Selecting Paint Colors
For Open Areas

Many people have trouble selecting paint colors for open floor plans. You don't have to be one of them.

I will show you how to choose paint colors for open floor concepts, how to unify the space and create a flowing effect throughout all the rooms and areas in your home.

Ways to Choose Interior Paint Colors
For Open Floor Concepts:

One Color

One option is choosing a paint color for the walls, and then using that same color on all the walls in the open area - usually it will be one of the neutrals. You will add variation and separate areas from one another by using different interior color schemes in your furnishings and decorations.

For example, a green based color scheme in your kitchen, red in the dining room and browns in your living room.

Different Shades

Another idea is to leverage one color by using its multiple shades.

You will use a different shade of the same color for each area.

For example, you could use the light shade for the kitchen, medium shade for the living room and deep shade for the dining room area.

Different Finishes

Select a decorative paint finish like striping, sponging or color washing for one area. Then use the same colors for the rest of the space, but in a solid finish.

For example, if you have gold and cream stripes in one room, paint the second room with the gold color, and the third one with the cream.

Complimentary Colors

You can use totally different interior paint colors for each area, but in order to avoid color clashes, consult a color wheel to see which colors look good together. Then, to unify the areas, use a little bit of those colors in each room.

Let's say you picked gold for your living room and blue for your family room. You will then add a touch of blue to the living room and some gold to the family room.

(Notice how they did it with the paintings in the above photo).

Transitions

When selecting paint colors for the walls, don't forget about transitional elements.

To provide control and unity in an open floor space (especially when painted with many different colors), keep all transitional elements like wall ribs, inside doorways, beams, woodwork and ceilings the same shade of white in all areas.

Adjoining Walls

If you don't like the way 2 colors clash where they meet, you can reduce this clashing effect by using the same decorative painting technique everywhere. It means that although each area will be painted a different color, they will still be unified by the same type of finish (colorwashing or sponging off usually work best for this purpose).

I hope this tutorial made you look forward to selecting paint colors for your next interior home painting project!

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