everything and get over to their site ASAP. Seriously. It’ll change your life.
Gone are the days where you need to run to the store, grab the swatch and haul your booty back home to try to imagine your newly colored wall based off a 2×2 piece of colored paper. The ColorSnap Visualizer allows you to explore every one of Sherwin-Williams’ colors through their digital color wall! You can compile a custom color palette and transpose each color onto different walls, and even test them out in daytime or night lighting.
If you want to get even fancier, you can upload a picture of your wall or room and overlay your favorite SW colors and see what they look like in your exact space! Game changer! My husband had so much fun painting our house with ColorSnap.
The pro-est of pro tips: If you’re savvy with Photoshop, put some of your furniture options into your home digitally and test them out with different paint colors! If you don’t know how, let us know – we’ve got your back!
Step 3 – Samples and Swatches
Sherwin-Williams has hundreds of colors, which can be overwhelming. Use the Visualizer to narrow it down to your top 3 to 5 – which, luckily, is a blast! If you get excited about too many colors, you’ll find yourself with sample walls looking like an abstract mural… and unless you’re Picasso, that’s probably not a productive step!
Once you have your top colors, head to your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams and pick up a sample of each! No matter how much you may think you love one specific color, don’t commit to a full bucket without testing out samples and seeing what it looks like in different lights and different times of day in your home. Don’t freak out if you think you need to adjust by a shade or two after seeing the paint on your walls!
After a lot of ColorSnapping and sampling, we landed on Comfort Gray and Repose Gray. Comfort Gray looks a little bit more sea blue in our home (and complements the fabric used on our accent chairs PERFECTLY!), so we decided to use this color for our dining room, guest bath, and master. I wanted a more soothing and richer vibe in these rooms, and this color did just the trick.
Repose is a versatile gray that is simply gorg against our Alabaster white trim and the pop of color in the furniture. We used Repose in our entryway, living room, kitchen, and guest room.
Step 4- Select the Type of Paint
So! You’ve picked out the perfect paint color, but now it’s time to pick the type of paint you want to use! Do you want to use a separate paint and primer, or do you want a paint and primer in one? Do you want it to have stain-blocking technology, a quick-and-easy application, or what about a paint that reduces odors from kitchen smells or pets? Be sure to explore all the different options here – your budget and lifestyle, whether it’s pets, kiddos or a desire for low maintenance, can all affect this decision.
We chose the Emerald Interior and Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel paint, which is a premium paint and primer in one that allows you to achieve stunning interior results with fewer coats. This is HUGE, especially for a couple like us painting an entire home. It has a stain blocking technology that hides stains and dark colors for a gorgeous smooth finish for many years to come.
Step 5 – Select the Sheen
So now that you’ve selected your colors and the type of paint, you’re done right?! False! Now it’s time to select the sheen of your paint. Thank goodness Sherwin-Williams was able to assist us with this decision based on this trusty guide – because let’s be real, I had no idea where to begin. Honestly, I didn’t even know wall paint came in different finishes, but quickly learned the basics about flat, satin, gloss, eg-shell, and matte paint (plus everything in between!).
Many people will select different sheens based on the room. For example, a flat paint has a non-reflective appearance and is best for adult bedrooms and dining rooms and cleans well with a damp cloth, while a satin paint has a glossier look to it and is best for high-traffic areas like hallways, family rooms, and kids bedrooms.
This was a tricky decision for us, but ultimately Landon and I selected a flat paint for all the walls since it’s just the two of us (so no sticky fingers on the walls) and a gloss paint for the crown molding and trim to accentuate those details.
Whether you’re painting just one room or entire house, the painting process can be a bit overwhelming. But trudge on! It is SO fun experimenting with colors along the way, plus SW has the tools, expertise, and advice to rely on throughout the process. (And if you need a little extra help with the next few steps check out our painting guide here!)
We could not be more thrilled with the way it all turned out!
Now that the walls are complete and the foundation of the home is set, stay tuned as we start revealing the rest of the design elements and all those tricky decisions as we make this house our home!
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