Best paint colors for split level house

Choose vivid colors for the walls to add interest and help define specific spaces. Paint the walls of the living area a bright shade of orange. Decorate the dining room in a racy shade of red to add excitement and life. Brighten the kitchen with a sunny yellow palette. Using bright colors can help one space feel different from another even when there are no walls separating them. Painting the walls in vivid hues can make it easier to see where the dining room ends and the kitchen begins.

Go Neutral

Neutral shades are colors that have very little light. A neutral color scheme can be restful and soothing. Use shades of gray and brown in your split-level home to make the house feel relaxing. Paint the walls in the living room beige and the walls in the dining room gray. A neutral color scheme can help visitors avoid jarring transitions from one area to another. A split-level home can have multiple transitional spaces that lead from one level to the next such as staircases. Using a neutral color scheme can help make one area blend into the next more easily.

A Single Color

Use a single color throughout the house. A single color, such as white, can help make decorative items in the house more prominent. If you have a collection of paintings, using white on the walls can help draw focus to the paintings. A single color scheme need not mean adhering to a single shade. For example, if you go with blue you can use multiple shades of blue to help you define spaces within the house. Using multiple shades of a single color can help unify the entire space and add to the flow of the home from one space to the next.

Split-level homes present a decorating challenge when it comes to painting. Unless all the walls are painted the same color, it can be difficult to decide where different shades should begin and end. It's even more difficult to figure out how to make several different colors look like they belong together in the open floor plan of most split-level homes. A little advance planning, however, can make the project doable for every homeowner.

Style

  1. The main rooms of a split-level home flow into one another, so it's important to consider the overall style of decor before deciding on paint colors or schemes. All the rooms don't have to be in the same style, but there should be some common elements to tie them together. The color on the wall can do that, or the continuity can come from other decorative elements. It's important to determine the style of painting for each room in advance. For example, decide whether there will be an abrupt change of color between each room or whether the colors will blend together. A home with Latin-inspired decor might have a bright orange wall butting up against a bright yellow one; a French country-style decor might transition gradually from a pale cream to dark ivory to vanilla between several rooms.

Color Palette

  1. Even if each room in your split-level home is going to be painted a different bright and bold color, the colors should complement or contrast each other. A color wheel can provide guidance in choosing colors that will work well together. On a color wheel, hues that complement each other are side by side; contrasting colors are straight across from each other. The same color in different shades can also work well to give each room its own look while unifying the entire decorating scheme. For example, in a contrasting color scheme, the main wall color might be purple in one room and yellow in the next, since yellow and purple are directly across from each other on the color wheel.

Transitions

  1. The trickiest part of painting a split-level home is deciding how to handle the transitions between rooms and stairways. Traditionally, color changes at an outer corner. For this method to work at the stairs in a split-level house, however, the stairs must be incorporated into one room's color scheme or the other. For stairs coupled between two walls, a smoother transition might include one wall painted the same as one adjoining room, and the opposite wall to match the other room. Paint stairways a neutral color or the same color as the trim. Alternatively, wrap the color of each room just around the corner a few inches to create a modern look. These types of transitions also work well if most rooms are painted a single color and only one or two walls have a different color.

Details

  1. Painted details can help tie even the most disparate rooms together. A continuous trim color throughout all the open areas of a split-level home is a simple way to coordinate the rooms. A horizontal stripe that follows the line of the ceiling in all rooms, or a small painted design that wraps around the corners between rooms can also help mesh different colors and styles.

    What color to paint split

    If the stair is between two rooms, then one wall should be painted with the same color as that of the adjoining room while the opposite wall should be painted with the same color as the other room. Use neutral colors for the stairs, or use the same color as the one used on the trim.

    How do you modernize a split

    Try these options:.
    Re-side one portion. When you update the siding on the taller half of your home, you can get a more modern look without overspending. ... .
    Repaint the exterior. ... .
    Update the lower façade. ... .
    Consider a new roof color. ... .
    Get new garage doors..

    What are the disadvantages of split level houses?

    3 Disadvantages of Split-Level Homes.
    Stairs can challenge people with restricted mobility. Even though the stairs in split-level homes are short, you will constantly be climbing stairs when you're moving through this type of home. ... .
    Remodeling a split-level is difficult. ... .
    They can be difficult to sell..

    Should your whole house have the same color scheme?

    As a general rule of thumb, you should never paint your entire home one singular color. That isn't to say that you can't use the same color in some capacity throughout your entire home; however, it shouldn't be the primary wall color in every room.