I handed a fan deck to a client of mine who was ready to begin considering colors for her home. She lookled at me like I was offering her an angry tarantula. "What am I supposed to do with that," she asked in horror? Fan decks can be terrifying. Every color in the world is in there-or so you might think. The fact is that the many hundreds or colors in a typical deck represent less than the dusting of snow that falls on the tip of an iceberg. Still, the choices can be daunting. Many a homeowner has gone down the rabbit hole of painting dozens of little swatches on their walls only to surrender and run for their lives to the land of beige. The enemy we know is less frightening than the friend we don't know, or so said Machiavelli. Colors are duplicitous. They are in cahoots with light which is another dodgy faithless nymph. That's Ok. Work with them.
Here's what you do.
First, cut the fan deck down to size. Eliminate the colors that are obvious non-starters. If you are looking for a green that is part Yankee Stadium outfield and part juniper bush you should be able to eliminate 98% of the colors in about a minute. Suddenly that scary book is just a couple of pages-if that.
Once you have a candidate or two paint them out on a large poster board so that you can move then around the room. Resist at all cost the temptation to brush out little one foot squares on the wall. These are an exercise in futility, a precursor to panic and useless to boot.
Give yourself some time, relax, be bold and don't ask for much, if any advice. Men will never admit that they don't know how to build a fire and women will never volunteer that they have no idea what color your kitchen should be. I don't know if that is sexist but it is how it is.
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Have fun painting.
