Building a Color Pallet Based on Your Tile

Everyone seems to have trouble with tile. Tile, from afar, often looks like it's one solid color, like paint. However, when you get up close, you'll find that tile usually has other colors or speckles mixed into it to give it a more interesting look. This is why it is so hard to coordinate colors, and even harder to create a color pallet around it!

We all know that there are hundreds of different paint colors, so matching paint is easy. Because tile can have so many color variations and styles, it is easies to start with a tile you love and build a color pallet from there.

Building Your Color Pallet

Once you've found tile in a pattern and color you love, next comes the tricky part – building your color pallet. You'll want to carefully view your tile in sunlight so that you can see exactly what colors are being mixed into the tile. Maybe once you're in direct sunlight, you'll find that your tile actually has shiny flecks of blue that are unnoticeable inside your house. After finding the colors within your tile, decide what colors you'll want to go where – maybe those flecks of blue will inspire you to paint your walls blue as well!

Test Your Color Pallet

There are hundreds of shades and colors of paint to chose from, so matching colors shouldn't be a problem. The problem is actually finding the right one – a sort of needle in a haystack situation. Leave yourself enough time to test a few colors. To save yourself time and money, you can ask a decorator to help you match the colors. A good way to test is to take paint chips in the colors you are considering and put them against the tile. (If tile is on your walls, use tape so you can step back and look at it from farther away). Check your colors a few times, each time in different light. Just because it looks good at night doesn't necessarily mean it'll look good the next morning.