Choosing paint colors is tricky – consultants can cut through the confusion

Color seems to be having a moment. Paint companies have entered the marketplace offering as few as 50 curated colors of paints, presumably because those selected are supreme. Upscale paints wing over from Europe to land on people's front doors and living room walls. A fresh coat or two was even the subject of a recent "Saturday Night Live" skit, in which cast member Aidy Bryant obsessed about the new "colours" on her walls. It was absurd, but it captured the color-crazed zeitgeist.

People want their home to wow — akin to houses they see on Instagram, Pinterest or HGTV. But attaining that look can prove a challenge. There are hundreds of white paints; which one to use for the living room? In the dining room, would a coral work — or charcoal, the new, dramatic neutral?

Deciding on a color for a home, or even just one room, can feel overwhelming, as paint swatches pile up on the table or get taped to a wall in a messy mural of indecisiveness.

Color consultants, designers with an eye for choosing just the right hue, can cut through the confusion. With their trained eyes, they see the undertones embedded in the color fan deck. They know that a certain yellow, writ large on a wall, will tilt toward green, or that a particular gray will turn up pink. They can see quickly what will work well with the furniture.

To those perks, add these: Color consulting is easy, relatively inexpensive (especially when compared with a design makeover), and there are a growing number of options. For a few hundred dollars, a designer will come to a home for an in-person color consultation, or for the cost of a few cans of paint, an online company will make recommendations from afar and sell paint directly to the consumer.

How it works

After years of gray and greige, "People want more color now — intense colors like navy blue and blacks or they want Kelly green," said Andrew Schultz of Andrew Schultz Design. The shift has meant more color consultations for his business.

Melanie Ramsay, owner of HUE creative, also frequently gets requests for color consultations, from homeowners and from real estate agents looking to make a house more appealing before a sale. Much of her work is staging for the real estate market. She, too, sees clients looking for colors such as blues and greens. "I love that people see we don't have to live in a world that is gray or beige."

Schultz's process is typical of in-person color consultants. He comes to a house twice. During the first visit, he asks for a tour that extends beyond the rooms under discussion; this helps him get a sense of a person's tastes and style. Then he and the client discuss the rooms that need new color, then sit and explore the fan deck together. Together, they consider colors against the woodwork, the furniture and with the light.

Schultz then orders large samples of various colors and returns with a few ideas specific to the space. He leaves the samples with the client to use when making the final decision. For a few rooms and a process that takes about two hours, he charges $200.

Ramsay follows the same basic pattern. "You want to know what is in the next room, because the rooms are going to talk to each other," she said. "Then you discuss with the client what do they want, what do they like? Then we start to play and it gets fun, and we talk about why that color works."

Clare, an internet paint company, offers online consults for the cost of the paint. There, the color selection process begins with a questionnaire: How much natural light does the space get (five choices ranging from none to tons), size of the space (extra small, up to 100 square feet, to extra large, 400 square feet or larger). Then it asks for the primary color in the space, then provides hues within that color for more precision. It asks what vibe a client is seeking, from playful to classic to energizing. Basically, the company tries to assess online what a designer does when visiting the home. Clare's paint swatches have a gentle adhesive so they easily stick to a wall.

For prices beginning at $75 for one room, online company Color Concierge will provide three color schemes, including wall, ceiling and trim. The designers make recommendations based on a questionnaire and photos. Choosing colors with photos sent online works well, according to their website, because "when you take a photo with natural light [without flash], it is actually easier for us to see the undertones than in person."

Schultz disagreed. "It's a terrible idea. You need the light and the space before you can recommend," he said.

Ramsay said that she has sometimes been called in to fix problems left after an online color consultation.

Finding 'Minnesota colors'

Trends can be a guide, but finding a color specific to your space is the ultimate goal of color choice.

Ramsay said, "I tend to pick what the house wants, not just what the trends are." One of the tricks she employs to bring added dimension and life to a space is to paint one wall a slightly different color.

Some popular colors, like Benjamin Moore's Classic Gray, "look great in most houses, but it's boring," said Schultz.

Retailers such as Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn sell to a lot of people, said Ramsey, "but your house is for you."

Some people see something on TV and wonder why it doesn't translate into the same look in their own space, she said. Colors do not read the same on walls here as they do in, say, Florida or California.

Designers who do color consultations can help you find the right color — that Minnesota color — for your walls.

Paint costs money, and the painting itself is expensive to hire out or takes a lot of time to do yourself. Said Schultz: "It's a waste of money to choose terrible colors."

Kerri Westenberg • 612-673-4282

@kerriwestenberg