Well, no one else answered. So I will. My answers to these questions are usually very blunt, damning to entire industries, and often leaves original posters with more questions than they started out with. So here goes any way.

No, you are not suppose to pick from the same row (or strip of colors).

You can if you want to.

There is no secret formula or process to using strips of paint colors or entire paint color wheels.

The paint colors are ordered for organization and easy of reference mainly for the people who sell, mix, and handle the aspects of getting color to consumers in the form of paint.

I've read all kinds of crazy tips about how to use strips of paint colors. There are no secrets or tips or short cuts.

You have to define your expectations, identify your tolerances, evaluate the proportion of space, observe the natural light, take inventory of artificial light, and LASTLY consider permanent, semi-permanent, and transient elements that reside in the space.

Biggest mistake people make is buying into the inspiration piece business or thinking pulling a color out of something is going to properly fit a space with color. It's not. If you're going to chose that path with color, then you might as well "always choose the third one down" and call it a day.

You have to define your expectations, identify your tolerances, evaluate the proportion of space, observe the natural light, take inventory of artificial light, and LASTLY consider permanent, semi-permanent, and transient elements that reside in the space.

Sounds simple to me. :)

I can't think of anyone as qualified as you, funcolors!

Did you see the light show on Tremont? *S*

Michael

Michael, I wish I could cruise by Tremont, but it's a couple thousand miles away from my new house. :P

I like to take a practical approach and look at the colors of furniture going into each room (upholstery, rugs, stuff for walls) to suggest what the wall colors might be. I like to make a diagram of the house using a square for each room and write down the colors of what you have for each room in each square. I keep the diagram blocks in the same order as the rooms (so you can see what colors you have from room to room if spaces are open).

Then go to the color wheel and only look at colors that make you feel good and you think will go with the stuff in each room. Makes notes of those colors. You can decide then if you think you want to go lighter or darker (higher on the strip= lighter, lower=darker).

Getting small sample pots of the colors you like and think will work can help a lot. I like to paint them on big pieces of poster board and move them around behind things to see how they will look, to be sure they go and to be sure I can live with that color in that space. (I once picked a gorgeous gray -- I like gray -- for an entry. Real elegant, I thought. when I got it on a big piece of poster board it looked like smoke damage. Easy lesson since it was only a sample and I hadn't made blotches on the wall.)

Hope that helps as a starting point. The first time I had to do a whole house (with no furniture) so I know how challenging this can feel. Good luck!