6 Awesome Things a Color Consultant Could Do for You

Choosing the right colors for your home can be the hardest part of decorating. You may have the perfect decorating style in mind, but choosing the right colors may be stopping you from decorating your home. Working with a color consultant for your home can help you move forward with your decorating ideas. 

Hire a Color Consultant

There are a few options for choosing a color consultant for your home. If you just need a little help with paint colors, many paint stores offer special events with local color consultants who can answer your questions. Paint stores may also have a color consulting service that will come to your home for a fee but will often include a gift certificate toward paint when you're ready to purchase it. Your local paint store can be a great resource for color ideas and technical information if you know how to get the most out of your visit. You can also hire a professional color consultant that will come to your home and help you create a color palette, including ideas for fabric, paint, and furnishings. 

You can find a color consultant to fit your needs whether you need just a few color ideas or an entire house palette. Ask your color consultant if they will create a custom color scheme or if they'll just offer a pre-coordinated palette that they have already created. A pre-made palette is great when you want a neutral color palette that is tried and true. If you're more creative, a consultant that will work with you to design a custom palette is probably your best choice. No matter what type of consultation you choose, you'll get several benefits of working with a color professional. 

They Can Save You Time

If you have been trying to come up with decorating and color ideas for your home, you've probably spent several hours going over paint color fan decks and fabric swatches. If you're using Pinterest boards and online decorating inspiration, it can burn up a lot of time that you could be spending on more important things.
Working with a color consultant can save you time because they have already researched the best color combinations for you. You won't have to pore over hundreds of colors because your consultant can narrow down your choices after just the first meeting. Having less color decisions to make saves you time and frustration.
A typical color consultation will identify potential colors for you to sample or try out in your home. Then a follow-up meeting is scheduled to view the colors and make adjustments. A task that would take you several hours on your own is reduced to two or three meetings. 

Color Consultants Save You Money

Every time you purchase a sample can of paint or send away for fabric swatches it costs you money, and you're still no closer to choosing a color palette for your home. While it may seem extravagant to hire a color consultant, you are saving time and money trying to sort through the wrong colors for weeks and weeks. Consulting a color professional can help you stretch your decorating budget, leaving more money for furniture and accessories.

You can also avoid costly mistakes like purchasing furniture in the wrong color, and even paying a professional painter only to realize you've made a terrible mistake after it's on the walls. Just a visit or two with a color consultant can help you make better choices and save you from expensive mistakes. The most expensive mistake most home decorators make is not sampling paint before committing to it. Always be sure to sample any paint colors you're seriously considering for your home. Spending a little money on paint samples can save you hundreds or thousands on the wrong paint after it's been put on your walls. 

Know the Newest Decorating Trends

Not everyone has time to keep up with the latest decorating and color trends. It may not be totally important to you to have the top color trends in your home, but if you're thinking of resale value, you'll want to know what buyers might prefer. Your color consultant can share the top trends for the year, and which colors will make your home more attractive to buyers. Even if you aren't interested in going big with trendy colors, they make excellent accents in your new color palette. 

A Color Consultant can Help You Make a Final Decision

It's easy to become stuck with fear of making the wrong decision on color for your home. You may have already chosen a color palette or two, but you're afraid to make a commitment for fear of getting it wrong. A color consultant can look at what you've chosen so far and help you fine tune it, or give you the confidence to go ahead with the color palette you already chose. Sometimes all a home decorator needs is some validation and confidence in the colors they've chosen.

They Can Be an Objective Third Party

Color consultants are often put in the position of mediator when a decision can't be reached on a color palette. Each side has their favorite colors and the meaning they attach to those colors. Your consultant won't take sides but will find creative ways to combine your favorite colors or incorporate a few colors into the best color palette for your home. Often you just need an objective outsider to resolve a decorating impasse. 

Your color consultant may suggest a neutral color palette that will include each of your color choices as an accent, or suggest a brighter or more muted version of your colors to help everything flow together in your palette. When you prepare for your consultation, be sure to think about why you have chosen the colors you have, and what those colors mean to you personally. It'll help your color consultant to create a palette that includes the colors that you both find personally significant. 

They Help You Pull Everything Together

You may already have a great color scheme in your home but can't seem to pull everything together to make it work. There may be nothing wrong with the colors you chose, but how you put them together doesn't look right. It's possible that you thought was your main color might work better as an accent color or using less or more of that color. Your attempt at creating a monochromatic color scheme may have fallen short because you can't find the right balance of shades and tints to make it work in your home. A color consultant can look at your existing color scheme and suggest ways to mix things up to find the perfect balance. 

If you don't already have a color palette put together, your consultant can use your existing furnishings and tastes to create something based on what you already have in your home. Using the accessories and furnishings you already have is an inexpensive way to update your home's look by rearranging and editing your decor. The secret to creating a new color scheme from what you already have is being open to looking at old decor in new ways or being willing to let go of a piece that no longer works.