Painting Tips Choosing An Accent Color

Recently I had a subscriber ask me a painting tips question. “How do you decide what accent color to add on a piece of furniture that has details”. This is a great question and one that I’m going to try to explain to you today.

 

Tips For Using An Accent Color

This is one of my biggest painting tips on adding a highlight paint color on a piece of furniture. Use white or yellow based white paint color.  I always have these colors on hand. These colors can be used to accent any color. Let’s say you’re painting a piece of furniture Taupe and you want to highlight the details. I would use a yellow based white, because it’s not as stark as the white. Unless you use pure white and soften it with another color as I did with this table. I added a pearl finish with toned it down, and made it work perfectly with the taupe paint. You can read about that project HERE.

Keep these painting tips in mind. When you’re painting a piece of furniture and you want to add an accent color you want to use the darker color on your whole piece. Then add the lighter color just on the details on your piece of furniture. You can mix these colors together creating a lighter version of the dark color you choose. When mixing paints always use more of the lighter color and less of the dark color. It’s easier to go darker, but hard to go lighter if you’ve added too much of the dark color.

Another way to accent the details on a piece of furniture is to use a color that’s in the same tone. If you’re painting a piece green use another color that’s similar in color.

 

You can also add accents and patina at the same time for a more dramatic look. To do this you would use two colors a darker color on your entire piece, then only on the details add your lighter paint color. After that dries, use a little dark wax like muddy pond to  bring out the details and add a little dimension and patina. Or instead of using dark wax you can use gold gilding wax. That mirror was painted with green, then I added a heavy layer of wax because I wanted it to look like metal, even though it’s plastic. You can read about that HERE.

I hope that these painting tips help you in understanding how to add a accent paint color to a detailed piece of furniture. One more tip. If you’re still not sure about the colors you’re choosing, try practicing on a scrap piece of wood first before painting your furniture. Do you use accent colors when you’re painting your furniture?

Save

Save