Fresh paint gives your home new life! How can you be sure to choose the colors that will make you feel best about your home’s new look?

Here are some tips for making the choices you’ll love over the long term:

• Look at your color scheme holistically — don’t update a few rooms and neglect the others. Let the rooms lead into one another visually.
• A simple, neutral color scheme will be the easiest to live with and give you the greatest resale value.
• You’ll be living with a quality paint job for a long time. Avoid choosing the season’s most popular colors, since they’ll date quickly.
• Avoid going for “a total change.” Chances are, a color scheme you arrive at because you’ve gotten tired of what you have and want change for change’s sake won’t be the color combination you’ll love for years.

When you choose a classic, neutral color for painting the walls, ceilings, and woodwork, you can spark the color palette with soft furnishing, artwork, and ornaments that can change with fashion or with your mood.

Still determined to express yourself with bold paint colors? Have a single feature wall that makes a compelling statement — and can easily be painted over if you tire of it.