Choosing the perfect paint colors to transform your guest room into a stylish, inviting, and comfortable oasis takes some thought and planning. While it may seem like a simple endeavor, there are actually many factors to consider when it comes to house painting a guest space. The wall colors you select can have a significant impact on the overall aesthetic and vibe of the room. Additionally, you need to think about how the colors will look at different times of day, coordinate with other spaces, allow for accessorizing flexibility, and stand up to real-world use. With so many paint options available today in countless hues and finishes, it can be downright overwhelming to decide on guest room colors. Read on for ten expert tips that will guide you in creating a guest suite with beautiful, enduring paint colors you’ll love.
1. Think About the Vibe You Want to Create
When choosing paint colors for house painting a guest space, it’s important to think about the overall vibe or aesthetic you want the room to have. Do you want it to feel cozy and inviting? Cool and calming? Bright and cheerful? Earthy and natural? The paint color you select can go a long way in setting the desired tone. Think about the emotions you want the space to evoke and how visitors should feel when they walk in. Whether it’s a sense of happy relaxation, energized inspiration, or quiet tranquility, there are paint hues that can help achieve that ambiance. According to Open Door, as you paint your home, consider colors that will still be in style 5 to 10 years from now. Settling on an overall vision will make narrowing down color choices much easier.
2. Opt for Neutral Tones
Sticking with neutral wall colors is usually a safe bet for a guest room. Timeless shades like grays, taupes, crisp whites, soft beiges, and warm tans tend to have broad appeal and won’t feel overly bold or polarizing. Neutrals provide a flexible blank canvas that allows you to layer in pops of color and personality over time through rugs, bedding, window treatments, and decorative accents. They effortlessly work with most furniture finishes and styles. Subtle textures and undertones in neutrals add quiet visual interest while still keeping the backdrop neutral. Soft grays with hints of green or blue, warm beiges with tan undertones, or oatmeal-colored walls with taupe highlights all make great neutral backdrops for guest quarters.
3. Consider Soothing Blue Greens
If you want a guest room that says relaxation and tranquility, consider opting for soft, soothing blue-green hues on the walls. These cool aquatic tones are strongly tied to feelings of serenity, renewal, and escape. Soft sage greens, misty aquas, muted seafoam, or barely blue-tinted grays evoke refreshing ocean breezes and the vast open sky. They remind us of drifting off peacefully surrounded by the beauty of nature. Even just having one blue-green focal wall can set a calming mood. To keep it sophisticated, look for muted blue greens with a bit of gray rather than bright or jewel tones. The result will be a guest room that feels like a spa-like retreat.
4. Don’t Overlook Softer Grays
While bright, stark whites and cold, harsh grays can feel sterile or inhospitable, softer tones of gray make an excellent paint color choice for guest quarters. Look for grays with subtle undertones like lavender, warm taupe, sage green, or sky blue. These muted shades of gray create a soothing, relaxed vibe perfect for guest rooms. Go for a finish with a hint of sheen to keep the gray looking fresh and vibrant. Properly prepped walls in a soft gray shade are a fail-safe way to nail guest room colors.
5. Add Warmth with Earth Tones
Paint colors on the beige, brown, tan, or sand color family add warmth and approachability to a guest sleeping space. These earthy hues make the room feel grounded, nature-connected, and welcoming. Try a light camel, beige, putty, or sand on the walls and perhaps chocolate or chestnut-colored wood accents. You can also look for beiges or tans with subtle reddish-brown undertones for extra coziness. To keep the look serene rather than too rustic, stick to soft, muted earth tones rather than anything too orange, yellow, or brick-like. Sophisticated taupes with gray undertones also provide an earthy look with some cool modern restraint.
6. Consider Deeper Hues for Small Spaces
Don’t be afraid to go bold with deeper, saturated wall colors in a petite guest room! Darker paint hues like navy blue, hunter green, burgundy, or chocolate brown can make a small space feel cozy and enveloping instead of cramped. Deep colors also naturally draw the eye, conceal flaws, and visually recede, which makes the room feel more expansive. To keep it feeling calm, look for darker paints with some gray undertones, so they aren’t too intense. Strategically painting just one wall in a deep hue adds drama without going overboard. Limiting darker colors to smaller accent walls prevents them from overwhelming the room.
7. Look to Nature for Inspiration
Nature-inspired organic paint hues are always a solid choice for guest sleeping spaces. Soothing colors reminiscent of forests, sunsets, seasides, and meadows evoke tranquility and timeless beauty. Try soft, muted shades of leafy green, Robin’s egg blue, warm sunrise yellow, foggy lavender, or gentle rainy gray. Pairing two close tones from nature like pale green and blue-gray creates a beautifully relaxed vibe. Painting natural wood furniture and accents in the room enhances the organic feel further. No matter what mood you want your guest room to exude, looking to a calming, familiar nature for color inspiration is a safe bet.
8. Use White Paint Strategically
White wall paint reflects light beautifully and can make any room feel open, airy, and expansive – ideal qualities for a guest bedroom. However, all-white walls only work best in bedrooms blessed with ample natural light. In windowless spaces or rooms with little light, opt for white on the architectural trim with a subtly tinted wall color. This provides contrast without becoming claustrophobic. Crisp white bed linens and fixtures complement white or white-dominant rooms nicely. White also makes a great ceiling color, opening up the space overhead. Use white thoughtfully and strategically as part of the overall guest room color palette.
9. Consider Color Psychology
Some paint colors are thought to evoke certain moods, feelings, and properties, according to principles of Color Psychology and Chromotherapy. When selecting guest room hues, consider which emotions you want the space to exude. Cool blues are calming and tranquil. Earthy greens represent growth, harmony, and well-being. Yellows infuse spaces with happiness and warmth. Purples can be elegant, mystical, or romantic. Grays are stabilizing and soothing. Look for colors whose psychological properties fit the ambiance you wish your guest quarters to have, whether that’s relaxation, inspiration, romance, or something else entirely. This provides helpful guidance amid the endless color options.
10. Coordinate with Adjacent Spaces
Make sure your chosen color fits in with the overall scheme of adjacent spaces like the hallway or master bedroom. You want a cohesive flow from room to room. Tying in one complementary color keeps things unified.
When done thoughtfully using the right approach, house painting a guest suite can totally transform the space into a relaxing, inviting, and stylish oasis. While the wall colors you choose need to appeal to a wide range of tastes, you can still infuse the room with your personal style. Use color psychology to pick hues that exude the mood you want. Neutrals provide a great base to build upon over time. Sample paints properly and prep well for best results. With so many factors to weigh, choosing that perfect guest room color palette may seem daunting. However, armed with these essential tips, you can feel confident tackling your guest space painting project and end up with a color scheme you’ll love. If you’re looking to add a fresh coat of paint to any space in your home, including a guest room, the team at Top Tier Painting Inc. can help. Call us today for a free estimate!
