Tips for choosing paint color

Fear of being judged for choosing the “wrong” color lies at the core of most color anxiety. So does the seeming permanence of what is really just a painted surface.

“Your home is to be enjoyed and lived in by you and has nothing to do with someone else’s taste level,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. For those with a color complex, she advised a slow approach.

Look to your life. Examine your existing surroundings —-wardrobe, furnishings, garden — for clues about colors that suit you.

Keep paint off the wall initially. Play with color through flowers, pots, rugs, pillows and other accessories to observe your reactions to color and what you may gravitate toward.

Create an oversized paint chip. Buy a pint of paint and cover a large cardboard square. Hold the square near drapes, furniture and different light sources to gain a better appreciation of the color and your reaction to it.

Then paint a wall. Go ahead. Give the color some time to grow on you, as color is largely about perception, which continually shifts. “People tend to put a color up and say, ‘Oh my God, what did I do?’” artist and colorist Patssi Valdez said. “You might even hate it, but give it time. It may grow on you.” And you always can repaint.

Go easy on the neighbors. Painting the entire exterior of your home bright tangerine may seem exciting to you but perhaps not to everyone else. An expert can help to harmonize hues to achieve an artistic effect. “One huge mass of bold color on a home is too much of one color,” Valdez said. “It’s good to break up the shape with gradations of color.” She often works with both complimentary and contrasting colors, as well as neutrals to let the eye rest. “You have to work and plan the color with the existing architecture,” she said. “It’s harder than it looks. It’s really an art.”

— R. Daniel Foster