If you want to paint your bedroom, the first step is to select a range of colors or color theme. That way, when you go into the store you can narrow down your selection of color swatches to those in that general color shade.

If you want your bedroom to evoke a certain mood, some colors have shown to be better at evoking certain emotions or moods. Calming colors are soft colors - blues, greens, and lavenders in a muted shade. Anything too vivid or bright will not be calming. If you are decorating to have a calming effect these colors go quite well together. You could punch it up a bit with some brighter accents in the same colors but with a different tone. I like a sage green for the walls with some light sky blues and lavenders sprinkled around the rooms Bedding, wall coverings and flooring can be a solid color to keep the calm mood going. Accent with candles and perhaps a table top waterfall.

On the other hand, you might want to paint your bedroom so that it energizes. Maybe you want to wake up in the morning ready to go! Then you might want to try bright colors like reds and yellows with maybe a bit of orange thrown in. I love the look of deep red walls even if it may take several coats to cover! Yellow and orange make a nice color combination - maybe a bit 70's so you could do a nice retro design with these colors. Tone it down a bit by using brown as an accent. Of course, you can always use red with black and white for a classically contemporary look. And there's always a white room (bedding, walls, and floors) with bright red, yellow, blue and orange accents for a mid century feel that will liven up the place.

For a more elegant type of bedroom, you may opt for tans of off whites. These can match very well with some darker, rich colors like maroon, gold, or even black. Use some deep jewel tones to create a romantic but calming feeling. Gray and brown can be a nice modern color palette ? use deep colors not light and you will be surprised how this can give the room a cozy feel that is a bit more modern.

Another choice you may have to make is if you want to use traditional paints or get an effect on your walls with special effect paints. You can add texture to your walls with paints that have texture build in, or use special paint to get the look of marble or old world plaster.

Some of these use solvent based glazes and others have specially made paint just for that particular look you want. A trip to your local Home Depot will find these paints as well as free classes on how to apply them.