Painting is a simple home improvement project that can breathe life into your home. In addition to filling holes, covering up stains, and disguising scuffs, new paint can also make spaces feel bigger and brighter. However, if you have dark rooms in your home where natural light doesn’t reach, you may wonder what to choose. Use these tips to learn how to choose paint for darker rooms in your home. 

3 Factors to Consider When Choosing Paint

1. Color

When selecting a paint color for the poorly lit room in your home, avoid dark shades, which could make the space feel closed off and smaller than it really is. However, you should avoid bright whites, because they are designed to reflect natural light. If you add them to a dark space and there isn’t enough light to reflect, the room will feel even more gloomy. 

Instead, choose colors that reflect light and give you a chance to show off your design skills, such as bright yellow, soft lavender, pink, or powder blue. Warm neutrals like beige, off-white, and even soft gray look great in darker spaces. 

2. Base  

To make the paint read lighter, try to avoid paint colors with a lot of black in the base, since these shades tend to be less saturated. Instead, shoot for medium-toned paints that are richly pigmented. 

Many paint producers use fillers to avoid common issues, such as sedimentation or chemical stability. Although these additives improve some aspects of the paint, they may also impact texture and light reflection. For the best coverage and lightness, choose options that contain low levels of talc, calcium carbonate, or diatomaceous earth.

3. Sheen

Glossy paints reflect light, while satin, eggshell, and matte varieties absorb light. As a result, glossy paint sheens tend to look darker. If you need to brighten up a room and attract as much light as possible, select matte paint sheens for your home improvement project. Keep in mind that the glossier the paint, the easier it is to wipe clean, so choose a medium sheen like satin for areas like bathrooms or heavily used offices. 

When you are ready to refinish the walls in your home, let the home improvement professionals at Blue Star Paint & Property Services help. Since their inception in 2007, they have been transforming homes by helping with interior painting, flooring replacements, and full-scale remodeling. Learn more about their home improvement services by visiting their website or by giving their office a call at (443) 949-9156.