Reader Question: Choosing a Wall Color to Match Existing Decor
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Today I want to share a reader question that I recently received. This question actually comes from one of my past clients, and is in regards to painting her basement bathroom. Check it out!
Question:
I have a question for you that I’m hoping won’t take too much of your time… our basement is still totally dated and we aren’t ready to update it just yet. BUT, we will have an international student staying with us for the summer and possibly next school year so I’d like to take the 80’s wallpaper off the bathroom walls and repaint. There are no windows in the bathroom so no natural light.
Do you have any initial thoughts on what colors to paint a basement bathroom (or what colors to avoid)? We aren’t looking for a theme or decorations, just a color to put on the walls until we are ready to redo the bathroom completely. I looked through your blog to see if you had any links and didn’t find any but I thought you may have some favorite websites or thoughts to share. 🙂 Right now it has tan walls, green carpet and a hunting themed wallpaper border!
Answer:
I recently did a project where I needed to pick colors that looked good together, and I really appreciated Sherwin Williams ColorSnap Visualizer. It shows what a color would look like on the walls of a room, and you can choose multiple colors to compare side-by-side (which could be helpful if you can find a color similar to the green carpet so you can compare your paint color to that!).
Another site that might be helpful is Apartment Therapy’s Color Search site. You can input colors and then it shows you a bunch of photos of rooms (you can even specify bathrooms) that have those colors. This would be helpful if you put in your green carpet color to see how others have incorporated that color into their bathrooms and what colors they have put with it. Or you could just play around with different colors to see how they could look!
In general, I’m thinking that a lighter neutral will make the bathroom look brighter and will work well with what you’ve already got in there. Happy color hunting!
Do you have a quick question like the above? Perhaps you just need a resource or 2nd opinion on something? Contact me and you could get your question answered and featured on the blog!Â
Love that you’re covering this topic since picking out paint colors can be overwhelming! Dan and I used the SW colorsnap visualizer in choosing several different paint colors, and sadly, what was shown on screen always turned out to be very different from the actual paint on our walls. Just a word of warning. :/ what worked better for us was taping together a handful of paint chips of one color to make one large chip and hanging it in on our wall to get an idea of how that color would look.
Totally! I should say that you always want to make sure and bring the paint color into YOUR space to see how it looks in the lighting and with the other elements of that room. Whether it’s simply bringing in swatches or actually painting samples on the walls, it’s always a good idea! I think the SW Colorsnap Visualizer is helpful to pick a palette and see what colors could look good together… then try them out in your space. Thanks for the feedback, Angela! I’m glad you found a process that worked well for you guys. 🙂
Totally! I should say that you always want to make sure and bring the paint color into YOUR space to see how it looks in the lighting and with the other elements of that room. Whether it’s simply bringing in swatches or actually painting samples on the walls, it’s always a good idea! I think the SW Colorsnap Visualizer is helpful to pick a palette and see what colors could look good together… then try them out in your space. Thanks for the feedback, Angela! I’m glad you found a process that worked well for you guys. 🙂