Learn how to achieve that signature “fixer upper”, rustic style in your home by choosing the perfect farmhouse style paint colors.
Hello, friends!! So happy to be stopping by again from Making Joy and Pretty Things to try to make sense ofsomething I think we probably all struggle with a bit … choosing paint colors!!
And not just any ole’ paint color, but thatperfect farmhouse style hue.
If you religiously watch Fixer Upper like me, you know how amazing Joanna is at picking paint colors for any space. The colors always seem to perfectly compliment the furniture and accessories and the rooms effortlessly flow together.
Now you can get paint that she uses in her home. But, at $42 US dollars for a single gallon, it can be quite pricey.
So, you head to your local home improvement store.
It can be SO overwhelming to walk into the store to a bazillion different paint samples and try to pick just one. You pull out a pretty blue then put it next to a lighter shade and realize the first blue was so dark it was almost black. You spy at least 300 different shades of gray that you can’t possibly tell one from the other.
It’s like after you smell so many perfume samples that you can’t tell them apart – your eyes go blind to the different shades.
Or you paint your master bedroom a color that I can only imagine would be what the inside of a robin’s egg looks like (oh yeah, I did this!)
As you can see, I am certainly no expert. But, I’ve formulated a little plan of my own when choosing farmhouse paint colors that can hopefully help you, too 🙂
First, let’s take a look at how the pros (aka Joanna Gaines) do it.
Source: Magnolia Homes
I love this soft shade of gray. It pops against all the white accents in the room without being too bold that it takes away from the space.
Source: Magnolia Homes
One of my FAVORITE Fixer Upper renovations and probably the best dining room. Can you imagine gathering around here for Christmas dinner?? Amazing. Anyway, the room is relatively dark with few windows and the white shade on the wall really makes it feel bright and airy.
Source: Magnolia Homes
She doesn’t always go 100% neutral. The pop of green color matches perfectly with all the wood accents and brown couches.
Source: Magnolia Homes
And, she doesn’t always pick a really light paint color, either. The darker gray/green color here is beautiful. Notice all the furniture is white to offset the dark color and the room has a ton of natural light with the windows.
Source: Magnolia Homes
Again, a room without much natural light gets a lighter shade of greige (aka a gray + beige combo color) with white and wood accents to keep the space light and airy.
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Okay, so you know you want your house to look like you were on Fixer Upper. Where do you start?
1.look at pinterest!
What? Is that real advice? YES!!!
When I’m looking for inspiration, Pinterest is my best friend. There are real life people there sharing their real life renovations. Find something you love and I bet you’ll find the exact paint color they used (and if it’s not listed, shoot the blogger an email!)
2. consider the room you’re painting
While that darker gray/green color Joanna used in the above example looks great in a bright room, it may not look so pretty in your windowless bathroom.
If you’re painting a large room with tons of natural light, you can choose a darker paint color if you wish. If it’s a smaller or darker room, choose a lighter shade.
Also, consider what furniture you already have. If you have a ton of white furniture, say in a dining room, you can choose to go neutral or add bit of color. If you’re living room has dark brown couches and accents, I would probably stick to a lighter, neutral shade. That pretty bold focal rug really makes a statement so some lighter paint on the wall won’t drown it out.
3. go grab all of theswatches
Okay, you know in general if you should stick to a light shade or if a pop of color would work. Now, head to the store and grab all of the paint swatches. If it catches your eye, pick it up.
I just went to Home Depot and snagged 50+ paint swatches. I may have gotten the stink eye from some people (or maybe it was because my kids were doing snow angels on the floor) but, who cares!
Once you bring them home and lay them out, it’s very easy to start eliminating. Generally, I can get it down to 3-5 colors.
For our farmhouse nursery makeover we are just starting (yay!!), I grabbed a few swatches of white/off-white/pinkish white.
4. know your undertones
So, you picked a pretty gray. It’s perfect. You paint your whole room only to realize it hasPURPLE undertones. It’s Barney’s dream room (if you don’t get that reference, be happy 😉 ).
How do you find out whatundertones are?
Grab your swatches from step 3 and look at thedarkest color on the swatch. The undertone color will immediately jump out to you. If it’s still a light white color and you can’t see for sure, put it against a white piece of paper for some contrast.
That color your see in the darkest color on the swatch will be present even in the lightest shade. That’s how you end up thinking you picked a clean gray but end up with something purple-ish gray.
Once you find the undertone, you can probably eliminate a few other colors.
This step is especially important when choosing a neutral farmhouse paint color (i.e. some form of gray or greige). When choosing a gray, think about what undertone you want. If it’s the perfect greige, look for something with a brown/taupe undertone.
Look at the picture below. Color the bottom two colors with your hand and just look at the top gray. Doesn’t it just look like a regular gray with no undertones? Then, compare it to the whole swatch, especially the darkest color. The last color definitely has green undertones. So, the gray on the top is going to have green undertones, too!
5. get samples
The step I always seem to skip over for whatever reason probably would have saved me from living in a robin’s egg in our master bedroom. GET SAMPLES.
If you have 3-5 colors, you can get samples for a few dollars each. It will be well worth it in the end to spend the few extra dollars rather than realizing after you paint the entire room that you don’t like a color.
For our nursery, we grabbed samples of gorgeous white and alabaster. I eliminated the other two colors after I brought them home and taped them to the wall.
6. Paint small sections on the wall
This is really such an important step. You could go through all the aforementioned steps, bring the sample home and still love the color in the paint can. But, put it up on the walls in the room it’s going to go. Comparing the actual color on the walls next to your furniture and decor can be a game changer!
In the nursery, we painted a small section of the wall with both samples next to each other. I originally was going to use one on the walls and one as the accent color. But, after putting the colors on the wall, I realized I didn’t like the pinkish white at all!! So glad we got samples this time!
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Now, I just talked a lot in general about choosing paint colors. But, how does this all relate back to choosefarmhousepaint colors?
To me, farmhouse colors all centeraroundneutral. And the farmhouse style look primarily revolves around two colors: white and gray. You can go neutral two ways with these colors: warm or cool.
Take any color (let’s say gray) and add a green or blue undertone and you get acool neutral gray. Take that same color and add beige or taupe undertones and you get awarm neutralgreige. Which way you go is a personal preference and you saw in the examples from Fixer Upper that they useboth cool and warm undertones.
I found an interview with Joanna Gaines from before she had her own paint line where she listed some of her favorite go-to paint colors. If you’re at a total loss where to start, start here!
1. Silver Strand 2. Mindful Gray 3. Oyster Pearl 4. Passive 5. Intellectual Gray
I scoured the internet my local Sherwin-Williams and Home Depot stores to find a bunch of other farmhouse style paint colors.
1. Alabaster 2. Repose Gray 3. Pure White
4. Amazing Gray 5. Colonnade Gray 6. Requisite Gray
1. Gray Clouds 2. Accessible Beige 3. Dover White
4. Spatial White 5. Greek Villa 6. Snowbound
1. Comfort Gray 2. Egret White 3. Versatile Gray
4. Gossamer Veil 5. Front Porch 6. Useful Gray
1. Aesthetic White 2. Reflection 3. Agreeable Gray
4. Olympus White 5. Popular Gray 6. Anew Gray
1. Natural Gray 2. Cathedral Gray 3. Burnished Clay
4. Antique White 5. Elephant Skin 6.Silver Marlin
1. Edgecomb Gray 2. Wish 3. Silver Satin
4. Blue Lace 5. Paper White 6.Sandlot Gray
1. Revere Pewter 2. Gray Owl 3. Wickham Gray
4. Moonshine 5. Balboa Mist 6. Silver Moon
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Sooo many pretty colors.
I hope this helps you a bit when choosing your own paint colors. Slapping on some new paint is one of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to update a room. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do!
If no color really stood out to you, or you went color blind looking at so many shades of gray/white, check out this post from The Weathered Fox. In her post, she matched 25 paint colorsfrom Joanna Gaines’ paint line to Benjamin Moore paint colors. That definitely takes the guesswork out of finding the perfect “Fixer Upper” color.
Also, most storesoffercolor matching totheircompetitors’ colors. I found this out while we were renovating our current house and even knowing that the match may not be 100% perfect, it was a game changer!
Do you have a favorite neutral farmhouse color? Any colors from above jump out to you?
Wishing you a joyful day!
