I really found this blog post (which I found on pinterest) was very helpful for me.

Top 100 BM paint colors

Source: southshoredecoratingblog.com via Dayna on Pinterest

Here is a link that might be useful: Top 100 BM paint colors (with pictures)

That's a great link, kirkhall - thanks! A few of them look nothing like the result I've seen or used in person, but that's photography and computers for ya. It's a great jumping off point, if nothing else and as always, the only way to know is to make BIG samples and move them around.

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This post was edited by balor123 on Tue, Feb 4, 14 at 15:30

My entire life, I had ALWAYS played it safe when it came to painting... sticking to very light cream tones like "off white" and "eggshell". But when we built our new home, DH insisted that we get more creative and actually put some COLORS on the walls. Needless to say, I was terrified! How could I possibly get everything to coordinate and not wind up with an awful mishmash of clashing colors? The only think I knew for sure was that I prefer "warm" tones to cool tones. But still, that left a lot of room for error and with the kajillions of colors available out there, how was I ever going to decide?

But then a friend suggested that I find a painting or a piece of printed fabric or a piece of wallpaper that I really really liked and then pull colors for my walls from that. She explained that if the colors looked good together in a painting or on a swatch of fabric or wallpaper, they would coordinate and blend equally harmoniously in our house.

Well, I followed her advice and it worked like a charm! I get tons of compliments on how well everything flows together. Every place where two or more rooms are open to each other, or where you can see into a second room through a doorway, the wall colors in the two rooms are beautifully complimentary.

I can't believe that I - who can barely choose a skirt and blouse that go well together - did this without guidance from an interior decorator. LOL! And, believe it or not, I only purchased a couple of cans of testers paints that we didn't wind up actually using.

And, once we chose our colors we didn't wind up having to repaint any rooms because they didn't turn out as we expected.

I'd be happy to share all my colors with you but really, you should find the colors that suit your tastes and those are likely to be very different from mine. But you might try the process of pulling colors for you whole house from a fabric swatch or painting YOU love and see if it helps you as much as it did me.

bevangel - now I want to see photos!

I am pretty sure we are going with BM Edgecomb Grey in a flat paint. We will also use a darker grey that is from the Sam paintcarfbut I forget the name.

I have always gone with warm beige tones, and I am exciting for the switch to grey! I am debating between turquoise or yellow accents!

Similar to Bevangel, fabrics speak to me. So there I am buying fabrics to make window treatments for the rooms while the building was still 2x4s and no sheet rock. But it worked out really well. I did things like cross link the colors in the open spaces, so the wall color in the DR is the same as the ceiling color in the library and the wall color in the library matches the ceiling color in the foyer.

Where there were no window treatments, I selected an inspiration piece for the room... a poster for the PR, a decorative tile for the master bath....

"but really, you should find the colors that suit your tastes and those are likely to be very different from mine."

Agree, agree, AGREE!

I gave you that link, because I had saved it thinking it'd be useful. And, I did look at it when I was making my selections, but I didn't use any of the colors on there (I don't think).

But, the pictures helped me figure out what color types I liked, if not the exact color (because, I agree, professional pics tend to be brighter/lighter than actual rooms by the time you are done).

For example, I figured out, that blue in the bedroom would be okay (we used iced slate); and I think the whites pictures helped me if for no other reason to compare them to each other...

Anyway, hope it all helps!

I had originally picked greys and greens (revere pewter was the grey, can't recall the greens). When I looked at the samples in the house I realised the high desert landscape fit better with warm beiges with no pink undertone (I have a strong aversion to flesh tones). I wound up with BMGrant Beige and Huntington Beige with a few deep purple accents in backs of niches and powder, and slate blue that compliments the purple for other accents (niche and accent walls in guest room and office). Then I went a little crazy and painted my master bath and bedroom grey mirage - a soft grey green - but added a light purple wisteria accent wall (and bookshelf columns in the entry leading into the room). All trim throughout the house is bone. I had a consultation with a designer who encouraged me to think about the color architecturally - emphasising the volume of a wall or what Zi want to do (warm it, recede it).. So we added a picture rail to pull down the 20 ft high ceiling in the living room, bringing the bone ceiling color down the walls to the rail. Also, painting the largest blank wall the warmer Huntington beige, including wrapping the paint around the other side of that wall where it becomes the back wall/entrance into living room from the entry.

I'm reserving final judgment until the floors and cabinets are in...

Don't forget to choose paint colors that work with the direction and sun exposure of the room. I'm finding this aspect very challenging.

We are using bit of brown and baseful brown on the walls our ceiling color is satin linen.

We saw rooms that we loved on Houzz and I drove to the different paint stores that had the different brands to get the paint colors that matched the walls associated with the rooms in the pictures that we saw on houzz. We ended up testing 11 paint colors because none of them looked to be the same color as the ones on the website. I would definitely think twice about doing it that way! I love the idea about paintings, and fabrics! Makes sense to me. After we ended up with a VERY neutral color I ended up getting a call from the GC asking what color we wanted the ceiling. We ended up going two shades lighter than the walls which are a very light beige.

Sherwin Williams has preselected color palettes "designed for room to room harmony." I used the coastal palette. It was reassuring to know that if I picked colors from the brochure that they would play nice together.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sherwin Williams

I had a fabric that I loved forever... really liked all the colors and pulled the whole house (ecept bedrooms) out of it. I take it everywhere and that way if I see throw pillows or candles, etc I know they will match/coordinate!

Consider your climate when you pick your paint colors. Because I live in a hot, humid climate, it was important to me to choose "cool" colors for the bedrooms, and neutrals that weren't too warm for the living areas. I do think warm colors are inviting, but you have to real careful with them in a hot climate!

I used light green.