COLUMN: Gail Mayhugh

DEAR GAIL: I want to paint my bedroom a dark cocoa brown, but am afraid to do it. I know that it is only paint and can be covered, but is there a way to see in advance how the color will look on the wall? I have white bedding and the color would just make the room pop. -- Agatha S.

DEAR AGATHA: White with dark cocoa brown will definitely make your room pop, but it will also make your room appear much smaller and bring in the walls. You didn't mention the size of your room or what color your furniture is, so I'll give you some general suggestions.

First, make sure that you want the room to have a warm and cozy feel, and that it won't end up feeling too small.

Next, make sure that the brown you select will complement your furniture. If you have light wood tones, such as maple, pine or oak, the dark brown will be nice. If you have darker cherry, walnut or mahogany, everything may just blend in, which you don't want.

You need to be careful in selecting your paint color and how it looks with your wood tone. There are no straight colors anymore. With more than 10 paint companies in our valley alone, understand that each has its own set of colors with thousands of choices. Check the undertone of the brown color and make sure that it complements your furniture.

One way to see what the color will look like in your room is to invest in a quart of paint. Please do not paint samples directly onto your walls. Instead, buy some pieces of poster board and paint the color on them. If you purchase at least four boards, it will give you a big enough sample to cover a large portion of a wall.

If you want a better feel for what the color will look like with texture, buy some heavier pieces of board and a can of patch texture from a home improvement store. You can take this one step further by buying a large piece of drywall and texturing it.

There are a couple of reasons why you never want to test paint directly on the walls. First, unless you paint patches on each wall, you can't see what the color will look like throughout the room at different times of the day. And, if you want to test a couple of different colors, the patches, if painted next to or near each other, will react with each other and won't give you a true sense of what they will look like.

Finally, with test patches covering the wall, you will probably have to prime them before you paint. Otherwise, if you don't start with the same color underneath, you will have to put on extra coats of paint to get even coverage and the true color you want.

Paint companies do have computer programs that you can buy to see how your room will look with a new color. You take a picture of your room, scan it into your computer, then change the paint color. These are a lot of fun because you see your room, not a sample. You can specify different colors for each wall, experiment with stripes and even change the color on the window treatments and furniture.

There also are programs available online that allow you to change colors in a room, although not with your picture. Some do offer the option of importing your picture for a nominal fee.

The only thing to remember with any of these programs is that you are looking at a color on a computer screen and, depending upon your monitor's setting, the colors may look different in real life. This is why I would still paint some poster boards before filling a paint brush with paint and brushing it on the wall.

Have fun painting, and as I like to say, "Life is too short to have white walls."

Gail Mayhugh, owner of GMJ Interiors, is a professional interior designer and author of a book on the subject. Questions may be sent by e-mail to: gail@gmjinteriors.com. Or, mail to: 8170 S. Eastern Ave., Box 4-275, Las Vegas, NV 89123. Her Web address is: www.GMJinteriors.com.

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