How To Update Your Home With $200 Of Paint – Spring 2017 Edition

It’s safe to say that all of us want our homes and apartments to look as modern and updated as possible. We all admire the homes that we see on HG TV, or the Home network, and would love to be able to have the seemingly limitless budget that they do to update our own homes. But as we all know, the money needed for those projects is not easy to find. Also, we don’t have interior designers at our beck and call to make these very stressful and important design decisions for us. So, after doing my research, I have compiled the ultimate guide to update your home with $200 of paint.

In order to do this, let’s break things down to:

1.) The type of paint to use

2.) Which rooms to do, and

3.) What colours you can choose from

The Type Of Paint To Use

So, our budget is $200. It can be pretty tempting to head over to the local hardware store and pick up as much paint as we can for our target price. However, as I’ve seen from experience, if you buy cheap paint, your home is going to look cheap. And when something looks cheap, it doesn’t look updated. Sometimes it ends up looking worse than before. We are going for a very modern, sophisticated look so it’s important that we use a quality product. I recommend to all my customers to use a middle-upper quality line of any paint store. (That means a store that only sells paint. These stores have competitive pricing, and know how to make a good product). These include, Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, Dulux, etc. When you enter the store, look for a paint that costs at least $40-$50 a gallon. There will be cheaper out there, and there will be more expensive interior paints, but that middle range of $40-$50 is the sweet spot you are looking for. It’s excellent quality, without being excessively luxurious. At Sherwin Williams, this would be their Opulence Line. At Benjamin Moore, their Regal. At Dulux, their Diamond or Ultra Line. So lets say you spend $45 a gallon. That can get you 4 Gallons of great quality paint. So, what rooms should you devote that paint to?

Which Rooms to Update

With 4 gallons of paint, we are limited to the amount of rooms to transform. I recommend doing these 3 rooms that will have the biggest impact on the impression that your house gives. The most important room, the Kitchen. The kitchen is a room that you personally spend a lot of time in, and also all of your guests will most likely spend time in there when visiting. The best part? Any moderately sized kitchen will only use up 1 gallon of good quality paint. I never recommend 1 coating a room, but 1 gallon should be able to spread out to do at least 500 square feet of wall space (though the companies only say 400 square feet to save themselves).

Next you should paint the Bathroom. Again, its a room that you and your family spend a lot of time in. Its the first room you enter when you wake up, and the last one you see before heading to bed. Also, all of your guests will use it too at some point. Having an updated bathroom will go a long way to making you feel great about your home. And BONUS, just like the kitchen, any reasonably sized bathroom will only use up 1 gallon of paint. This will leave you with 2 gallons left for your next room.

The Living Room. Sure you could use this paint to do your bedroom, but in all reality, if you want a modern looking home, updating the living room is the only way to go. It is the place you spend most of your relax time, all of your guests spend time there, and it essentially sets the mood for the entire home. No matter what size your living room is, 2 gallons should be more than enough to cover the walls. If you have some left over, be sure to use it up on an accent wall in your bedroom. That will make you feel better about the bedroom, reduce waste, and tie your home together rather nicely.

But now that I know what rooms to paint, what colours should I use?

Colours To Choose From

Please, please, please do not go blindly into a paint store and pick random colours. Do your research first. Here, I’ve listed the best colours to use in the 3 rooms we’ve chosen. I’ve compiled them from reading and studying interior design articles, paint trend blogs, and asking store owners. They are what people are going to be admiring about your walls, so don’t choose from last years trends. They are already out of date.

*** All of these colours can be found at their respective websites linked here. Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, Dulux.

Kitchen: Benjamin Moore’s Sand Lot Grey or Dinner Party, Dulux’s Country Curry or Festival Yellow. Sherwin Williams’ Mountain Air or Stardew.

Bathroom: Benjamin Moore’s Seastar or Iceberg. Dulux’s Florentine Blue or Grey Leaf. Sherwin Williams’ Tres Naturale or Coral Reef.

Living Room: Benjamin Moore’s Shadow or Salamander. Dulux’s Pasture Green or Burgundy. Or Sherwin Williams’ Cascades or Poised Taupe.

So there you go, that is my guide to completely updating your home with 200$ of paint. If you follow these guidelines, you are guaranteed to have a house that will wow your friends and family. As always, I personally recommend hiring a great Painting company to do all of the work for you. This will save you a great deal of time, and will give you the best finish, which is what we’re all looking for.