
12. Design Mistake: Selecting Paint Color Before Anything Else
It’s easy to pick out paint shades: all you have to do is go to the hardware store, pick out some swatches and samples, and try them out on your wall to see how it looks in different lighting. You really can’t do that with furniture; there are no “samples” you can take home to see how it will look in a room before you buy it. Nevertheless, you must not go with the paint shade first. There’s no guarantee that it will look good with the rest of your design elements.
Look at the kind and shade of furniture you are going to get, as well as the accent pieces you want, because these are going to be the more significant statement pieces that you’re going to want to focus on. Once you’ve figured those out, then you can look at paint that will complement what you’ve chosen. It’s much easier to do it this way than to paint a room and then struggle to find furniture that will go along with it.