Yesterday I wrote about my love of every color and the challenge of narrowing down that endless palette for a single room. If you’ve ever wondered how to choose a paint color that feels right for your home, here are practical resources and sensible steps that have helped me—and that can help you—decide with confidence.
1. Interior Decorators: Expert Guidance Close to Home
I have a soft spot for interior decorators and their creative eye. Whether you dream of becoming one or simply love learning from their ideas, decorators offer perspective that makes color selection much easier. 
Watching design shows and following designers online is great, but hands-on, local advice can be invaluable.
For example, our local Benjamin Moore store has an interior designer on staff who consults with customers at the store for free. I brought photos of our home and got thoughtful direction about color families and how different hues might work in our spaces. Keep in mind that to really nail a color palette, a designer ideally needs to see your rooms in their natural light. If choosing colors stresses you out, paying for a few hours of professional consultation can be a worthwhile investment in clarity and confidence.
2. Use Inspiration Photos to Find Your Style
Collecting inspiration photos is one of the most powerful steps for defining your style and narrowing down color choices. Looking through images helped me rediscover my aesthetic and guided my decisions when it was time to pick paint. Create a board—on Pinterest, a folder, or a printed collage—and group images that share a common mood, use of color, or finish.
For instance, when I reviewed my bathroom inspiration board, a clear theme emerged: blue and white. That gave me a starting point for selecting specific blues, accents, and coordinating whites so the space would feel cohesive and intentional. The visual consensus in your inspiration images can quickly point you toward a color family to explore. 
3. Test Paint Swatches in the Room
Once you’ve chosen a color family (for example, blue), collect paint swatches and tape them to the wall in several areas of the room. Observe those swatches throughout the day—morning, afternoon, and evening—and in different weather conditions if possible. This step is critical because paint chips under store lighting and on small samples can look very different once applied to your walls under natural and artificial light.
Consider the undertones and how they interact with your flooring, trim, and furnishings. A color that reads as warm or cool in one room can shift dramatically in another. Leave the swatches up for a few days to be sure you’re comfortable with how the hue reads at different times and with different light sources.
4. Try Digital Tools—but Verify with Real Samples
Free online tools and paint brand apps now let you upload photos of your rooms and preview colors digitally. These tools are useful for experimenting quickly and narrowing down options without buying multiple sample cans. However, digital previews are only a guide; screens vary in color calibration, and lighting in a photograph can be misleading.
Always verify any digital choice with physical samples applied to your walls. Buy small sample pots or peel-and-stick samples and paint a 2′ x 2′ section or use large sample cards taped to the wall. Look at them against your baseboards, ceiling, and fixed elements at different times of day before committing to a full paint job.
Extra Tips for Choosing the Right Paint Color
– Consider paint finish: flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss—finish affects how color reads and how easy the surface is to clean.
– Think about the room’s purpose: calming colors often work well for bedrooms, while energizing hues can suit kitchens or workspaces.
– Test colors beside furnishings and textiles you plan to keep so the palette feels unified.
– Bear in mind trim and ceiling colors; sometimes a slight adjustment to white or cream can improve the overall look.
What methods have you found most helpful when choosing colors for your home? I hope these resources and steps make your color decisions easier and more enjoyable. Happy painting!
{This is part of the “31 Ways to Make Home Uniquely You” series. Click here for a list of each day’s topic.}