Paint Colors for quilters

tips for choosing interior paint

I am a self-described “color enthusiastic” and I adore decorating, but choosing paint colors for my home? That’s a struggle!

In fact, my love for color is likely a complicating factor. The first home that I painted had tones that left one feeling overstimulated or a bit sick. I remember that the yellow paint I chose for the kitchen was called bee yellow (not a good sign, especially when combined with black stone countertops), and I believe that I painted Aria’s nursery in a shade of lime not unlike the one below.

Yikes.

I didn’t learn much from that experience, apparently. When we moved house, I let 3-year-old Aria select a tone of red for her bedroom called Minnie Mouse. Can you guess how that turned out? We repainted it immediately. Trying to put a 3-year-old to bed in a bright red bedroom is a Really Bad Idea, folks.

So what’s a creative to do? If you’re like me, color is your friend, but all my experiences with using color in clothing and quilts dodn’t seem to translate to home decor. I had to learn the hard way by painting lots and lots of spaces over the years. Maybe I can save you a bucket or two of paint?

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how to Choose Paint Colors (for quilters)

no. 1 - Wall Paint is like background color

The paint on your walls is not comparable to the fun prints and lovely shades that play star rolls in your quilts. Nope. The paint on your walls is like your quilt’s background color. Really let that sink in.

It’s the furniture, lamps, curtains, art, etc. that act more like the prints and patchwork shapes in a quilt.

Do you usually like white for your patchwork background or sashing? Is cool gray your go-to shade or do you gravitate to low volumes for a nuanced neutral effect? If this is you, then a pale neutral could be logical choice for your interiors, even if a colorful feel is your end goal.

On the other hand, if you love to use colored backgrounds and sashing, then your aesthetic leans towards color drenching. You may like to put a color on your wall in order to create a feeling of being submerged in color.

You guessed it - that’s me! I’m a fan of quilts with bold sashing and backgrounds, which is why I never feel drawn to neutral walls.

no. 2 - the Floor is a default background color

Here’s the thing, a room is waaaay more complicated than a quilt. It’s three dimensional and has more than one “background” color. The flooring in your room quite literally forms the bases of your color scheme.

Does your flooring have warm, yellowy tones? Or, perhaps the opposite - even wood can have cool gray tones. Ask yourself how the floor color anchors your palette. Don’t make the mistake of ignoring it, just because you probably can’t change it. Think of it as a second background color in your quilt, or perhaps as the quilt backing. It may not be the focus of your design, but it has effect on the overall color experience of the room.

To a lesser degree, the ceiling also acts as a background color. Usually we go with white, so that the ceiling floats away and makes the space feel larger. If you really want to drench yourself in color, consider painting the ceiling the same color as the walls. This works best in larger rooms or when using light colors so that the space doesn’t’ become cave like.

no. 3 - Paint makes a bigger impact than fabric

My fabric stash is dominated by bright, saturated colors.

In contrast interior paint chips focus on soft, washed-out shades.

Why is this so?

I suggest that the explanation has to do with scale. A finished quilt is a relatively small item in any room. Painted walls, in contrast, cover a great expanse of space.

When we choose a solid fabric for patchwork, it goes into the mix with the other fabrics of a quilt. Even if a solid color is used a lot in a quilt, it still plays a limited roll in the interior decor of a room. When we choose a paint color, we choose a huge focus point in the room. Because interior paint covers so much space it becomes way more intense than any solid used in a quilt. That’s why a good rule of thumb is to choose softer and more neutral shades for your walls than you usually do in patchwork.

no. 4 - Research online

I’m not a huge fan of using digital tools to mock up the colors in a quilt. It can be useful, but I prefer to choose my colors and fabrics in real life via trial and error.

Not so with painting walls! It is really difficult to imagine how a paint chip will look when it covers an entire wall, let alone a whole room. And I’m not so into trial and error, when it comes to painting.

Search online by the name of your paint color to see rooms already painted in that shade. You can use hashtags on Instagram like #FarrowandBallSudburryYellow to look at just about any Farrow and Ball paint. Pinterest will also yield results for many popular paint brands and color.

A new-to-me resource is Plan-home.com. This website collects photos of rooms painted in particular brand color and organizes them by category (bathrooms, kitchens, etc.). It also identifies the paint color’s undertones and rates it for how much light it reflects, which can help you compare different options. Plus, Plan-home.com helps you to visualize how a color is affected by different kinds of light.

I suggest that you ignore computer-generated examples of how a color looks in a room. I find these to be so misleading! Real rooms painted by real people are so much more helpful.

no. 5 - Test that Color in YOUR home

Since light has a massive effect on how we perceive color, it’s essential to choose your paint color in the room that you will be painting. Bring lots of paint chips home or order a color catalog. Narrow it down to one or two top choices and then order a test pot of paint or a peal and stick test sample.

My habit is to order a small pot of paint and then paint it either directly on the wall or on a canvas. I have been known to paint multiple canvases (one for each paint option). Canvases work really well because you can move them around the room to see the paint color in different areas, with different surroundings and light effects.

Be sure to view your test paint sample throughout the day and over a few days to see how the light changes the color.

And remember, just as with patchwork, context is everything! Your floor color and room furnishings can absolutely determine the best shade for your room. A lovely blue paint could create a cottage vibe when combined with white furniture and light flooring, while the same blue would seem old world lux against dark wooden floors and curtains in burgundy and old rose tones.

no. 6 - Paint is not permanent!

And thank goodness that it’s not. Just as you can cut a new piece of fabric or rip out a wrong seam, you can repaint that room if it disappoints. Each time that you do the hard work of re-painting you will learn from your mistakes.

By all means, if you find yourself doubting the paint color in the act of painting, don’t ignore that feeling. Stop, reevaluate and ask yourself where that doubt is coming from. Are you only nervous about the change or is the color giving you an undesirable feeling as it spreads across your space. It is totally worth changing gears while the room is still prepped for painting and your gear is ready to go!

Just last year Aart and I had almost finished painting the entry a clay color when we realized that it wasn’t working. We immediately repainted it Farrow & Ball Bancha, and that was sooooo worth our trouble.

Personally, I opt to keep the costs down when I paint, so that repainting is not so daunting. I do the painting myself and opt to have expensive paint brands like Farrow & Ball mixed in cheaper, mid-level paints. At the hardware store just ask the paint department to mix a specific brand color in your chosen paint medium. The color may not come out exactly the same as the real brand paint, but only an expert would be able to tell the difference.

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I am certainly no interior design expert, but I do love color, and I do know quilters. I hope that these insights helps a bit to bridge the gap between your color know-how with quilts and your color know-how with choosing paint colors for your home. We’ll keep learning together!

Color, color.