My wife and I moved into our new Vermont countryside home in late December. By the time we got home from work it was pitch dark outside. We really needed to chase away those dreary winter blues, and we found that our interior walls offered a quick and easy remedy.

Our north facing family room particularly needed a brighter color solution. We assumed that light or pale colors would be the answer, but we learned otherwise through some great advice at our Sherwin-Williams store. Namely, our house didn't have enough natural light to bring out the color undertones of a lighter shade. In other words, a light color, whether yellow or red or blue, may appear as off-white or gray.

Warming up to Mid TonesThe real solution would be in selecting a palette based on mid tones (those shades in the middle of the color strip). Mid tones are deep enough to let you see the actual color both in daylight and in the evening but not so deep as to make the room feel dark. Mid tones would allow us to use a more impactful color in the home, while adding a feeling of warmth...another bonus during these cold winter months.

To best complement our hardwood floors and contemporary furnishings, my wife and I selected a modern yellow and orange theme.

Primer Time
Another key to our success was priming the walls first. The existing walls were dark blue...not ideal for covering with a mid tone. Thanks to the advice at the Sherwin-Williams store, we applied a coat of color blocker primer, ensuring that two topcoats of color would cover any trace of the old wall's darkness.

Switching our window treatments to sheers and adding a large mirror on the wall opposite the largest window helped naturally brighten things. Mirrors not only work to make rooms seem larger, they help to reflect the existing light and thus brighten spaces. We repeated the same trim around the mirror, to make it seem even more like a twin window.

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