We all feel the impact upon arriving at a well-cared for or freshly renovated entrance foyer of a home or seeing a pristine wall from the street. That fresh, rejuvenated look is almost immeasurable in value for residential properties – it says SO much about how you have cared for your home and implies to a visitor, or a buyer, that there are no hidden surprises or grungy corners.

When it comes to home rejuvenation time, you might find it challenging making the final colour selection.

Nobody wants a dull, unnoticeable home, but you also don’t want to be “that house” on the road with an unintentionally bright or gothically ominous colour. Your colour choices should be sensitive to the architecture, the suburb or area, the geography while not forgetting your personal style.

The SRAP residential painter team have collated some tips for the next exterior painting or interior painting projects on your Sydney property:

General Colour Advice

When it comes to your exterior, colour choices are trickier than selections for a single room. The surface area is significantly larger than the average room, so whatever colour, or texture, you paint with, it will be subject to size amplification – so that luscious green from your forest cottage might look more moss monster.

Larger surface areas date slower and are generally more successful when a neutral colour is used, whether that is cream, grey, charcoal, sand or white. All these colours work well with metal or timber fixtures.

An additional benefit of a neutral colour is that any fixtures, feature add-ons or feature walls will be highlighted with ease. For example, a yellow, red or blue front door will look striking surrounded by white moulded architrave and medium grey walls.

We can discuss the best walls to use as feature walls and ways to achieve this with you.

If your property is subject to historical or heritage legislation, then colour options might have published guidelines.

Colour Theory

To help you further with colour choices, we have put together some colour research tips that are generally followed by the industry.

Yellow – When used in stronger tones, yellow is believed to make us think of hope, build up confidence and encourage a sense of playfulness. It works well as a feature colour.  When used in a paler tone, it exudes a sense of calm and positivity.

Blue – Dark blue implies stability, trustworthiness, success and elegance. “Dark” would refer to shades from royal blue onwards to almost black. This is a great colour for a front door and even bedroom walls. Lighter blues are cooling, peaceful and rejuvenating. This is a great colour to play with in bathroom interiors.

Red – An often misunderstood colour, this colour is not an angry colour but a passionate colour. It is believed to increase the pulse rate and open our appetites. A rich, slightly darker red is a perfect fit as a feature wall in a dining room and, again, makes a great front door colour. Like blue and yellow, it works well with grey.

Orange – A seldom-used colour, orange is believed to stimulate creativity.  It is also supposed to help with elevating feelings of happiness and congeniality. Another interesting observation is that it apparently can imply an “affordable and fair deal”.

Green – What a diverse and popular colour. Green is purported to encourage growth and rejuvenation revival. It reminds us of nature and all-things-earthy. Green is also wonderful to introduce via indoor plants and views onto established gardens. Light mint green will be a very cooling and calming element.

Purple – This is another colour that has quite a diverse impact, from gentle lavender to a reverberant deep purple. The use of this colour is supposed to bring on moments of inspiration, insight and creativity (a “wisdom” creativity, not artistic). Perhaps this is why it became of royalty for so many decades. It is also believed to create feelings of nostalgia.

Black and near black – Black is frequently used to imply sophistication but also to make “things” disappear, whether that is a waistline or an imperfect ceiling slab or alcove. It is very effective at making things disappear, and that is why it works so successfully as a pendant cord. It also implies a sense of luxury, seduction, worldly wisdom, formality and an authoritative position.

Contact SRAP for help with colour selection and top quality residential painting needs in Sydney.