How to Paint the Interior of a Split-level Home

A split-level house is where the floors of the house are staggered, popularly on a hill or rugged landscape. Painting a split-level house can be difficult especially in determining where different shades of color will start and end. Unless the whole house is painted in one color, it can also be a challenge to choose the colors that work well with each other or colors that can be blended together to give the walls a beautiful result.

Here’re a few helpful tips that you can follow to create and paint perfect walls for your split-level home. 

1. Painting your entrance.

Your entrance is the first place people will see when they walk into your house. You have to create a perfect first impression by choosing your colors carefully and painting well. Paint the entrance with colors that will compliment colors on both walls. 

To create a definite natural flow of colors, go with the same colors that are painted on the walls that can be seen from the door. If the walls are painted a complete contrast of colors, then a neutral color for the door will be your best choice. If the walls are painted in coordinating colors, then you can choose a shade that will complement the upstairs color on the wall.

2. Style.

Since the rooms of a split-level house flow into each other, usually through a staircase, it is very necessary to keep in mind your decor preferences before choosing the colors that will be painted on the walls.  The rooms can have a variety of colors to create diversity but they should have a common element to give them a unifying factor. You should consider how the rooms will be painted if you want the colors to blend into each other by fading out or just end one color and start another color. 

3. Color Scheme.

In order to get your color scheme right, you should use a color palette, color wheel or color chart. The color chart will basically guide you on what colors can be blended together, what colors can be blocked together or what shades of color can be used to fade out the end of one wall and the start of another wall. The wheel is created in such a way that all the colors that complement each other are placed side by side. The colors that contrast each other are across each other. You can use the same color of paint for a room but in different shades, this can give the house that unifying factor.

4. Color Transitioning.

Transitioning the colors is perhaps the hardest part of painting a split-level house. You have to decide how the transitions will be executed between the rooms and the stairway. Many people change the colors at the outer corner, for this to be effective, the color painted on the stairs must be incorporated into one room. 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. To give your house a more modern look, wrap the colors that are painted in the room slightly around the corners. This works well if the rooms are painted using just one color and only a wall or two are painted in a different color.

5. Pay attention to all details.

Paying attention to all the painted details can help in creating a unifying factor even for the most disparate rooms.  Create a continuous trim all through the open areas. You can work along the horizontal line of the ceiling to create a line that will go through all the rooms. Alternatively, you can wrap the corners that are between the room with the color of paint from the rooms to create a mesh of different colors and styles.