[5. Just because you find a color you think is great doesn’t mean you should use it to paint A room.]
Think about the color in the large context of what kind of room it will be in, how you plan to use the room and how you feel about the color. Figuring out which color to paint a room can be tricky. You may like a particular color, but it may not be a color that will draw people into using the room. “When I work with clients, I like to figure out what kind of colors make them feel good,” says Miller. “I do that because I’ve found that how a room makes you and your family feel is really the most important reason to decorate a room. If the room feels pleasing, you’ll use and enjoy the space. You know that bumper sticker that says a mind is a terrible thing to waste? Well, sometimes I feel that way about a room. You’ll see a beautiful room and people will stop in the doorway to admire it, but they have no desire to walk into it because it doesn’t feel welcoming.”

[6. Don’t use a roller to Paint trimwork.]
While you can spray or use rollers on woodwork and moldings, most professionals recommend using a brush to paint trimwork. “I like woodwork to be brushed, and that’s an art,” says Miller.
“It’s going to add to the expense, but it also gives a room soul. You can tell that a human worked on it. When you spray paint onto a surface, you end up with a perfect look. When paint is brushed on, you have the difference between a handmade piece of antique furniture and just a piece of furniture. You particularly notice brushwork on kitchen cabinetry: It has a warmth a spray finish doesn’t have. Of course, a budget doesn’t always allow for that, so selecting great colors is important.”

[7. Realize that a paint job is only as good as the prep work underneath it.]
Sure, it’s exciting to gather paint chips and settle on a wall color, but you’re sabotaging the result if you start rolling on the new wall color before you’ve thoroughly prepped the room. “Good prep is the best way to a very clean job,” says Brodkey. “Filling holes in the walls, and cleaning, dusting and wiping down walls are all important. In a kitchen or a bathroom the walls need to be washed down because rooms that have water and steam often develop a film on the walls.”

While it may be tempting to paint around switchplates and hardware rather than remove them, it doesn’t save time in the end. “And you really need to remove light fixtures so you can get around and behind them,” says Brodkey. “That helps because if you ever want to change them and you choose something in a different size, the unpainted ceiling won’t show.”

When you paint, pay attention to what you’re doing, so all that good prep work doesn’t go to waste. “Nothing beats a good paintbrush and a steady hand,” says Hoge. “When homeowners paint rooms, it’s often messy. There is paint on the baseboards and paint that’s leaked under the painter’s tape. The ceiling lines aren’t sharp, and the coverage isn’t even. People often roll out their paint in short strokes; you should roll longer strokes.”


[8. If you’re remodeling and have your heart set on ‘the color of the moment’ for your new tile, opt to paint walls that color instead.]
Trends in home decorating come and go, and you don’t want to get so caught up in one that you wake up one morning and realize you don’t want a bedroom with deep purple shag carpet, bedding, drapes and furniture. Make the room contemporary with the paint rather than with the items that are more expensive. “With something like bathroom tile, I really hesitate to let my clients pick a trendy color because a good tile job should last 50 or 60 years,” says Miller. “That said, if a client is in love with Wasabi Green, which is popular right now, I’ll suggest she put it on the wall because she can always change it in a couple years with just a few hours’ work.”

At the same time, don’t black-ball a traditional color palette or a color palette that’s popular if that’s what you really like. “There are times when a certain color has been overused, but that doesn’t mean you have to rule it out,” says Miller. “For example, ‘hunting colors’ such as burgundy, Hunter Green and navy have been done a lot, but if that’s the look you like, you can reinterpret the colors in a way that makes them not look so cookie-cutterish.”