Painting your home is a fun, creative project that most people look forward to. We love picking out the perfect color that will go with the room and complete our vision. And then the icing on the cake — adding furniture and the decor that goes with your paint choices. But did you know that the lighting in each room affects your paint color? Whether you are using natural lighting or artificial lighting, your room’s color can change depending on our lighting choices. To make your painting journey easy, we’ve laid out below how your home’s lighting affects your paint choices.
Natural Lighting
Natural lighting plays a huge role in how our paint shows up. The brightness of your painted walls depends on what direction natural lighting is hitting. A north-facing room will let soft light in which in turn will produce a warm effect. This means that dark paints will look darker while light colors are dimmer. South-facing rooms produce intense lighting making dark rooms bright and light-colored rooms especially white walls, look washed out. Rooms facing west have warm light in the morning and shadows in the evening. While east-facing rooms brighten your room before noon and make it cooler during the evenings. Taking note of the directions of each room can be confusing, so that’s where artificial lighting comes to play.
Artificial Lighting
You cannot depend on natural lighting alone for all your lighting needs especially at night and during rainy or snowy days. Your home also needs artificial lighting throughout each room. There are many different artificial lighting choices. Below are the four main lightbulbs that people purchase.
Fluorescent Lightbulbs
Most fluorescent lightbulbs give off a cool, slightly blue light. This blue light works well with cooler paint colors like blue, grey and green. Many people prefer to use fluorescent lightbulbs in offices, workstations and kitchens.
Halogen Lightbulbs
If you are looking for a lighting choice that is the closest to replicating natural light, then halogen lightbulbs are what you need. Halogen light doesn’t distort the paint’s color as much as the other artificial light choices because the light is white and bright.
Vintage Lightbulbs
Vintage lightbulbs or better known as Edison bulbs add a warm yellow or amber color to the room. Edison lightbulbs warm up a room that doesn’t get much sunlight or is used to complement warm paint colors.
Incandescent Lightbulbs
Incandescent lightbulbs including LED lights provide warm, natural lighting. Red, orange or yellow paint appear more intense while cool colors like blue, grey and green will appear dull.
If you aren’t sure about what lighting works best in the room, test out different bulbs throughout different times of the day to see what fits best for your home.
Light Positioning & Types of Lights
The direction of the room and the type of lightbulbs are not the only elements that can affect your paint choices. The way you position your light and the types of lighting you use is also a key player. Chandeliers and light fixtures provide and distribute loads of light throughout a space while lamps only light the immediate area. Restricting your lighting choice to a small area lessens the chance of the light affecting your paint color but still adds a little warmth to the room. If you want to warm up or brighten darker walls, adding string lights, candles or rope lights will make the room feel cozy and warm.
Paint Finish
Paint finish (flat, gloss and semi-gloss) plays a huge role in how the light will affect your room and walls. A glossy finish can add depth to any color, but under certain types of lights can become reflective and change the perception of the color. The glossier the finish is the more the light will bounce and distort the color. And, flat paint finishes bounce light less. If you need help finding the perfect finish for your paint color and room, talk to a home service company like Valor Home Services. We can help you find the perfect paint color and finish to go with all your rooms and lighting choices.
If you unsure of what paint color you want for each room, test out the paints in each room on a small section of the wall. Once you’ve decided on the paint colors you want, it’s time to start painting. For extra tips or help, contact us today.
