“Tenants of Lumo and VVO homes who wish to paint the interior walls of their apartment only need to contact our customer service and inform them of their plans,” says Joonas Kosonen, head of the property management team at Lumo Home Centre.

The customer service will send the order to the local branch of K-rauta, and the tenant can then pick up the paints and supplies free of charge when it’s convenient for them.

The tenant can choose the colours themselves.

“The range of available colours used to be quite limited, but now tenants can freely choose colours according to their preferences,” Kosonen explains.

The paint benefit package for Lumo and VVO homes includes everything you need for the job: paint, pre-paint cleaner, brushes, rollers, protective plastic or cardboard, an edger and masking tape.

“The only detail the tenant needs to know is the size of the wall that will be painted,” Joonas Kosonen points out.

Many people paint their walls at the time of their move, which makes sense. It’s easier to paint the walls before the furniture is brought in.

Kosonen advises tenants to save some leftover paint in a tightly sealed can.

“If you subsequently need to touch up the paint here and there, you’ll have the right colour on hand.”

When you want a new clean coat of paint on your wall, but you’re not sure about the colour, you have to start by looking for inspiration.

“You can browse interior design content in magazines, Pinterest and other photo services, for example. You should be able to find some nice colours that suit your home,” says visual coordinator and colour designer Marika Raike from Tikkurila.

Then you need to go down to the hardware store to pick up some paint swatches to sample the colours in the actual environment they would be used in.

“Light has a major impact on what a given shade of colour will look like.”

For example, south-facing windows let in more light — and warmer light — than windows facing other directions. Other light sources, such as LED lights and compact fluorescent lamps, also have their own characteristic effects on walls and how different paint colours will appear.

Finnish homes often rely on fairly conservative colours, such as white and light shades of grey.

“The most common request we get from customers is to help them choose the best shade of white or the most neutral shade of grey. There is no unequivocal answer to that question. Light is a big factor, but so are the other materials and furniture in the home. They all affect how a given colour will look on the wall,” Marika Raike explains.

Raike’s expert advice for people is to think about the mood they want to create in the room.

“Light tones increase the feeling of space and freshness in small rooms. Darker tones, on the other hand, can make the same room feel like a cozy den.”

Practical considerations should also be kept in mind. Pitch black surfaces are notorious for highlighting dust, while a pure white wall in an apartment’s entryway is unforgiving when it comes to splashes of dirt brought in from the street.

“When you have chosen the general colour you will go with — let’s say grey, for example — you should go to the hardware store to pick up paint swatches in various shades and tones to narrow down the decision.

In many cases, the best result will be achieved by choosing a slightly lighter and more greyish tone than your initial feeling would suggest.

“That’s because the colour will look stronger and more intense when it is painted on a large surface compared to a small swatch held in your hand,” Raike explains.

While grey remains a firm favourite in Finnish homes, the current trends in interior design are not entirely absent from the picture.

Raike says she is seeing growth in the popularity of various shades of green and nude, which reflects today’s trends in the clothing industry.

The pages of foreign interior design magazines feature even bolder choices:

“The walls you see on the pages of international magazines sometimes have very dark tones, like terracotta and deep grey. It looks like some of the inspiration was taken from the 1970s.”

Watch a video from Tikkurila: Painting an interior wall